LAPD’s ‘Bunker Mentality’

* I began to read Terry McDermott’s “Behind the Bunker Mentality” (June 11) with a jaundiced eye but realized that it was, to some extent, fair. The part that always makes me laugh, and a little sad, is when former Los Angeles Police Department command and staff officers blast the department.

It seems that these same “leaders” who were once part of the inner sanctum retire and criticize the very system they subjugated themselves to in the quest for higher rank. Where were they when we needed leadership while they were still on the job? When did they ever stand up and, as former Chief Ed Davis succinctly puts it, “have balls”? Jesse Brewer and Dave Dotson were early critics. Now we have Dave Smith and Bayan Lewis. Who is next?

ROY BALLESTEROS

Los Angeles

*

The article relives past newsworthy (newsworthy equals negative) vignettes that involved LAPD officers and operations. Then it goes on to say “these notorious cases are not by any means the only instances in which LAPD has engaged the public. . . . Just last month, police in Hollywood shot and killed a man armed with a pair of scissors.”

The reality of this incident is traumatic to the officer involved. In the Hollywood case, the “member of the public” just beat his bloody girlfriend with a hammer. He showed the police he meant business by cutting his penis off with a butcher knife. He then grabbed a pair of scissors and went after the officers who entered the apartment to quell the disturbance. The attacked officer’s partner did what she was trained to do--cover her partner. The Times does an injustice to the Police Department and citizens when significant facts are left out.

LT. MIKE MENZA

LAPD, Hollywood

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Your article describes how a knife-wielding suspect savagely attacked and “seriously wounded” a man and woman. McDermott then asks Chief Bernard Parks “why LAPD officers have repeatedly shot and killed people armed with knives, screwdrivers or other frequently less-than-lethal weapons.” I have subscribed to The Times for over 30 years and have read about violent assaults involving every possible innocuous “less-than-lethal weapon,” from No. 2 pencils to power tools and automobiles. Whether it is a knife or a screwdriver, it’s still a deadly and lethal weapon when the assailant’s intent is to commit bodily harm.

SEAN COLLINSWORTH

Ojai

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I work in a very busy inner-city hospital in Los Angeles. I recently called LAPD to inquire if an elderly, intoxicated woman had been reported as a missing person. A simple yes or no was what I expected. At 3 a.m., a very busy time for this division, officers responded and not only found out where she lived and contacted family but gave her a ride home, so as not to risk her being out in the street.

Another occasion found me desperately requesting a way to get an antidote from another hospital for a dying 16-year-old girl who was poisoned. The Central division officers literally saved her life by retrieving this medicine, with lights and siren, so that I could give it to her in time.

Does this sound like an “us against the world” mentality? It is tragic that the vast majority of good, caring officers are blemished by the bad deeds of a handful. For myself and many others, in spite of the Rampart scandal, when we call 911 there is no other Police Department we would rather see respond to our emergency.

DAVID WAGNER MD

Chino Hills

*

When an LAPD gang invaded my house in 1989 in response to a crank call, there were no weapons, I clearly was the homeowner, and I was not large or threatening. While the leader pointed a gun at my head I was attacked from behind, thrown to the floor, hogtied and then beaten about the head. I thought they had gone mad and were going to kill me; that was before I was radicalized by the incident and realized it was just a standard policy beating.

In their car, with my hands handcuffed behind my back, they punched me in the stomach. The leader told me several lies he would report, although in fact he made sure it would never go to court and possibly cause him trouble. My fiancee--clearly middle-aged, middle class and even white--was treated uniformly miserably by their entire staff when she came to pick me up; I can’t imagine what young black men must endure. This behavior was clearly approved from the top. How can any citizen sleep in peace with those goons roaming the streets?

Only a tiny fraction of the worst brutality reaches the news. Whatever the monetary rewards to the few victims who prevail in court may cost the culprit governments, it will be insignificant compared to the lives damaged or destroyed by decades of unchecked violence under cover of authority. A decade ago the whole world learned LAPD tactics, “Nero” Gates let the city burn, the federal government forced reforms, local government implemented the reforms and the old ways returned. What is different this time?

GEORGE TUCKER

Redondo Beach