Atrocities — Some terrible things happened to and by local black people last week, which I’ve been unable to rail against. I’ve been stricken by a heretofore unknown (to me) disease called “strepped throat,” which kept me isolated and pumped full of drugs. I’m better now, and I’ve got a lot say about several things.
Atrocity No. 1: Sunil Dutta, a professor of homeland security at Colorado Tech University, who says he has been an officer with the Los Angeles Police Dept. for 17 years, wrote a despicable opinion piece in response to the police killing of the black unarmed, 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, which was published in the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune. While everybody in the civilized world was stunned by Mr. Brown’s murder-by-cop, thus raising national concerns about black civilians dying at the hands of police officers, one voice was raised in defense of police across the nation whose deadly force has resulted in a disproportionate number of police homicides among blacks. That one voice was the LAPD’s Officer Dutta.
The Post’s headline sums up Dutta’s position on negative police encounters quite plainly: “I’m a cop. If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t challenge me. It’s not the police, but the people they stop, who can prevent a detention from turning into a tragedy.”
Mr. Dutta asserts that the “overwhelming majority” of detentions that turn into tragedies happen not because of police misconduct or abuse of power, but instead they happen because the detainee chooses to challenge the armed officer.” In his own words, Mr. Dutta cautions the public: “If you don’t want to get shot, tased, pepper-sprayed, struck with a baton or thrown to the ground, just do what I tell you!” (Soulvine: What the hell kind of cop is this Dutta thing??!! Does that not make your blood boil?) Mr. Dutta continues: “Don’t argue with me, don’t call me names, don’t tell me that I can’t stop you, don’t say I’m a racist pig, don’t threaten that you’ll sue me and take away my badge. Don’t scream at me that you pay my salary, and don’t even think of aggressively walking towards me.” Where is it written that cops are free to shoot us, taser us or beat us up if they don’t like what we say to them? What country is this? Ukraine? Syria? No, it’s Dutta-land, and if these kinds of encounters put him into a homicidal rage, he needs to become a Wal-Mart security guard so we can ignore his sorry butt.
Mr. Dutta is why we don’t like cops. Mr. Dutta would have been regarded as a simple pig back in the ‘60s, but here in the enlightened 21st century, the more apt classification of his species would be “Wild Boar,” as these kinds of cops don’t know who they are and what they’re supposed to do. The motto, “To protect and serve,” just goes over their empty heads.
Outrage over Mr. Dutta’s published tirade has flooded social media sites. Posts and comments on Facebook, Gawker and the Huffington Post, for example, are filled with thousands of responses condemning the promotion of his subhuman police mentality toward the public. Most ironic is that Cop Dutta is a member of the LAPD, a department which only last year was finally freed of a federal consent decree to reform the department plagued with a history of abusive authority. Does Mr. Dutta know this? Is he crazy?
The consent decree was put into place primarily in response to the highly publicized Rampart scandal which involved acts of evidence tampering, perjury and suspect abuse, among other cop crimes. However, LAPD scandals, particularly regarding heavy-handed use of force against ethnic minority communities, predated the Rampart scandal by several decades during which we experienced the infamous LAPD chokehold, the LAPD battering ram, the LAPD murder of Eula Love, and so on and so forth.
Most disappointing is the fact that none of the outrage expressed toward Mr Dutta’s commentary has come from any of our own city leaders, who instead have chosen to remain silent. The LAPD’s top brass has ignored Mr. Dutta’s writings since they were published and have ignored my two-days’ worth of telephone calls to them to discuss the matter. Also the Los Angeles Police Commission, comprised of citizens appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, has not responded to a complaint directed to that body by one of my associates. Even the City Council’s five-member Public Safety Committee — which contains no African American members — has remained silent on the matter of Mr. Dutta’s rant, as has the president of the City Council and his two African American colleagues. Silence on this matter is unacceptable. We, the people, ought not put up with it. Does Mr. Dutta speak for the LAPD? Does Mr. Dutta speak for the city government? Answer us, you people!! Who’s in charge here? You are, Mr. Dutta?
Today’s LAPD is clearly a more professional and community-centered force than ever in its history. Former Chief Bill Bratton implemented positive consent decree recommendations that have led to enormous changes. Chief Charlie Beck seems on track to continuing down that path. But Dutta-like backsliding is not an option. We, the people, will not tolerate it. We insist on justice for the Aug. 11 killing of Ezell Ford Jr. by Newton Division cops Sharlton Wampler and Antonio Villegas. And, instead of sending these killer-cops home with pay, we, the people insist that our duly elected district attorney start putting killer cops in jail where they belong. This apparent epidemic of violence against unarmed African Americans must stop now!
Philosopher, statesman and martyr Sir Thomas More, once said: “Qui tacet consentiret,” meaning “Silence gives consent.” Our city leaders must speak out to set the tone for how professional policing in Los Angeles is implemented; unless of course, they’d rather not challenge Officer Dutta.
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