Will Looser LAPD Rules Add to Abuse?

The Los Angeles Police Commission recently voted to loosen 12-year-old restrictions on police intelligence gathering.

Under the old guidelines, set in 1984, the department was required to conduct a preliminary investigation before using electronic surveillance and other law enforcement techniques. Officers were also required to demonstrate the existence of “probable cause” of illegal activity before continuing.

The new rules allow such electronic surveillance at the beginning of an investigation, and officers need only show “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity. The tighter restrictions had been put in place after revelations that in the 1970s and early 1980s, the LAPD’s Public Disorder Intelligence Division spied on peaceful groups and city leaders critical of the department. That division was replaced by the Anti-Terrorism Division, which operated under the stricter guidelines.

While the City Council ponders the issue, critics fear loosening the guidelines will mark a return to earlier abuses.

“Under the new police surveillance guidelines, can the public be both safe from crime and free from abuses of civil rights?”

Raymond C. Fisher, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission:

“I think we’ve had to have a balance . . . When you are talking about terrorist activities, you are talking about people who work in groups so you involve the right to assembly and the right to free speech . . . What we tried to do is take a step toward preventing [abuses] from happening. There are a number of checks in the system, approvals that they have to go through before each technique can be used . . . The abuses that happened under the Public Disorder Intelligence Division happened when there was no oversight. That’s no longer allowed.”

Michael Zinzun, chairman of the Coalition Against Police Abuse:

“We think that the recent Police Commission action to further expand the powers of the anti-terrorism division of the LAPD has in fact stepped on people’s rights to free assembly, free association and expression . . . We think there are no real guidelines here other than saying, ‘Have faith in us.’ Police chiefs come and go, and they would leave in place vague guidelines that would create problems . . .”

Alan Parachini, representative of the American Civil Liberties Union:

“We have not seen evidence--despite repeated requests of the department--that the guidelines that have existed since 1984 impair the ability of police officers to investigate terrorists. We wholeheartedly support police action against terrorist organizations and terrorists, and we believe in the old guidelines.”

Stephen Getzoff, founder of We Are the Community Helpers (WATCH):

“On the one hand, it’s necessary really to honor and respect the civil rights of people who are innocent until proven guilty, but on the other hand, there are times when the issue can go beyond the reasonable. When a crime is committed because you can’t do that surveillance, what have you accomplished by having these rules that are so stiff?”

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