Justice Dept. and L.A. Police

* The May 9 front-page headline says, “U.S. Blames Lax Management for Abuses by LAPD.”

No. I’ll say it again; it is arrogance, not laxity, that causes police to go bad. It is a disease affecting those to whom much power is given, and until we recognize this, we are doomed to repetition.

GERALD JONES

Los Angeles

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* Re “Strengthening LAPD’s Watchdog,” editorial, May 7:

The last time the Justice Department came to town and threatened a lawsuit the city government agreed to a consent decree to hire “protected classes.” That agreement had no provision for character background in selection standards or merit consideration in promotions. It did, however, require periodic reports on how well the Police Department met its quotas. The city eagerly agreed to play this destructive numbers game and now we have the Rampart scandal.

This mess is not about a bunch of cops becoming crooks. It’s about a bunch of crooks being allowed to become cops, and the Justice Department is one of the conspirators.

STEPHEN DOWNING

Manhattan Beach

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* Your May 5 editorial (“Profiles of Injustice”) on racial profiling was timely and principled. I was stopped by an LAPD officer this past July 4 while driving in my Mercedes-Benz in the vicinity of Venice Beach. The pretext for the stop was that the rear license plate on my car had a transparent plastic cover. The officer refused my offer to remove and discard the cover in his presence. He gave me a ticket for $110. (The matter is now under investigation by LAPD Internal Affairs.)

The problem can best be addressed, as you correctly point out, only if there is a state law requiring the collection of basic demographic data on motorists stopped by the police. Unfortunately, we have a governor who lacks a profile in courage to eradicate this pestilence that menaces minority communities in California every day. The lesson appears to be that no minority person can feel secure against arbitrary profiling by the LAPD--even those driving while black in a Benz.

AL MARIAM, Attorney

San Bernardino