TO: Claudia Luther,
Op-Ed Page Editor
FROM: Leslie Dutton, Producer/Host, 310-822-4449 or 310-306-0301
DATE: May 7, 2002
RE: COMMENTARY SUBMISSION (for Exclusive use by the L.A. Times)
ACADEMICS VS POLICE CHIEFS ON COMMUNITY POLICING
Is it possible that Bernard Parks, a 37 year veteran of the LAPD, doesn’t know what community policing is? Is it possible that USC’s Bill Boyarsky and UCLA’s Wellford Wilms do know what community policing is? (Commentary 4-27-02 & 5-6-02). Is it possible that only Mayor Hahn and police labor union know what community policing is?
The answer is easy, just ask former Police Chief Ed Davis. After all he is the father of community policing and has been recognized as such world-wide. It was Chief Davis who originated the innovative programs such as “neighborhood watch”, “basic car plan”, and yes, the “senior lead officer program”.
In his commentary Professor Wilms contended that Chief Parks took away from the goal of community policing by “reassigning 168 senior lead officers, he removed the very officers--who were on the front line of community policing.” How can that be? The truth is these officers were removed from behind desks and put into police cars, in the field, right where they belong, according to Chief Ed Davis. Boyarsky on the other hand was not specific when he stated that Chief Parks “scorned community policing”. Similar themes were used by Mayor Hahn and the police labor union during their campaign against Chief Parks reappointment.
Boyarsky held up, with high praise, former LAPD Chief Ed Davis, as the man who created “Community policing”. It is puzzling why both Professor Wilms and Boyarsky overlooked the fact that Chief Ed Davis has been and continues to be one of Bernard Parks most ardent supporters, even writing an editorial piece in the L. A.Times which supported Parks. On that basis Wilms and Boyarsky should be supporting him too.
As part of the FULL DISCLOSURE cable television program, I interviewed Chief Davis on March 27th this year. We discussed the issues surrounding the reappointment of Chief Parks. When asked to describe community policing and in particular the Parks decision to reassign senior lead officers back into the field from their district offices, Chief Davis offered praise.
Chief Davis related the history of the senior lead officers program, saying he had assigned them to radio cars, to do the police work in the field. He said, “they were never intended to be in an office. To have a good police operation you have to have the public involved with the officers on the street. You cannot have neighborhood watch by some specialist from the police department.”
What about all the criticism from the police union? Chief Davis said “I think the police union has way overstepped its bounds of proper conduct, it has totally deviated from what it was organized for…” “They go way beyond that, they want to run the police department and that would be very bad, they are not elected by the citizens at large, they are elected by their own membership.”
When I asked Chief Davis how did the senior lead officers end up assigned to offices instead of out in the field?, he said “Chief (Willie) Williams did that, not understanding team policing, not understanding what we had going.” “Chief parks was doing it right and whoever is criticizing him has got it all wrong.”
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