PROP F IN L.A.   Term Paper ID:19847 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Increases accountabilty of police brass & increases civilian authority over police department while limiting police chief to two five-year terms.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Increases accountabilty of police brass & increases civilian authority over police department while limiting police chief to two five-year terms. Paper Introduction: Charter Amendment F, also known as Proposition F, was an important issue in the June 1992 primary elections. The proposition was concerned with reforming the Los Angeles Police Department. The city's need for police reform became an issue following the March 1991 beating of Rodney King. The issue became more heated in the wake of the 1992 riots. It was further inflamed by the numerous accusations among city officials and members of the public that Police Chief Daryl Gates was failing to do his job. The purpose of Proposition F was to revise the City Charter which had not been changed since the 1930's. According to that charter, the city's Chief of Police was free from the political control of the Mayor and City Council. He was given a lifetime term and was prevented from removal unless "found guilty of misconduct" (Sahagun & Simon B8). The idea Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. The endorsement of the Los Angeles Times is an example of this. It was noted thatpoliticizing the police department would increase the temptations forcorruption. For example, there was no effortto look into the idea of community-based policing (Mydans 19).Additionally, it might have been more reasonable to have simply increasedthe power of the Police Commission by giving it "more money and its ownlegal staff" ("The Tom and Dar..." 24). The drive for the passage of Proposition F was largely a play forpower on the part of the mayor and other city officials. These problems of political control were made worse by the fact thatthe provisions of Proposition F actually had little to do with trying toimprove the workings of the police department itself. The city's need forpolice reform became an issue following the March 1991 beating of RodneyKing. According to Woo, this expenditure was making it impossible for thepolice to get the support they needed in order to perform their jobs.Furthermore, Woo claimed: "With the money we spend on liabilitysettlements, we could also hire scores of new officers to better protectour streets" (Woo B7). New York Times, p. 24. The Wall Street Journal,p. The Economist319: p. It wasfurther inflamed by the numerous accusations among city officials andmembers of the public that Police Chief Daryl Gates was failing to do hisjob. Despite the opposition of all these authorities toProposition F, the measure was passed. In some cases this may be true; however,it is also obvious that a Police Chief who stays on the job for life willhave more of a vested interest in the city as well as more experience inhandling the office. In a Wall Street Journal article, it wasclaimed that the proposed amendment might "lead to political corruption byputting the chief under the thumb of the mayor" (Ibid.). The purpose of Proposition F was to revise the City Charter which hadnot been changed since the 193 's. The editorial staff of the Los Angeles Timesalso expressed support for the proposition. (1992, May 27). In a Los Angeles Timeseditorial, Woo claimed that court cases stemming from the use of excessiveforce by the LAPD were costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars eachyear. However, because thebackers of Proposition F were able to capitalize on the fears of thepeople, the voters failed to hear the reasonable arguments of theamendment's opponents. (1992, May 29). Mydans, Seth. The Tom and Daryl show. In the words of a New York Timeswriter, it is important that the city have "a police department free frompolitical pressures" (Mydans 19). Although the proposition was designed to increasecity power over the police department, City Councilman Hal Bernson alsospoke out against the proposed changes in the city charter. For example, it was designed to eliminate the problems of racism andexcessive violence among the police. Councilman Michael Woo further aided the cause of PropositionF by appealing to the taxpayers of the city. All of these supporters had afavorable impact on the outcome of the voting. However, the same poll indicated that mostpeople, including the city's minorities, felt that the police themselveswere doing an effective job of controlling crime and "reaching out to theircommunities" (Ibid. This group acquired the support of many prominent people in thecity, including restaurant owner Don Clinton and actress Peggy Rowe Estrada(Sahagun & Simon B8). In this way, itwas argued that brutality, racism and other problems within the policedepartment would be overcome (Jefferson A6). A1+. riots and were thus persuaded by the ideas presented tothem by the city's political leaders. ----. Los Angeles Times, p. Because of the city's problems, a large percentage ofvoters agreed with the idea of removing Gates from office. In thewake of the various problems of recent years, the people were anxious totry something new in order to hopefully find solutions. Many voters agreed with some of theprovisions in the amendment package but disagreed with others.Specifically, many people agreed with the need to remove Daryl Gates fromoffice yet did not believe that it was necessary to restructure the entirepolice force to do so. B1+. (1992, May 31). This is unfortunate, because it is apparent that thepolice department would be more capable of doing its job without therestrictions of the charter amendment. The poll further indicated that the majority ofvoters felt that "the system by which the Police Department is run isbasically sound" (Ibid.). Works Cited Clifford, Frank, and Louis Sahagun. (1992, May 15). For years, Mayor Tom Bradley hadbeen engaged in an effort to have Police Chief Gates removed from office.This effort stemmed not from any misconduct on the part of Gates, butrather from the fact that Bradley disagreed with some of Gates' policies.When Gates refused to retire in the wake of the King beating, a politicalmovement began for finding a "referendum" which would oust the Police Chief(Jefferson A6). In reality, the whole issue surroundingProposition F was "anti-Gates" in nature. At the bottomline, it can be seen that the real divisive issue in Proposition F was thatof political posturing. Yet another provision of Proposition F was concerned withreforming the manner in which charges of police misconduct are handled.This provision increased the power of civilian authorities to disciplineofficers charged with misconduct. Its purpose was to increase civilian authority over thepolice department and to thus "hold the LAPD's top brass accountable to thepublic" (Woo B7). There are several problems and fallacies to be seen in Proposition F. Policereform proposals put on ballot. Thus, it was arguedthat the amendment's provisions "would actually have little effect on thelaw-enforcement concerns that animate its backers" (Ibid.). The major argument againstthe proposition was that it would politicize the police department andthereby encourage corruption. According to that charter, the city'sChief of Police was free from the political control of the Mayor and CityCouncil. Those who favored the proposition claimed that civiliancontrol over the police department would increase accountability andthereby reduce the number of incidents such as that seen in the Rodney Kingcase. A6. The proposition was concernedwith reforming the Los Angeles Police Department. The backers of Proposition F claimed that theseevents were signs of failure within the police department. Bycontrast, the strategy of the proposition's opponents was focused on aneffort to point out the faults of limiting police power. The hasty passageof Proposition F is especially troublesome because alternative solutions tothe city's problems were not tried first. The politicians in City Hall areclearly not qualified to make decisions of this nature. Los Angeles Times, p. The main argument in favor of Proposition F was that it would makethe police more accountable to the people of Los Angeles. Public support for the proposition washeightened by the fact that two former Los Angeles Police Chiefs, TomReddin and Ed Davis, spoke out in favor of the amendment (Mydans 19).Willie L. The focus of theprovisions was on limiting the power of the Police Chief rather than onactually solving the problems of crime in Los Angeles. Sahagun, Louis, and Richard Simon. Los Angeles Times: p. In the Juneprimary elections, the people of the city voted to pass Proposition F. Opponents of the proposal pointedout that the amendment would not only encourage corruption, but would makeit more difficult for the police to do their job. Gates' attorney, Jay Grodin, led an oppositiongroup known as Citizens for Integrity and Viability in the City Charter(CIVIC). (1992, February 26). Charter Amendment F, also known as Proposition F, was an importantissue in the June 1992 primary elections. What could be more political thanGates? Undoubtedly, this passage was dueto the fact that voters were confused over such issues as the Rodney Kingcase and the L.A. It was further noted that the police know how to do the job ofpreventing crime better than the politicians do. On the basis of this belief, many of the city's minority groupsbecame backers for the passage of Proposition F. It is apparent that the city already hastoo much power as it is, and this fact makes it ironic that the major themeof the Proposition F issue was to limit the power of the Police Chief.Removing police independence is not the way to handle the problems of crimein the streets. Police reform, buy-Americanproposals expected to be approved in Los Angeles. In particular,they accused Police Chief Gates of being responsible for the racism of thehandful of officers who had beaten King. Los Angeles has chance to show angerat Gates. (1991, April 13). However, this argument runs counter to the commonsense claim thatthe police themselves know best how to do their own jobs and can do sowithout the intervention of the city's political leaders. In reality, these problems are foundonly among a minority of the city's police. 19. He was given a life-time term and was prevented from removalunless "found guilty of misconduct" (Sahagun & Simon B8). The proponents of Proposition F were given an advantage by the factthat they had access to better resources for publicizing their point ofview. A "No on Charter Amendment F" campaignwas led by Geoffrey Garfield, and the Police Protective League (the unionrepresenting Los Angeles' police) also spoke out against the proposedamendment (Jefferson A6). In this regard,it is possible that Proposition F would never have passed if not for theissue of Gates' incumbency. Another problem with Proposition F was that itrequired voters to accept a variety of conditions rather than picking justthose that were important to them. In the LosAngeles Times, it was noted that placing the police under civilian controlwould "restrict the independence of the department and encouragecorruption" (Clifford & Sahagun A3 ). A3 ). B7.----------------------- 1 The idea behindallowing the Police Chief to be free from political control was that itwould eliminate the temptations for corruption in that high office.However, many people came to believe that the charter enabled the PoliceChief to have too much power on his own. The public responded favorably tothe strategy of emphasizing the need for "accountability" within the policedepartment. Thus, the proponents of Proposition F succeeded because they wereable to effectively appeal to the fears of the people of the city. Hopefully, now that Gates has retired and been replaced byWilliams, the city leaders will stop seeing the need for police autonomy asa political issue and will thus step back and let the new Chief do his jobas he sees fit. Inthis regard, the beating of Rodney King on March 3, 1991, was seen asindicative of "a pattern of brutality and racism in the department"(Ibid.). Many people supported the amendment because they believed thatthe police were prone to use excessive force as a result of racism. By removingcontrol from the Police Chief, the city leaders have limited the abilitiesof the one person who knows best how to get the job done and how to makeimportant decisions on law and order. Woo, Michael. According toBernson, passage of Proposition F would "destroy the integrity of thePolice Department" by returning it to a state of "political patronage"(Mydans 19). Ideas such as these would haveenabled the police department to retain its essential autonomy whileimproving its capabilities. Proposition F was designed with the intention of overcoming thisperceived problem. A poll conducted by the Los Angeles Times a fewweeks prior to the elections indicated that a majority of the city's votersdisapproved of Gates' methods. This seizure of control onthe part of the city's leaders provides an indication of a serious problemin local public policy making. 81% critical ofGates; Police reforms backed. To handle this type ofsituation, it would be more appropriate for the city to invest in betterpolice training programs than to try to restructure the entire department.Another fallacy can be seen in the idea that the city needs to have a newPolice Chief from time to time. The provisions of the proposition included the limitingof the Police Chief's office to two five-year terms. Inaddition, the amendment's proponents were able to exploit more effectivecampaign strategies because of the public's reactions to the Rodney Kingbeating and the riots which were motivated by the acquittal of the officersinvolved in that beating. The divisive ideologybehind the issue was that of police versus civilian control over matters oflaw and order. Therefore, the radicalreforms of the police department and the weakening of its power wereclearly not needed in order to remove Gates. Christopher wrote the proposed amendment and also headed thecommission which investigated the allegations of police brutality in theRodney King case (Jefferson A6). The leader behind the drive for the proposition was WarrenChristopher, the lawyer who had formerly served as Deputy Secretary ofState. Indoing so, the people were swayed by the ideological positions of the city'spolitical leaders. Because of this,they were swayed by the arguments that the proposed police reforms would"result in a stronger LAPD and safer streets" (Clifford & Sahagun A3 ). The world of citypolitics is far removed from the reality of crime on the streets.Therefore, political control over the police department would have adetrimental effect on the ability of the police to do what they must inorder to protect the people of the city. At the same time, the whole Proposition Fissue can be seen as having been a foregone conclusion from the start inthat Gates had been planning on retiring all along. Thus, the Mayor and certain members of the CityCouncil backed the proposal because its passage would give them more powerand control over police matters within the city. The issue became more heated in the wake of the 1992 riots. Williams, the former Police Commissioner of Philadelphia who wasslated to replace Daryl Gates soon after the primary elections, was also asupporter of the proposal. In addition, it increased "the statuteof limitations for bringing misconduct charges against an officer from oneyear after the date of an occurrence to one year after discovery of theincident" (Sahagun & Simon B8). Proposition F became a highly divisive issue within the city of LosAngeles. Jefferson, David J. The proposition alsogave the Mayor and City Council more power over the choosing and removal ofa Police Chief. The key players insupporting Proposition F included Mayor Tom Bradley and Council memberMichael Woo. The opponents of Proposition F included the Chief of Police DarylGates, who was against the amendment despite the fact that he was preparingfor his own retirement at the time. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.