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Heads Roll in Los Angeles ... Jack Dunphy
National Review Online ^ | 8 May 2007 | Jack Dunphy

Posted on 05/08/2007 6:27:15 AM PDT by Rummyfan

The first scapegoats in the May Day melee walk the plank.

By Jack Dunphy

On Friday, word circulated through the Los Angeles Police Department that a protest rally was being planned for the following day in MacArthur Park, the scene of last Tuesday’s May Day melee. A colleague asked me if I would be interested in adjusting my schedule and working crowd control at the rally. I declined.

The rally turned out to be a spectacular dud, as it happened, attracting far more cops and reporters than protesters, but staying clear of it was nonetheless the wiser course. In fact, for however many days, months, or years I have left in my police career, I plan on staying as far away as possible from MacArthur Park. There was no violence there on Saturday, but it’s a dead certainty that there will one day be another confrontation between cops and immigration protesters like the one that occurred on May Day, and when that day comes some unfortunate cop will have to have his head lopped off before the LAPD brass will allow us to even raise our voices about it.

On Monday, LAPD Chief William Bratton defied my prediction that only front-line officers would be disciplined for their roles in what happened at the park on May Day. Appearing at a press conference with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Bratton announced that the senior officer who oversaw police response to the protests was being demoted and removed from his command. Deputy Chief Cayler “Lee” Carter, a 33-year veteran of the department, has been chosen to wear the goat horns. He will be reduced in rank to commander and “assigned to home duties,” which is to say his career is over. Carter’s second-in-command, Commander Louis Gray, a 39-year veteran, has been reassigned to duties yet to be specified, but his career is essentially over as well. Call him the Assistant Goat.

Neither Carter nor Gray are particularly admired at my level of the department, but to a man the cops I’ve spoken with are in sympathy with them. As was demonstrated in the opening hours of the 1992 Los Angeles riots and in the violence that followed the Lakers’ NBA championship in 2000, LAPD commanders are a timid lot, tending toward indecision when the need for action is evident to all but them. So it came as a welcome surprise when, after repeated provocations by an unruly crowd, Carter gave the order to shut down what was left of the May Day rally at MacArthur Park.

A relatively small number of protesters, some with their faces concealed by bandanas, pelted officers with frozen water bottles and soda cans, bottles filled with urine, rocks, sticks, and any number of other projectiles that could be heaved toward the police lines. There were even instances of protesters using slingshots to shoot heavy metal bolts at officers. Through it all, the hundreds of cops gathered near Alvarado and Seventh Streets, at the southeast corner of the park, stood their ground and showed uncommon restraint even as the debris was coming down around them and indeed striking and injuring some. What, these cops were asking, is it going to take before we do something about this?

Contrary to some of the more hysterical claims, dispersal orders were broadcast from a circling helicopter, from police cars, and from hand-held bullhorns. The warnings from the helicopter can be clearly heard in an amateur video shot inside the park as the police moved in. “The helicopter has asked everybody to leave the park,” a man says to the camera, and indeed most people, including a number of reporters and cameramen, chose to do just that. On the same video, which runs for 27 minutes, you can see just how long it took the line of officers to traverse the length of the park after the warnings were broadcast. You can also see officers, some speaking in Spanish, very calmly directing people to safety. Yes, some people who chose to stay were shoved around, some were shot with rubber bullets, and some were struck with batons, but none of them can claim they hadn’t been warned. And, lest we forget, there were more police officers injured that day than protesters and reporters combined.

All that’s followed has been nothing but public theater of the most sordid kind. Those injured officers were not even mentioned at Monday’s press conference, at least not in those portions that were aired on the channel I watched. Mayor Villaraigosa praised Bratton for his “decisive action” in the public humiliation of Carter and Gray, and he bristled at the suggestion that Bratton may have acted to sacrifice the two senior commanders so as to preserve his own career. “This chief is doing his job,” Villaraigosa said. “He was hired, and he’ll be reappointed based on how well he does that job. And I can tell you he has my support . . .” In other words: “Bratton is doing exactly what I tell him to do, and if he wants to keep his job he’ll continue to do so.”

The city’s civilian police commission, whose members are appointed by the mayor, was set to vote this week on retaining Bratton for a second five-year term as chief. Until the May Day incident, Bratton was a shoo-in for reappointment, but the commission will now table the matter as the various fingers are moistened and held up in the political winds. Bratton won’t lose his job over this, but under the circumstances the commission has to give the appearance of being deliberative.

And now a question occurs: What will happen next time? Villaraigosa has made no secret of his sympathy and even his support for illegal aliens demanding amnesty, and Bratton has been little more than the mayor’s sock puppet on this issue. In the sacking of Deputy Chief Carter and Commander Gray they have sent a very clear message to the rest of the LAPD: Woe be unto anyone who lays a hand on our people, no matter how many bottles they’re throwing at you. The next confrontation may come next May Day, it may come sooner, but you can bet no career-minded senior cop is going to risk the stars on his collar by being aggressive when things get out of hand. Better to let them burn it all down than take the blame if one of them gets hurt.

Readers around the country may shake their heads in wonder at the craziness found here in Los Angeles, but remember: This circus is coming soon to a park near you. I hope you’re ready.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aliens; anarchy; immigration; lapd; losangeles; macarthurpark; mayday
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On the May Day protests and repercussions for the LAPD....
1 posted on 05/08/2007 6:27:17 AM PDT by Rummyfan
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To: Rummyfan

This was the subject of coffee shop talk as I made my way to work this morning. I found on comment of interest “Join the Police, serve the political winds of the powers to be, Join the Army, serve the UN, join the Militia save the country.”


2 posted on 05/08/2007 6:32:18 AM PDT by thiscouldbemoreconfusing
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To: Rummyfan

This circus is coming soon to a park near you.

**
Sad but true. In the center ring, illegals and mohammedans.


3 posted on 05/08/2007 6:33:27 AM PDT by Bigg Red (You are either with us or with the terrorists.)
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To: Rummyfan
Soon, there won't be enough money to entice anyone to be an LA cop...

At some point, LA will go the way of Mogadishu.

4 posted on 05/08/2007 6:33:53 AM PDT by blam
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To: Rummyfan

One of these days there will be a mutiny in a politically correct managed police department and the results will not be pretty.


5 posted on 05/08/2007 6:34:02 AM PDT by pikachu (Breakfast is the most important beer of the day!)
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To: Rummyfan

This cop is quite a writer. I think he’ll be all set if he chooses to be employed after retirement.


6 posted on 05/08/2007 6:35:24 AM PDT by Bigg Red (You are either with us or with the terrorists.)
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To: Rummyfan
Soon the LAPD will consist of only Hispanics. Why would anyone in their right mind want to join the department there? No backup or support from your superiors and always guilty until proven innocent, if you even get the chance. God bless those hard working cops. They deserve better.
7 posted on 05/08/2007 6:35:32 AM PDT by peggybac (Tolerance is the virtue of believing in nothing)
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To: Rummyfan

Jack must be one brave dude. I’m wondering if he will be punished for voicing his opinion.


8 posted on 05/08/2007 6:35:55 AM PDT by Kay
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To: Rummyfan
So Bratton threw some brass under the bus to keep his job.

SOP for political appointees.

Anyway how is Bratton doing with the LAPD? My rule of thumb is the more citizen action groups scream, the better the police are.

9 posted on 05/08/2007 6:38:36 AM PDT by AU72
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To: blam
When the police will no longer defend the people, the people will defend themselves - Mogadishu it will be. Also, the police department will become populated with those who will never do anything but push paper and those who have an agenda of aiding the illegal alien invaders. It appears that Southern California is becoming enemy occupied territory.
10 posted on 05/08/2007 6:40:37 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: peggybac

Pretty clear that LA now belongs to Mexico, with Mexican style government. If you are middle class or poor and not Mexican better get out of LA. LA is no longer part of the usa.


11 posted on 05/08/2007 6:51:57 AM PDT by jpsb
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To: Rummyfan

It’s a crying shame that some are more equal than others in LA, especially when being a tax paying citizen is actually counted against people.

These are the people they voted into office and power so this is apparantly what LA and SoCAL wants. They can have it.


12 posted on 05/08/2007 7:00:09 AM PDT by TheKidster (you can only trust government to grow, consolidate power and infringe upon your liberties.)
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To: Kay
Jack must be one brave dude. I’m wondering if he will be punished for voicing his opinion

Jack Dunphy is a nom-de-plume. He has been writing for National Review for some time and I believe has managed to remain anonymous to the powers that be in the LAPD
13 posted on 05/08/2007 7:00:14 AM PDT by The Lumster (USA - where the innocent have nothing to fear!)
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To: Kay
This article failed to have the attached disclaimer, but most of his articles end with the footer; Jack Dunphy is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. “Jack Dunphy” is the author's nom de cyber. The opinions expressed are his own and almost certainly do not reflect those of the LAPD management.
14 posted on 05/08/2007 7:03:54 AM PDT by DancesWithBolsheviks (Demands, marches and media sob stories diminish my compassion.)
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To: Kay

Jack Dunphy is his pseudonym.


15 posted on 05/08/2007 7:14:32 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: peggybac

They certainly do and God Bless them indeed!


16 posted on 05/08/2007 7:15:02 AM PDT by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: Rummyfan

In every account I’ve seen or read about the May Day “incident”, one of the first things mentioned is the fact that there were *no serious injuries*.

Yet they continue to refer to it thereafter as a “melee” and use phrases such as, “cops out of control” and so on.

Seems to me that the cops kept control very well indeed. They shut down the rowdies without seriously injuring anyone. Isn’t that what they are supposed to do?


17 posted on 05/08/2007 7:33:56 AM PDT by Trampled by Lambs (TBL - Back in action and annoying liberals at everywhere!)
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To: Rummyfan
I am not a fan of LAPD, and havn’t been for numerous reasons, the most important of which is the department’s lack of institutional controls. Too many little fiefdoms there, too many lawyers/politicos/rabble rousers looking into everything they do, and too many negative-thinking officers. Most seem to have a “siege mentality”, and operate accordingly. On one hand, I can’t blame the department, but on the other, I find fault with a lot of their actions, and it all starts at the top. It seems as though every L.A. cop feels as though he/she is a victim of something or another, and that is why they have such a bad attitude and will continue until they all wise up. It seems to me that they havn’t learned that you EARN respect, you don’t get respect by DEMANDING it.
18 posted on 05/08/2007 7:47:36 AM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: Kay

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I was wondering the same thing...

I re-read the first paragraph or 2 to make sure he actually was in the police force...

I thoght he may have meant he was told to cover the event as a reporter...

But no he is a policeman and yes exceptionally honest and courageous...

Bratton needs to get lost...Jack Dunphy as Chief of police would clean up LA...

God Bless you Jack... Good luck in the future...


19 posted on 05/08/2007 7:58:00 AM PDT by Tennessee Nana
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To: Tennessee Nana

Just how many bandanna wearing, sling shot shooting, urine throwing protesters were arrested?


20 posted on 05/08/2007 8:26:46 AM PDT by Tspud1
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