Monday, November 25, 2019
Chief Parker and the LAPD
Today in class we learned about the violent and racist history of the LAPD under the control of Chief Parker. The documentary said that Parker single handedly turned the LAPD from a corrupt department to an honest one which made me want to learn more about the impact of Chief Parker. At the time, Parker was seen as a hero who had redefined the LAPD and turned them into the powerful police force that was depicted in TV shows, however, now Parker's clearly racist attitude and policies have become very evident. Parker came to his position at one of the lowest moments of the LAPD. The police department had been involved in seemingly unending scandals many of which included police officers consulting with the mafia. Parker was able to clean up the LAPD which essentially made them shine in the media. Because the media loved them unconditionally they typically only reported attacks against the police and not attacks by the police, of which there where many. However when police brutality claims where filed Parker denied and after launching an investigation suspended almost 40 officers. Parker was able to completely avoid any blame from the media of the police brutality even though it was his policies that lead to the police being able to target people based on their race.
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Very Interesting Article. It is very interesting to see the competing views that many sources have public opinion. During Chief Parker's time, many saw him as a hero due to his cleverness in hiding his actions from the media, however, now that the picture is more clear, mainly because of the events of the OJ trial, we see certain characters in a different light. Media coverage can truly have an outstanding bias.
ReplyDeleteYeah I agree that it is very interesting how he was able to achieve this status in the media. I think what helped him was the racism of the time, as the police brutality may have been seen as necessary for controlling "dangerous" black people. I think that it also helped that people who were apart of the media never saw police brutality happening on their own friend or family, so they probably didn't see it as big of an issue as it actually was. Overall, I think that ignorance is what allowed him to be let off of any blame.
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