LAPD's Response on City Attorney's Decision

Los Angeles: Today's decision by City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo that he will not file criminal charges against Minister Tony Muhammad and two of his security guards, now allows the LAPD to finalize its use of force administrative review of the August 25, 2024 incident.

The Department submitted its completed criminal request for filing of charges to the City Attorney's office on October 4, 2005.  The Department's internal investigation into the actions of the two involved officers was completed in May.  During that investigation 62 officers and 11 witnesses were interviewed.

With today's decision, the Department will now determine whether force used during the incident was within policy.

Comments

[Hard Working Resident]

What an outrage!!! This "Minister" was on audio tape challenging officers, refusing their lawful commands, and refusing to leave the scene when asked to numerous times. Now Rocky fails to do the right thing and prosecute him. What a joke, and to think this "leader" was trying to be Attorney General.

Just wait for the pending lawsuit against the LAPD, or will Rocky simply cave and pay off the "Minister" to get his political support. Disgusting!

[Ed O'Shea]

Well, today is another dark day for the future of the safety of the City of Los Angeles! Today Attorney Rocky Delgadillo, has further lowered the bar when it comes to following a lawful order given by a Police Officer during a violent confrontation. Another stain on our City. This city is going down in flames, with people like Rocky Delgadillo, Antonio Villaragosa, Constance Rice, John Mack and their ilk calling the shots. See, they are antipolice. Further evidence of this fact is that they have deemed it justified to strike a Police Officer while that Officer is performing his duties and attempting to restore order. Then when taken to task for his (Tony Muhammad) uncivilized and unlawful behavior drag that Police Officer and our Departments names down into the gutter where he typically dwells and does business. What ever happened to personal responsibility and accountability? I wonder how much Mr. Muhammad donated to Mr. Delgadillo's recent bid for higher office? If some "community leader" in West Los Angeles had struck a Police Officer while attempting to incite a riot he would be charged and most likely apologize for his antisocial and unlawful actions. Especially when most of his comments were caught on tape! But not Mr. Muhammad, he decries racism and Police brutality, immediately trumpeting out the race card. And people like Constance Rice wonder why there is so much despair and criminal activity in the South Centrals black community. Because most of the children have NO real positive male role models to show them how to act like a civilized human being. They are taught to hate the Police and question authority at ALL times! If Tony Muhammad was 1/2 a man and a true community activist he would have held a press conference and condemned his inappropriate actions. He would have told the black youths that he professes to be looking out for that you should use many LEGAL forums (like this blog) to voice your concerns and not resort to gutter Politics. And you do not strike anyone, just because your upset, especially a Police Officer or a fire Fighter when they are trying to perform there duties in helping someone. All Muhammad, with the help of Rocky Delgadillo, did was make a community less safe. And while Muhammad lives in his Posh home with his black panther like body guards and Delgadillo lives in his Posh westside home, the kids in South Central are reaping the whirlwind that people like the ones named have created. These poor kids and people are going to continue to be victimized by the gangs and used as pawns my Muhammad and his ilk. As for us Warrior Cops, we will back each other and continue to Police that third world country known as South Central Los Angeles. But this city needs to figure out who it really wants to keep safe, the kids, or the Political Hacks that attempt at all opportunities to promote civil unrest.
Funny I don't recall seeing Tony Mohammad, Constance Rice, or any of the self appointed "Community leaders" in the news condemning the actions of the black gang members that murdered the Hispanic family on 49th street at Central Ave? Come to think of it the only time we see their mugs on TV or in the paper is when they can further their cause, which is to make the black public further feel like victims of Police Abuse so that they, Muhammad and CO, can continue to victimize them and take their money. Their activity only makes this city less safe, in my opinion that makes them an integral part of the problem not the solution.

All my fellow Warrior cops, Stay Safe.
Ed O'Shea

PS:

In Defense of the “Warrior Cop”
There’s a time and place for intimidation.

By Jack Dunphy

At about 4:30 in the afternoon on June 30, a dark-colored SUV pulled to a stop on 49th Street, just east of Central Avenue in south Los Angeles. While the driver waited in the SUV, two men armed with rifles got out and began shooting at a group of people gathered in the front yard of a home. Together the gunmen fired 38 rounds, and when they drove off moments later, two young men and a 10-year-old boy lay mortally wounded among the shell casings littering the street. A fourth victim, a 12-year-old boy, was struck by gunfire but survived. Despite the offer of $105,000 in reward money, no arrests have been made in the case.

But for the number of people shot and the age of the youngest victim, this shooting was in no way an unusual incident in South Los Angeles. There are 19 patrol divisions in the LAPD, but of the 253 murders committed in the city this year as of July 15, nearly half have occurred in the four divisions that cover South L.A., an area that makes up only 43 of the city’s 473 square miles. Over the same period, a total of 634 people were shot in these same four divisions, compared with 501 shooting victims in the 15 divisions that cover the rest of the city.

Against this backdrop of carnage comes (yet another) report on the LAPD’s Rampart scandal, this one produced by a specially appointed “Blue Ribbon Rampart Review Panel.” Headed by civil-rights attorney Constance Rice, the panel’s charge was to determine whether the LAPD had sufficiently reformed itself in the wake of what has been called, against all reason, “one of the worst police scandals in American history.”

One must delve deeply into the report’s appendices in order to discover the true magnitude of the Rampart scandal, but when viewed strictly in terms of the number of officers involved it scarcely warrants such a grave description. A total of nine officers were charged with crimes in connection with the scandal. Of these, five pled guilty to state and/or federal charges, and three officers were convicted by a jury and a fourth was acquitted in a case that was at best tangential to the core of the scandal. But these convictions were later overturned by the trial judge, a ruling subsequently upheld by an appellate court. (Three of these officers were later awarded $5 million each by a federal jury that found that LAPD internal-affairs investigators had arrested them without probable cause.) Of the 86 officers sent to “boards of rights,” i.e. quasi-judicial administrative hearings, 54 were found not guilty on all counts, seven were fired or resigned, and 23 were suspended or reprimanded. (Information on two officers was not available to the board.) A stain on the LAPD, to be sure, but hardly one of the worst police scandals in American history.

In addition to reexamining the Rampart scandal, the report’s authors make an effort at prognostication, all but predicting another riot in south Los Angeles if a number of sweeping changes (read: an infusion of tax dollars) are not instituted. After a predictable litany of the social ills afflicting south L.A., there appears on page 21 of the report this ominous sentence: “These are not just underclass poverty descriptors; they are the trigger conditions for the city’s next riot.”

Among the potential sparks to this looming riot, the report claims, is the persistence of a “warrior mentality” within the LAPD, characterized by “loyalty, silence, retaliation, control, and aggression.” This mentality has been replaced by a more friendly, problem-solving model of policing in Rampart Division, says the report, but it persists in the high-crime neighborhoods of south Los Angeles. Heather Mac Donald, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, effectively shredded this contention in Sunday’s Los Angeles Times. “As for the allegation that inner-city officers cling stubbornly to an arrogant ‘warrior mentality,’” Mac Donald writes, “the report offers no hint that any panel member ever rode along with officers or observed their interactions with the public.”

Indeed, the report is rife with anecdotes and innuendoes, but there is little in the way of hard data that would support its main thesis. A further quote from Mac Donald’s piece illustrates the point: The panel's remaining conclusions are just as unsubstantiated. It charges that planting evidence "may not be a thing of the past" based on one sting that provoked questionable behavior on the part of a Rampart officer. The report does not disclose how many stings were conducted over what period of time before one proved fruitful — a data-free method of analysis that characterizes the entire report. This anecdote more accurately supports the opposite conclusion: that the LAPD is relentlessly monitoring itself to make sure Rampart corruption does not reoccur. What the report merely hints at, and what Mac Donald touches on only briefly, is the difference between the neighborhoods in the now cleaned-up Rampart Division and those in the yet untamed regions beyond the Santa Monica Freeway. Rampart, just west of downtown L.A. has for years been predominantly Latino, while much of south Los Angeles remains mostly black. I know we’re not supposed to talk about such things, but violent crime in Los Angeles is much more prevalent among blacks than among Latinos, as evidenced by the city’s murder statistics for 2005. There were 486 murders committed in Los Angeles last year, and though blacks constituted only about 11 percent of the city’s population they made up 40 percent of its known murder suspects. By comparison, Latinos made up about 45 percent of the city’s population and about half of its murder suspects in 2005. Whites accounted for just six percent of the city’s murders last year.

One can argue all day long about the reasons for this disparity, but the numbers can neither be ignored nor hidden behind platitudes about “problem-solving” policing. The main problem afflicting south Los Angeles, at least as far as its police are concerned, is that of people shooting each other. Though the latest Rampart report decries what it describes as intimidation tactics among south L.A.’s “warrior” cops, it’s fair to say that the two men mentioned above who, in broad daylight and at close range, murdered a 10-year-old and two others, were not feeling overly intimidated.

May they feel it soon.

— Jack Dunphy is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. "Jack Dunphy" is the author's nom de cyber. The opinions expressed are his own and almost certainly do not reflect those of the LAPD management.

[Jim Reed]

Another case of the City of Los Angeles not standing up to support their police officers. The City Attorney caves in and has no back bone to file charges on the Minister and has taken the check book out and is now prepaired to write a check.

If I were the Chief, I would be outraged. He tries so hard to have everyone of his officers provide the best service possible and not to be supported by the City Attorney??? I hope that this does not discourage him from going for another 5 year term as Chief.

[Ed]

Hey Lt., sorry about the doubling of the Jack Dunphy article. I didn't see that it was put up until after i posted.

[LA Citizen]

As a citizen of Los Angeles, I have to say that I am VERY VERY VERY disappointed in LA's City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo. I have to agree with Hard Working Resident in that Rocky just caved into political pressure. He is no leader, and a poor example to our community, and the LAPD. As a true leader, one must at times make unpopular decisions, however our City Attorney made the easy choice. I am so very disappointed and believe that Rocky not only disrespected the officers that were involved, but he also disrespected the silent majority of the citizens who really care about the welfare of the officers who work for the LAPD. I guess refusing and challenging officer's commands is no crime in the city of Los Angeles. I wonder what would happen to the average citizen who did that to officers working in Orange County???

[Disgusted]

What a bunch of political correct nonsense. Our elected leaders have no backbone and even less common sense. But then again, I really have come to expect nothing less from them. Which is a sad commentary on the state of political affairs in Los Angeles. It use to be such a nice place when I was growing up in the 1950's, but now the political correctness and lack of moral values displayed by our elected civic leaders has turned this once great city into shambles. It is not run for the betterment of hard working, honest citizens, but by criminals and special interest groups, to which these leaders leave the police powerless to stop. Chief Bratton and elected officals complain that officers are shot at and assaulted to often in Los Angeles, but yet when given the opportunity to send a message to those responsible for such acts like Mr. Muhammed, they do nothing. My father taught me that Actions speak louder than words, and this action by Mr. Delgadillo speaks volumes.

To all the LAPD officers, I pray for your safety in these trying times, from both criminals and politicians alike.

[1BnMarine]

Rocky should be fired. What a lack of courage!!! Put a person with real ability to make decisions in there. What is Rocky going to do when he has to make a real important decision? Is he always going to give into political pressure?

[KS]

I've lately had cause to be in the areas patrolled by SE, SW, and 77th. I feel safe wherever I go. I notice these areas have a strong number of hardworking street cops, alert and oriented, but not hypervigililant, men and women who care very much about the people in these neighborhoods where I was a child, as do I. I didn't see Minister Muhammad, or Mr. Delgadillo. The officers are great role models, but where is the rest of the village, people?

[Lt. De La Torre]

Jim,,,
No problem,,it is an interesting article.

[Concerned Citizen]

Ed...you're a good man. I do a lot of volunteering at 77th and have gone on several ride-alongs with all of the LAPD Divisions. I went on one a while back with a Sgt in a southend Gang Unit...all I can say is I was so impressed with the level of professionalism not just shown by the Sergeants, but all the P-1's and P-2's I meet. These guys and gals are totally dedicated professionals who really DO want to help the communities they serve and I have no doubt they DO make a difference. I'm disgusted that this City Attorney made such a horrible decision. This sends the message that you can ignore Cops when they they give you orders, you can assault cops and it sends a message to the public in general that the LAPD is somehow at fault here.....Shame on you Rocky....you're a BUM!

[EL]

Someone please step up to the plate and replace this politician (ROCKY) that does not have a backbone!!!

[Mr.T]

hello Ed!!! Why do you leave novels for everyone to read on this site and other ones? Can you minimize please! geeeesh!!
I feel like I need to curl up in a big chair next to the fire place to read your stuff.

[Roland White]

South End Officers--

Yet another demonstration of lack of support for the working street cop. We are continuously sacrificed in the name of political expediency. Criminal wacked with a flashlight...fire the P2 and take a tool from all the rest. Fourteen-year-old criminal in stolen car tries to run over cop...cook the P2 and change policy. Criminal gang member's feelings hurt...two day suspension for bad words (second offense). If, however, you are struck, spit on, have your badge ripped from your shirt, kicked, bit or cut (less than twenty stiches) you must never count on "our" City Attorney to file charges against the criminal. They might have to work a case which could endanger their ninety-seven percent conviction rate. The rules have been set by the State of California, City Attorney and the LAPD brass. Look in your Use-of-Force Manuel as provided by the Department. Look in the California Penal Code. You have the right to defend yourselves from attack and use the ammount of force necessary to overcome resistance. The point is this: When attacked in any of the above ways, use force. Use it within the guidelines of the Department. Use it within the guidelines of the Penal Code. Use it as hard and as fast and as brutal as possible to overcome the resistance. Then stop. Payment must be made in the street because it is painfully obvious that there will be no payment in court. If criminals are only to fear repercussions from court then they have nothing to fear.

[John Winklen]

Such a shame that Rocky, the Big city attorney could not make the obvious correct choice. I can't wait till election time. He will DEFINETELY NOT get my Vote!!!!

[THE.CASTLE]

What else do you expect a person in his position to do. He doesnt want to make the hard decision. There maybe a time down the line when Rocky may need something from the battery on a police officer suspect. he cant burn any bridges. It hurts and we all get that feeling of being alone when the city attorney does something like this, but remember, that CA is'nt and won't ever be there when this occurs again. That is why we are the police and he gets to chill and second guess us later. I hope that all you officers out there follow the rules, do the job right. but i dont expect any of you to get hurt or die because of policy or rules or what some LT may say to you in roll call. Go home every night, and make sure yor partner goes home, make sure the officers in your department go home. but dont ever let the rules dictate what has to be done, when it comes down to it, it's your ass that is going to feel the imediate pain of any hesitation. being a los angeles police officer is great, and it would hurt if someone told you could no longer be one because of a use of force, but as long as you have a clear conscious,your intentions were well meant and you believe in what you did, that is all that matters. that is very easy to say, considering all that we would be losing,but we, you, would be alive and healthy. besides, there is'nt anyone on this earth that could hurt us the way GOD could, and in the end, that is all that will matter. i hope my point is understood. becareful, and do it right.....

[Ed O'Shea]

AMEN, Roland White!

[Jim Reed]

It is very interesting to note that the City Attorney had the case and waited until approximately 2 weeks before the statute ran. How much time does that spineless Rocky need to make a decision?????

We need people who have a clear view of right and wrong and who can make a decision. And you ask Police Officers to enforce the law with no back up from the City Attorney. Sham on you Rocky.

[Lt. De La Torre]

Mr Castle,

Some interesting points. However, why point it back to some Lieutenant, this Department has many good leaders at every rank, including yours. Your absolutely correct continuing doing your job in the manner you were trained.

Dwight David Esisenhower said leaderships is "The ability to get other people to do, What you want them to do, because they want to do it." I think this quote applies to law enforcement.

[Dee Que]

Not enough evidence? Since when is the sworn testimony of a sworn law enforcement officer (in this case two sworn officers) not enough to convict, especially when the conversation is on TAPE! MY opinion of our justice systme took a real nose dive when Damien "Football" Williams could not be convicted for smacking Reginald Denning with a brick and fire extinguisher when the event was clearly visible on video tape! The moral compass has done a 180. Why is there such confusion about who are the good guys and who are the bad guys?

I was on scene at that event after Mr. mohamed "allegedly" acted so shamlessly. I am about as disgusted with Mr. Delgadillo's decision not to prosecute as I was by the actions of some of our lovely LA Citizens towards our guys in Blue!

[Quinn]

>What a joke, and to think
>this "leader" was trying to
>be Attorney General.

Well, look at his opponent, who takes subjects of criminal investigations out to lunch. So in comparison, Rocky ain't so bad.

[THE.CASTLE]

LT,
Dont get me wrong, it was'nt a jab at your rank, or any other LT's rank. LT's are usually the WC's and usually have the last word prior to going to work. And you're right, there are plenty of great leaders at all ranks. Although some just believe in career survival, and not just "surviving".
I appreciate all that the dept has given me, i am not disgruntled or have a beef with the city that provides my family and i the ability to have what we need, and most of what we want.
I have also been a vict of someone only seeing evil in what i did as an officer, but i know and understand that that type of leadership is the minority. It hasnt changed my view, because i knew at the time that i was doing what needed to be done. And after a very long time of answering phones and handing out equiptment, when my incident came back exonerated..i was....but i can also understand why some officers feel the way they do, the city attorney lets them down, a supervisor on a mission, tries to burn them for whatever reason. Those who deserve it,let them get what is coming, but not everyone does.

I dont know much about you LT, but I'd follow you into the riot zone with no ?'s asked if you asked me to...Thats how we do it at THE.CASTLE................

Oh yeah, in closing, this short, funny looking, spikey hair wearing P2 once said "If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready".

[B&W; Op]

I just attended a 4-day conference on Gang Violence in Anaheim. One of the speakers was C.A. Delgadillo and he spent 10-15 minutes patting himself and his office on the back about all the gang injunctions he put into place to help rid communities of these street terrorists.

Only one problem. Mr. Delgadillo can't or won't control his own attorneys. Where I work, gang officers make dozens of gang injunction violation arrests on a regular basis. When they go file the cases, they are told by the filing C.A. that he doesn't believe in and doesn't like injunctions. After all, these hoodlums that grew up together in the hood shouldn't be prohibited from chatting with each other. Needless to say, this particular filing C.A. has instituted his own checklist or "rules" that must be met before an injunction violation charge is filed.

In other words, the LAPD is out doing it's darnest to arrest community predators and the C.A.'s office is turning the arrestees loose without charges, so they can go on violating the injunctions without penalty. The LAPD officers then are the victims of complaints from the gangster's enabling families, for "harassing their kids" and "false arrest."

Great, isn't it? Not surprising that LAPD officers can't be seen as victims by the C.A.'s office. And not surprising that attrition is still a problem in Los Angeles.