Students, get involved and fight police injustice

Students, get involved and fight police injustice

By D.J. Schulte

I enjoyed The Bruin’s articles pertaining to the recent Westwood
"riots." Perhaps this example of police brutality will serve as a
catalyst for UCLA students to become activists.

UCLA students, do not let this experience be forgotten. Do not
let it fail to motivate you. The Los Angeles Police Department and
the University of California Police Department are simply gangs of
rogue cowards. They use excessive force under "color of authority,"
which is simply a politically correct way of saying coward.

Long before Gates and the ’92 rebellion, the Parker
administration was investigated and found to be corrupt just as the
Gates administration had been, and nothing happened, then as now.
Every day there are articles in the newspapers documenting
corruption and brutality by police thugs. Currently, lawsuits are
pending against the LAPD and UCPD (by both students and
ex-cops).

A well-read person realizes that these reported incidents are
just the tip of the iceberg. I am surprised that after the Rodney
King incident, no civilians with video cameras filming Monday night
in Westwood have come forward yet. If they were filming, I hope The
Bruin asks those people to come forward to enable prosecution of
the police thugs.

Los Angeles settles claims for millions of dollars per year
pertaining to police brutality ­ still, there is little to no
protest from citizens. The police play a game and walk a tightrope,
kissing ass to the wealthy and powerful and abusing the
vulnerable.

Why wasn’t the judge who gave O.J. Simpson a slap on the wrist
on the wife beating conviction charged with malfeasance? Why
weren’t the cops suspected of doing favors for Simpson, who was
known to beat his wife, similarly charged? After Simpson was
arrested for wife beating, why didn’t the police watch him in order
to protect Nicole?

I say that the judge and the cops are culpable and should be
prosecuted.

I am a homeless Vietnam vet, college-educated, well-read and
well-traveled. The cops ­ from the West L.A. department as
well as from the UCPD ­ constantly harass me, follow me and
try to entrap me. In my opinion, the police recently broke into a
friends’ locked locker that I have permission to use and took many
of my valuable possessions.

And at the same time, they kiss ass to the rich and powerful,
many of whom have been suspected of criminal activity ­ O.J.
Simpson, Michael Milken, even radiology guys from UCLA who were
recently charged with stealing more than $600,000 from UCLA.

With the current crime rate and increased tension in L.A., the
police are in a good bargaining position now and they can use this
to obtain what they want.

For example, police officers demanded 12-hour shifts, in direct
conflict to their claim of too much on-the-job stress. If the
eight-hour shift was too difficult and stressful, then how can they
perform competently for 12 hours?

If the job is so difficult and stressful then why perform in
three consecutive 12-hour shifts ­ would not a day off in
between 12-hour shifts allow for more competent police officers?
The police want 3-12s so that they can moonlight and live far from
their work area (in Simi Valley, perhaps). If the job is so
stressful, why do police policies allow officers to moonlight?

I think citizens deserve well-rested police officers who live in
or near the areas in which they work. Perhaps if police officers
were well-rested local residents they would not attempt to
seriously injure or kill criminal suspects, but instead, shoot to
wound or disarm the perpetrator.

Being a Vietnam Vet, I know that in many of the cases I read
about the police using excessive force, any Seal, Recon or special
forces-trained personnel could disarm without serious injury. Many
times, the victims receive large settlements from the taxpayers.
Why are not the police officers trained in these non-lethal
techniques?

I hope the above inspires some students to become activists, get
involved and fight for justice.

No justice, no peace.

Schulte is an activist with the Network for Public Education and
Social Justice.