While wildfires are all the rage in LA these days, the excessive shows of police force that have come to define the LAPD are perhaps too regrettably predictable to elicit the intensity of international outrage they did in '92. The blue wall is as expansive as the LA sky. Or is it? In the aftermath of the May 1st MacArthur Park clashes between immigrant-rights demonstrators and the police, could there be new signs of life at the LAPD?
According to a recent article in the LA Times (subscription required), LAPD Police Chief Bratton is walking a political "tightrope" because the candor of his reaction to the MacArthur Park clashes has upset some in the LAPD rank and file.
Officers were particularly incensed with a statement Bratton made last week in which he said: "One thing I know about [police] is you have to control them, because they go out of control faster than any human being in the world."
More on the flip ...