DORMER, THE LAPD AND A PSYCHOLOGICAL “CEMETERY FULL OF GHOSTS”
“We’ve got a cemetery of ghosts from LAPD’s past raised by this tragic—beyond tragic— catastrophe,” said civil rights attorney Connie Rice, when she and LAPD expert, Joe Domanick, associate director of the Center on Media Crime and Justice, and author of the definitive history of the LAPD, “To Protect and to Serve,” were interviewed by Madeleine Brand on KCET’s So Cal Connected about what the Dorner nightmare means for the LAPD going forward.
Both Rice and Domanick have looked into the LAPD deeply over the years, and thus have much to add to the developing conversation. Here’s the link.
LA WEEKLY REPORTS THAT SHERIFF LEE BACA SEEMS TO PLAY FAVORITES WHEN HE GIVES OUT CONCEALED CARRY PERMITS
Gene Maddeus at the LA Weekly reports, based on documents obtained by the Weekly through the public records act, that Sheriff Lee Baca approves very few concealed weapons permits but those he does approve are likely to be for his friends and/or his donors.
Here’s a clip from the story:
The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department is known in gun-rights circles for being stingy with concealed-weapons permits. Sheriff Lee Baca has total discretion over who is allowed to get a permit, and he hasn’t given out many.
As of May 2012, only 341 people had been granted them, according to sheriff’s records. Compare that with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which had 1,754 permit holders in 2011, despite a population of just 2 million people to L.A.’s 10 million. The Kern County Sheriff granted even more, with 3,564 permit holders in a population of 800,000 people.
In L.A. County, records show, most of the permits go to judges and reserve deputies. But there is another group that seems to have better luck than most in obtaining permits: friends of Lee Baca. Those who’ve given the sheriff gifts or donated to his campaign are disproportionately represented on the roster of permit holders.
Chuck Michel, a gun-rights attorney who has pushed for greater access to concealed-weapons permits, says practices in many “anti-gun” jurisdictions are “corrupted by favoritism and cronyism.”
Michel had not looked in depth at L.A. County’s practices, but the Weekly did. Last year, the Weekly filed a public records request for all 341 active concealed-weapons permits granted by the Sheriff’s Department — as well as a list of the 123 people who applied for concealed weapons over an 18-month period but were denied….
And here’s where you can find the list of permit holders that the Weekly acquired.
MORE ON THE DORNER SEIGE AND THE USE OF “BURNERS”
The LA Times Joel Rubin and Andrew Blankstein have the best story I’ve read thus far on the ongoing question of whether the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department SWAT team deliberately set fire to the cabin where Dorner was barricaded.
The department has said no, then declined to comment on the matter further. But based on the Times’ and other reporting this seems a bit disingenuous. Whether or not it was the stated intent, it was the all but guaranteed outcome after sending in seven highly incendiary tear gas devices into a mountain cabin.
Rubin and Blankstein find expert opinions on both sides of the question of whether the move was justified. In the end, however, one is left with the picture of an extremely difficult and deadly situation with no perfect choices after Dorner did not respond, except with gunfire, to repeated calls to surrender.
CONFIDENTIAL COUNTY REPORT SHOWS AN INCOMPETENT AND OVER BUREAUCRATIZED FOSTER CARE SYSTEM THAT RESULTED IN 13 RECENT KIDS’ DEATHS WHEN DCFS WORKERS’ MADE INCOMPREHENSIBLY BAD DECISIONS
Jason Song and Garrett Therolf report for the LA Times. Here’s a clip:
A stifling bureaucracy and inept workforce have crippled Los Angeles County’s child protective agency, resulting in a system that allowed children to remain in unsafe homes, sometimes to die at the hands of their caretakers, according to a confidential county report.
The investigation, conducted by an independent counsel for the Board of Supervisors, looked at 15 recent child deaths and a torture case. In all but two instances, investigators found that casework errors began with the agency’s first contact with the children and contributed to their deaths.
The report is the harshest assessment of the Department of Children and Family Services in recent memory, echoing complaints from child advocates that the county has rejected for years.
Investigators largely blamed the department’s problems on its decision to place its least experienced social workers in its most crucial job: assessing dangers to children. Many of those workers — facing a total of 160,000 child abuse hot line calls each year — are “just ‘doing their time,'” according to the report.
Supervisors are poorly qualified and often disregard policy, creating a situation akin to “the blind leading the blind,” with workers rarely held accountable for “egregious” errors, the report said.
The result has been deaths that might have been prevented had social workers taken basic steps to assess the risks.
Here’s a link to the report that the LA Times obtained.
In short, this is an agency in need of an overhaul. We very much hope that Philip Browning, the newest DCFS chief who came on just as the report was being completed, is up to the task of making the “wholesale changes” the report recommends. Browning was picked because he’s known as a solid nuts and bolts guy capable of turning things around.
He cautions that this will not be a quick fix.
No kidding.
GUN ADVOCATES & DEATH THREATS: SENATOR LELAND YEE GETS A THREAT “LIKE NO OTHER.”
On Thursday, State Senator Leeland Yee, held a press conference to announce an extremely chilling threat against his life. Rather than paraphrase, let me quote from his statement on the matter:
Four weeks ago, I received an email to my Senate account detailing a very explicit threat on my life. The author of the email specifically stated that if I did not cease our legislative efforts to stop gun violence that he would assassinate me in or around the Capitol. He stated that he was a trained sniper and his email detailed certain weapons he possessed.
This threat was unlike any other I had ever received. It was not a racist rant on my ethnicity or culture, but instead it was very deliberate and specific. As a psychologist, I was deeply concerned by the calculating nature of this email.
My Chief of Staff immediately forwarded the email to the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the CHP to investigate.
As you know, law enforcement made an arrest on Tuesday and executed a search warrant of the suspect’s home in which they found illegal weapons and bomb-making materials. I have no other details regarding this case and all such questions should be directed to the CHP.
With that said, I want to make it crystal clear – these threats and any others will not deter me and my colleagues from addressing the critical issues surrounding gun violence. This case is very troubling and only further demonstrates the need to address this epidemic.
The San Francisco Chron has more on the story.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because of the nature of what I’ve reported on over the years, I’ve gotten more than my share of angry letters and the occasional not-so-veiled threat. But nothing approached the flood of hatred and genuinely scary threats I got back the spring of 2000 for an essay I wrote for MSNBC (where I was, at the time, a regular columnist) about my experience bringing my then-fourteen year old son to the so-called Million Mom March for gun control.
AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE TOPIC, NEW REPORT SAYS LA RESIDENTS APPLY TO BUY 200 GUNS A DAY
Yikes.
Rick Orlov of the Daily News has the story. Here’s a clip:
Los Angeles residents apply to buy 200 guns a day, an alarming number making it difficult to get weapons off the street, City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said in a preliminary report on gun purchases in Los Angeles.
“With Angelenos buying an average of nearly 200 firearms every day, thousands every month and tens of thousands every year, I will do everything in my power to keep guns out of the hands of people interested only in destroying the lives of children, families and police officers,” Trutanich, who is in a close re-election race, said in a written statement.
The results are based on letters his office began sending out in December during the 10-day waiting period for people buying guns. The letters reminds gun owners to keep the weapons safe and report when weapons are lost or stolen.
“If we can stop just one person from buying a gun who is prohibited from possessing a weapon, or stop someone from buying guns for felons or the mentally ill, then perhaps we have also stopped another senseless tragedy,” the letter said.
The letters were sent out as a follow-up to a study by the RAND Corp. that said 50 percent of people will voluntarily comply with local laws if they are informed of the requirements.
“Our intent was to make them aware of the laws and what they have to do under the law,” Trutanich said in an interview. “Our purpose was to get more compliance.”
Actually I beleive the city attorney getting information on gun purchases is illegal. The city attorney isnt running the background and cities are not entitled to keep registration information so the question is who is giving them this. Also what do they do with the information after they send out this questionable letter? Also how a person buying a gun adds to “guns on the street” is beyond me. Guns on the street implies and has always until twisted by the media guns carried and used by criminals. A person buying a firearm passed the background so they arent a criminal except in the eyes of the media and LA City. Time for the smart ones to buy outside the city and cut the city out of the sales tax.
Rex Parris, the mayor of Lancaster, and his wife Carrol Parris both got a CCW permit from Baca. Rex donated to Baca’s campaign fund. But Rex is always “honoring” Baca. He had him at the city council meeting Tuesday, to hand him ANOTHER award. (He gets a discount at the printers)
Last year Carrol Parris was arrested trying to take her gun on her flight at Burbank airport. She said she got the wrong purse. So much for responsible gun owners on Baca’s “friend” list.
These people who believe they should have waited Dorner out are hilarious. How long should they have waited? Four days? two weeks? a month?
How much food was in the cabin? Maybe they should have waited until Dorner starved to death lol.
All the while other citizens are placed in danger re: so many resources being tied up surrounding the cabin in a siege.
Dorner killed hinself. The cops didn’t kill him. He could have surrendered. DORNER chose not to.
ANYBODY who criticizes the cops response to this incident is grasping at straws. It shows their blatant anti-cop bias.
There is no, nor should be no, “conversation” about this incident. Folks with a racial bias are attempting to make this a racial incident. It is not, but it fits their bias, it fits their agenda. If Dorner was White, this would be a non-issue, non-incident and there would be no “conversation.” Folks are looking to tie this to history not the present. Some folks are looking at this as the OJ Simpson jury looked at his 187 charges, “jury nullification” because OJ is Black and the victims were White, “we gotta make up for slavery and mistreatment so we say, “Not guilty.” The same mentality is in these stories about “conversation.” Dorner is a zero and a loser who happened to be Black and history will remember him as such. When LAPD releases all of the information on this guy, from his Background investigation, his academy performance and demonstrated performance while on probation, the facts will be for all to read and make their own conclusion. End of conversation.
#4: For sure, Dorner went about expressing a probably legitimate grievance the wrong way. A probably better way http://articles.latimes.com/2003/dec/18/local/me-settle18
Agreed 100% 4th Floor. To have a “conversation” about the things that Dorner alleged in his manifesto is to give legitimacy to him.
The LAPD has come a very long way.
Some people believe that not to be the case.
I don’t understand how people cannot see that having official and publicized “conversations” concerning Dorner’s allegations sends a very dangerous message. Except for the extremely mentally I’ll, every murderer has grievances.
For those that do believe LAPD is still the same as it was “back in the day”, here’s my response to them.
And murdering people who have never worked for LAPD addresses the problem exactly how?
Trust me, if Dorner was white, how much drama would be playing out right now? Nada ladies and gentleman.
No matter how many times we take racial sensitivity, hold hands with Baca and Bishop Turner, none of it will change the way a person thinks deep down. Not saying it’s right, but it’s reality, and this is all over the world.
I personally don’t like affirmative action, sensitivity training, and every other way to shove nonsence down my throat. I believe the way I believe, and I feel it is fair to all regardless of the person’s color or beliefs. I don’t care or need the federal government or other entities to teach me how to behave. Get realistic people. Spend all the money you want to train me, but in those classes my mind is dreaming about that hot chick eating the Carl’s Junior charbroiled fish sandwich.
Dorner sent Bill Bratton a coin with 3 bullet holes in it. Obviously the LAPD was badly managed with him (Bill) overseeing it. Now, his then assistant Police Chief, Jim McDonnel, wants to be Sheriff?
COMICAL.
Absolutely NOT!!
comment #4 said:
“Some folks are looking at this as the OJ Simpson jury looked at his 187 charges, “jury nullification” because OJ is Black and the victims were White, “we gotta make up for slavery and mistreatment so we say, “Not guilty.”… ”
No matter how convenient and popular your hypothesis explaining how the O.J. Simpson criminal jury arrived at an acquittal, the analysis is fundamentally incorrect.
Race was a factor in Johnnie Cochran’s strategy for defending O.J. Simpson, but not the dynamic you presented of a choice to favor the white murder victim or the accused black murderer.
The underlying racial dynamic was between a black man who rose to wealth and celebrity versus a white police establishment. The police are assumed to operate under an already prejudiced mindset exacerbated by resentment that O.J. has gained the wealth and status allowing him to circulate among and live next-door to the elite white upper class – which the blue-collar policeman cannot do.
The existing prejudice with added resentment contributes toward a “rush to judgement” – not intentionally malicious, but rather an affliction carried by the white police establishment which they are unable to control or cure.
You also hypothesized “jury nullification” to make-up for slavery. The defense never attempted to prompt Simpson’s jurors into such outlandish reasoning.
However, Johnnie Cochran did ask the jury for a sort of “nullification” – of forensic evidence which the police provided to the prosecution.
Overshadowed at the time of the trial and long since almost forgotten today – that O.J. Simpson’s trial followed a period of scandalous exposures concerning the work product from the LAPD crime lab.
Cochran isn’t allowed to present the argument directly into the trial. Instead, it was cleverly wrapped in allegory
when Johnnie Cochran famously admonished the jurors “if the glove doesn’t fit, then you must acquit.”
Which is to say –
” the LAPD crime lab got caught for certifying bad work that has been used in other cases – their credibility should be rated as very low.
We can’t accept any evidence from them unless it has been handled perfectly.
If we find any problem, such as a flaw in the chain of control documentation on a blood sample, then imagine what kind of errors or falsifications may have been covered up? It must be rejected.”
Jim McDonnel is apparently willing to become Sheriff of L.A. County.
Who would support him?
He is the choice of those who place the highest priority on keeping deputy files completely closed from public view.
Whether McDonnel would actively challenge Sheriff Lee Baca for election is yet to be seen, but circulating his name is important for those concerned with keeping the files closed.
It allows LASD employees to become familiar with McDonnel’s name and develop some affinity for him.
LASD employee support would come into play as a critical factor if Sheriff Lee Baca was unable to finish out his current term of office.
The Board of Supervisors is responsible for selecting a replacement Sheriff to finish the term.
The Supervisors will be under strong pressure to appoint someone who the deputies favor to lead them.
Re: prophet mo’ tef
In my humble opinion, the jury in the OJ Simpson trial were empowered as no jury before them. They used used that power to make a political statement. Nothing more. The actual guilt or innocence wasn’t even part of the equation. Mr. Cochran did nothing more than give them an opportunity to make that statement. I was there when the jurors were released from service. The joy in their verdict was apparent.
There is now a Wikipedia article on Christopher Dorner with 49 footnotes and a good number
of external links. This article can be Googled, and the wikipedia link is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Dorner
Prophet, I often agree with your point of views, this time, in my informed opinion, I disagree. Bandwagon, you are spot on. I had an unbelievable opportunity to have dinner with one of the OJ jurors after the trial. It was an unvarnished and brutally honest conversation about this individual’s perspective of the evidence. I will tell you I was absolutely shocked at what I heard come out of this individual’s mouth. I absolutely could not believe my ears. From my informed perspective, the OJ jury engaged in “jury nullification,” absolutely hands-down. Judge Ito was an embarrassment and frankly, a joke while on the bench of that particular trial. Fools danced in the street celebrating the “White man’s gotta pay” verdict. The same mindset is with the fools who think Dorner had an issue with LAPD and “understand” why he did what he did. As soon as Chief Beck releases the facts of his termination, the public will have an opportunity to make an informed decision. The liberal media is perpetuating that Dorner is some type of folk hero, they are who they are. The fools who dance in the street behind this moron, are who they are. Nothing will change either of them because, they are who they are. I’m quite tired of this topic, Dorner is a POS loser who will be buried in an old, beat up Roytan cigar box. His name will be synonymous with Charlie Manson, Cinque and Ted Bundy.
4th floor, don’t put dorner in the same group as manson,bundy, etc. They weren’t cop killers, they just killed ordinary people that are a dime a dozen in this big world we live in.
dorner committed the all mighty crime that will place him in a suspension of perpetual pain and suffering that only he will experience
4th floor – that was an insightful experience with a juror from the O.J. Simpson criminal trial. The task of finding 12 impartial jurors must have been monumental, considering all sensationalism, celebrity and media exposure surrounding the case.
It appears the juror that you met may have been insincere during the selection process. In most cases a potential juror may be tempted towards insincerity because they want to be dismissed or disqualified and sent home.
But for a trial ensconced in celebrity and media exposure, we can only assume that some potential jurors lied during the selection process so they would not be dismissed.
prophet. Why do you think they call jurors “12 licensed drivers?” That’s all they are, except in California, less than half are licensed drivers. Jurors are the catch of bottom fishing.
The justice system is a joke and we all know it. Just ask any civil rights attorney.
http://www.theavtimes.com/2013/02/23/jury-selected-in-trial-over-av-hospital-scuffle/