LAPD’s Arrest of Goldberg

Your April 27 editorial regarding my investigation into the police handling of the civil disobedience on April 14 was off target. The purpose of the investigation is to find out why this arrest was treated so differently than most other instances of civil disobedience. Peaceful civil disobedience is a time-honored tradition in this country.

According to the police, most bookings take about four hours. I have consulted many people in the Police Department, both sworn and civilian, who expressed amazement at the process that we went through. No one could understand why we were fingerprinted more than once (much less four times, which we all were) or why we were photographed and questioned more than once. Each duplicated procedure added on hours and resources. They said that it’s unusual to keep people in plastic handcuffs for two to four hours, then metal handcuffs and chains for an additional hour on the bus. They questioned why we were taken to county jail, since the LAPD has to pay for every arrestee that the county books.

Insiders suggest that the delay might have been politically motivated. Tensions with the police and the janitors had escalated in the last two weeks of the strike. The police were out in force, employing increasingly more aggressive tactics. A number of times the union asked that I come to their evening picket lines to make sure that the police did not overreact.

I object to the seemingly punitive nature of our treatment, which had nothing to do with me. It was a message to the janitors and other people who take their protest to the street: We’ll make you sorry you did.

JACKIE GOLDBERG

L.A. City Council

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I feel badly that Goldberg was incarcerated for expressing her support for what she considered her passionate cause. I too had a passionate cause that very day. I wanted to get home to my wife and 2-year-old baby before she went to sleep. I didn’t make it. I was trapped in traffic for an additional two hours while Goldberg and others were blocking my road home.

I miss not having that time with my daughter, as she changes every minute. Being trapped in my car with no alternative was much like being incarcerated.

JOHN FINDLATER JR.

Brentwood