LAPD Police Chief Michel Moore is trying to explain what went wrong after several officers were exposed over allegations of falsified records. Sadly, it’s not unusual, and these cops have been accused of labeling innocent people gang members to accomplish terrible forms of corruption.
After a parent found out her child was misidentified as a gang member, an investigation began. Now, “ten officers have been assigned to home while others were taken off patrol,” according to the Chief, who’s “looking very intensely” at the situation. But this is only a sliver of the full picture.
Body-cam footage and recordings do not match what officers are putting in their reports. Why would they do this? To boost stop statistics - and their falsified records are putting the lives of Black people in danger.
These are members of an “elite” crime suppression team that are being investigated! Data about “stop-and-frisk in a car” shows police stop Black people in the city “at a rate more than five times their share of the city’s population.” So, we’re affected at every level by this issue.
It’s not just Los Angeles, either. In other cities like New York, gang databases and inconsistent records sweep Black people up through surveillance towards criminalization and persecution.
If Black people want it to stop, we have to push back against the idea that these databases are effective. Clearly, they’re not!