Readers React: The LAPD is a great police force now, just as it was in the 1950s

To the editor: Joe Domanick, the author of “Blue: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing,” has decided that the Los Angeles Police Department was “appallingly bad” until William Bratton rode to the rescue as chief in 2002. (“Will Chief Charlie Beck do what needs to be done on police shootings?,” Opinion, Dec. 13)

This, even though since the 1950s, the LAPD has been admired worldwide as a model of scrupulously honest and highly efficient big-city policing. And this, even though the LAPD has always been exceedingly small considering the population and physical size of Los Angeles.

Domanick refers to the bizarre Rodney King beating in 1991, which even then-Mayor Tom Bradley — himself retired from the LAPD — called an “anomaly.” And of course there was the so-called Rampart Scandal, in which three cops out of a police force of more than 9,000 were detected and arrested, by the way, by the LAPD.

However, it is true that the Department that gave birth to SWAT has been frequently accused of being too aggressive in the policing of minority areas. But nobody ever bothers to poll the victims living in those high-crime areas to see how they feel about aggressive policing.

Finally, how did Domanick become so misinformed that he believes the LAPD has ever needed to be “redeemed” by anybody?

Joseph Wambaugh, San Diego

The writer, a former LAPD sergeant, is the author of 21 books of fiction and nonfiction about police and crime.

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To the editor: So, our own Los Angeles Police Department is undefeated, dismissing 1,356 out of 1,356 bias complaints against officers between 2012 and 2014. (“LAPD found no bias in all 1,356 complaints filed against officers,” Dec. 15)

Unbelievable! And I really do mean unbelievable.

S.R. Fischer, Los Angeles

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