From at least the 1980’s to 1992, the LAPD had a well-earned reputation of meting out beatings to suspects, guilty and innocent alike, towards the ends of administering “street justice”. This reputation came to the fore in the weeks immediately following the night of March 4th, 1991, when five of its officers were taped beating a detained suspect, Rodney King, after he had been driving recklessly at 55-115 miles per hour while intoxicated and possibly under the influence of PCP. On April 29th, the officers involved in beating him were acquitted of all charges against them, and this kicked off the six-day 1992 LA riots.
Much as excessively-aggressive and violent RUC police tactics and misconduct in general lead to the civil rights protests and subsequent troubles, so did similar policies adopted by the LAPD immediately lead to the 1992 LA riots. The LAPD had a history of questionable use of present as early as the late 1940s/early 1950s (Sleepy Lagoon/Bloody Christmas incidents), however, these really came to the fore from the mid-1980s up until 1992, when the lid flew off of the city. First and foremost, there is the notable similarity of both police organizations in that they both engaged in the beating of random people or suspects and released them, rather than arresting and seeking convictions.
I’m working on finding actual detailed first-hand accounts to insert, but for now this clip is pretty demonstrative. I might keep it for later for the picture it illustrates.
<iframe width=”420″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/wDgdYJHz2Ng” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
The RUC manifestation of this policy was deemed “internment”, and involved keeping detained persons awake for up to a week and beating them at irregular intervals. The LAPD from 1986-1992 had a prominent ~10% or more (Christopher Commission p.36 figures) of officers who accounted for 30% of complaints regarding excessive use of force, and furthermore, absolutely failed to counsel or sanction these individuals (Ibid pp.32-34). The manifestation of these, however, greatly resembled internment: oftentimes, officers would detain suspects, beat them senseless, and then release them. Sometimes there would be bogus use of force reports (See squad car communications pp.49-54), and other times they would be foregone. Both of these served as the immediate catalyst for violent civil disturbance. Republicans cited internment as an instrumental tool for Provo recruitment and subsequent violent action, and the acquittal of the officers involved in the beating of Rodney king that had for many come to symbolize LAPD excessive force in general was the immediate cause of the ‘92 LA riots.