The Police Must Retain Order . . .

Iwork closely with and do business with the Rampart Division. I have been honored by the Rampart Division for the work that I do with them. My job is to see where the crime is happening in our neighborhoods and report it. Community policing means communities working with the police.

I am one of the founders of the More Advocates for Safe Homes of Los Angeles. Our branch is located in an area that the Rampart Division covers.

I have had to deal with the CRASH unit. For 10 years, they have patrolled the area from the building I live in. This building is owned by the Housing Authority, but it was at my suggestion that they use it as a lookout. From the roof they have a good view all the way around.

Before this, I couldn’t go out after 7 p.m. Gangs were intimidating people, selling drugs. Thank goodness for the intervention of the LAPD because otherwise it’d be a war zone still.

On the next street over from my house there is a gang called Rockwood and on the other side is the well-known 18th Street gang. We were right in the middle of these gangs. I have seen so much gang activity. I witnessed a shooting with a guy running after another and shooting him right in broad daylight. I have seen plenty of drug dealing as well. The gangs had basically taken over.

The LAPD is caught in the middle. They want to please the good folks and go after the bad guys. Citizens want cops to do their job but we don’t allow them to do it. Sometimes the end justifies the means. In their vigorous endeavor the Police Department used what they felt was necessary.

They could not have gotten the control they have now on the gangs had they not done some of the things they did. They brought peace to this neighborhood. This is a war. When you’re in a war you use various, devious means to accomplish things. This is a difficult job to begin with. They put themselves at risk every day. I wouldn’t want that job. They come to work every day not knowing if they are going home at night.

A few cops have stepped over the line and maybe didn’t know they were crossing the line. They were vigorously enforcing the law and perhaps went too far. But gangs had taken over our neighborhoods, and the police have simply helped us take it back. I would much rather see the police running the neighborhood than gangs. The city has a choice: It can have the police win this war or let the gangs win.

I don’t think you can paint the whole Rampart Division by what a few rogue cops did. No one in the division sanctions what they did. Even the citizens, people they are out to protect, don’t sanction what they did. But the public was crying for help and they put their trust in the police. No one asked the police by what means they were going to do things.

Everybody wants to feel safe. We don’t want to see the gangs, but when we’re told what has to be done to have these safe neighborhoods, people don’t want to see it or hear about it. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

I will continue to support the police even though I don’t condone the shooting of a handcuffed victim or the lying about it. But we must be realistic about this. When you are in a war, you use any means possible. No one wants to see a rogue cop, but we gave them a tough job and told them to do it. This is the price we pay for safer neighborhoods.

--Interviewed by MAURA E. MONTELLANO.