Los Angeles, CA. -- A former TV and Radio personality who also served as a LAPD Disciplinary Hearing Officer, alleges the Police Commission is participating in a "cover up" of responsibility for the police beatings that occurred in Mac Arthur Park during the immigrant rally on May Day. FULL DISCLOSURE NETWORK® presents an eight minute Video News Blog featuring Xavier Hermosillo's remarks and in sharp contrast the comments from LAPD Police Commission President John Mack and former Police Commission President Edith Perez. The video is available for viewing on the Internet 24/7, on demand as a public service.
Here are a few highlights from the Video News Blog:
- Xavier Hermosillo, maintains the Commission used a much different process to evaluate Chief Bill Bratton than they did with Chief Bernard Parks and the Bratton evaluation took place out of the public eye.
- John Mack, current President of the Police Commission praises Bratton as "a man of the 21st Century".
- Edith Perez: Former President of the Commission describes the thorough evaluation process used when considering Chief Willie Williams for re-appointment.
- Police Shootings & Beatings: Hermosillo points out major incidents that happened on Bratton's watch, citing the Devon Brown shooting, Susie Pena shooting and the Stanley Miller flashlight beating.
- Xavier Hermosillo says that Bratton is blaming others for what should be his responsibility, citing his own phone call to NYPD where he claims they verified one hundred flashlight beating incidents in New York, while Bratton was Chief.
- Corruption, in the City of Los Angeles, is what Hermosillo says has led to the current situation and he blames Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa who has the ultimate responsibility for appointing a Chief.
VIEWERS MAY PARTICIPATE IN AN ONLINE SURVEY BY CASTING THEIR VOTES ON THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- Do you think the Los Angeles Police Commission merely rubberstamped Bratton's reappointment because Mayor Villaraigosa wanted Bratton to remain as chief?
- Do you agree that Bill Bratton should serve another five year term as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department?
- Do you think it was proper to reappoint Chief Bratton while the May 1st "May Day Melee" is still under investigation?
- Why do you think the Los Angeles media has become silent after suffering abuse at the hands of the LAPD
REBUTTALS ENCOURAGED: Viewers are invited to participate by posting their comments in the section below on the video page. Known as "the news behind the news" Full Disclosure Network® cable television programs are featured on 43 cable systems and the Internet since 1992. In 2002 the Full Disclosure® special series "L. A.'s War Against Terrorism" was recognized by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with a local Emmy Award for a public affairs, informational series. Channels and airtimes can be found on the website at www.fulldisclosure.net.
Comments to date: 14. This is page 1 of 2.
Homer Springfield
Posted: 11:19 am [PST] on May 03 2009
Bratton is a narcisist; he simply loves himself and anyone who pays him homage. He loves to strut around as the boss and will only speak to you if you have any positive collateral effect on his career. Ask him yourself. He subsidized his advancement as an ubergruppenfuhrer chief on the backs of other fine officers and superiors in Boston and New York. Check it out, folks!!!
Monroe Jeffrey L.A., CA 90021
Posted: 06:20 am [PST] on October 03 2008
Seems like there may be 'conflict of interest' going-round !
Joshua Murcia Ontario
Posted: 01:58 am [PST] on December 31 2007
I agree with the fact that Chief Bratton likes to turn hot situation around. I attended the second march a week later after the maleen. My friend and I approached Cheif Bratton 6 times asking him question, he would walk away and than he forced little immigrant childeren to take pictures with him so he can look human. May Villargosa scratched Chief Bratton back, becuase of the political power of the Christian evangilical gang czar that cheif bratton appointed. The power could help villargosa politicaly for governor race.
Paul Jackson L.A.
Posted: 12:47 am [PST] on October 29 2007
For over a century the people of L.A. have swung back and forth, never able to decide whether they want an independent police department, or one that's under the thumb of the politicians. Since the early 1990s we've gone back to where the police chief has to be a politician himself, and kiss the backsides of the elected and appointed officials. I'd rather go back to the likes of chiefs Reddin, Davis, and, except for his occasional boorishness, Parker. The police should be totally independent of politics, but that's impossible under the present system.
Martin Greenblatt Marina del Rey
Posted: 07:54 pm [PST] on October 27 2007
Chief Bratton is an outstanding police leader, and has greatly enhanced the quality of life and public safety of our City.
N.R. DeLuca Toluca Lake, CA
Posted: 06:03 pm [PST] on October 27 2007
Chief has rolled the crime rate in reverse. I only hope his replacement is a shadow of this man. I welcome the chief for another term. Our family is sleeping safer. Just realize this.
Leslie Dutton Los Angeles
Posted: 05:55 am [PST] on August 06 2007
Dear Rachael Garcia: Full Disclosure contacted LAPD media relations a number of times to invite Chief Bratton to provide his response to criticism on the MacArthur Park police abuse and to the reports that injured members of the media were filing lawsuits against the city for being beaten during the incident. Chief Bratton, we were told, has said that he does not want to talk about the incident any more.
We always encourage comments and rebuttals.
Also, at the beginning of our video on Yagman, when I introduced him, I mentioned that he had been recently convicted and contrary to your perception, another viewer called on the Yagman video to tell us that the "look on my face" indicated we favored the LAPD.
It is interesting to note all the contrasting viewer opinions on our videos. And, we are pleased that people are watching and care enough to participate.
Thanks for YOUR feed back. I hope you cast your vote in our survey.
Rachel Garcia Los Angeles
Posted: 05:29 am [PST] on August 06 2007
I think your segment on this issue was unbalanced and bias. The overwhelming majority of the city supported Chief's Bratton's reappointment. If you read the survey polls on all the media websites after the MacArthur Park incident you would know that the PEOPLE supported the officers. Your show has become so distorted you have lost many viewers. You had Steve Yagman an attorney who has lost many cases against LAPD yet you failed to at least put a caption stating he is now doing time in federal prison for 19 counts of federal indiciments. Your show has lost credibility and no longer is the show we use to enjoy watching. Blogs have stated this fact many times. Now I know why Bernard Parks tried to stop your show fro airing
Leslie Dutton Los Angeles
Posted: 11:00 am [PST] on July 30 2007
I am reserving any personal opinion on the May Day incident until the results of all the investigations are released. However, I did think it was interesting that the news media has been silent ever since.
Robert Los Angeles
Posted: 09:37 am [PST] on July 30 2007
Almost everyone who has been following the regular news stories on the MacArthur Park Melee has been getting it wrong. Even Leslie Dutton apparently believes the LAPD was guilty of abuse on May 1st. But what actually happened was this: some "agitators" in the crowd of demonstrators intentionally played games with our LAPD, baiting and taunting them. They threw objects at the police, then ran inside the park full of demonstrators. The agitators knew that the police would chase after them, resulting in an awkward, unintentional mixing with the regular demonstrators. They knew the police would have no choice but to close down the demonstration before daylight ended. Then, some agitators and demonstrators intentionally moved too slowly to exit the park, hoping to confound the police, and pretended not to understand their orders to leave the park. In some cases, the police had no choice but to use some aggression on some difficult demonstrators. When the police decided to use some force, the demonstrators' friends were nearby, and they broke out their cell-phone cameras. To add to the effect, these original demonstrators feigned and faked abuse from the police. It's all right there on the videos. In one video, a policeman gave a demonstrator a light push, hoping he would get the message to exit the park. This demonstrator decided to fall down on his own accord! He knew he was being filmed. Another video showed a Hispanic lady newscaster. A Policeman gave her a moderate push in the back, presumably because she ignored previous commands to wrap up the newscast, and exit the park. She intentionally picked an argument with the policeman! She knew that she had a Mayor who would back her up no matter what. A large part of the crowd was made up of illegal immigrants. They knew what they were doing. They wanted to try and portray police abuse, so that they could claim that they were victims of racism, and perhaps to draw the attention of Congress, who might feel sorry enough for them to give them Amnesty. They were also going for million dollar lawsuits. From their point of view, what have they got to lose? In fact, immediately after the Melee incident, Mayor Villagairosa invited them to come forward, and "tell their story". In reality, it's the police that deserve some kind of monetary settlement for being recipients of deceptive harassment. They were doing their jobs that day. But I heard that a lot of them were fired after the Melee. And yet, there were no serious injuries that day. (Just some rubber-bullet wounds). The main reason why Bratton doesn't deserve another 5-year term is because he didn't stick up for his officers when he should have. Mayor Villagairosa would have us believe that whenever police are tough on crime, and when they have a long-range vision of public safety, it must mean that police are abusive. Nonsense.