Manhunt for ex-LA cop suspected of shooting 3 cops and killing 2 others

[JoeRedskin]

As a result of the Rampart Scandal the LAPD entered into a Consent Decree in Federal Court. In 2009, the Federal Judge released the LAPD from the Decree:

Declaring that the Los Angeles Police Department has reformed itself significantly after decades of corruption and brutality complaints, a U.S. judge on Friday ended a long-running period of federal oversight.

U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess terminated the consent decree federal officials had imposed on the LAPD in 2001, after the Rampart corruption scandal. The decree required the department to undertake dozens of wide-ranging reforms meant to tighten internal checks on officers' conduct and subjected the department to rigorous audits by a monitor who reported to Feess.

...

"When the decree was entered, LAPD was a troubled department whose reputation had been severely damaged by a series of crises," Feess wrote in his ruling released early Friday evening. "In 2008, as noted by the monitor, 'LAPD has become the national and international policing standard for activities that range from audits to handling of the mentally ill to many aspects of training to risk assessment of police officers and more.' "

U.S. judge ends federal oversight of the LAPD - Los Angeles Times

Again, I am not alleging or asserting that the LAPD is not without fault. Clearly, it is still in need of reform:

One of the outstanding issues is the department's handling of the hundreds of claims of racial profiling levied against officers by minorities each year. As part of the new agreement, the department must press ahead with a plan to outfit all its patrol vehicles with video cameras that will record all traffic and pedestrian stops. In addition, the commission will conduct a series of reports on how police officials investigate and resolve claims of racial profiling.

"We're disappointed by the judge's decision. The department has made substantial progress under Chief Bratton, but there's still too much evidence that skin color makes a difference in who is stopped, questioned and arrested by the LAPD," said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Southern California -- the group that had most vocally argued against ending the consent decree.

[Same article as above]

My only point in all this is to express my disappointment at the readiness of people to give credence to the sprawling fantasy world of a murderer in order to assume the worst about police. I am no pollyanna and I have no illusions of police perfection or the existence of corruption. At the same time, law enforcement is a tough and often thankless job - and those who do it deserve nothing less than a fair critique.

Accepting that fair, honest and informed critique is necessary to ensure that our police forces conduct themselves appropriately, it should be obvious to all that Dorner's delusional ramblings were none of these - that this was not immediately recognized is disappointing to me.