Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will be addressing media at City Hall this afternoon after he cut short his trade-focused trip to El Salvador and Mexico by several days to be in town for the fall-out after the LAPD's May Day assault at MacArthur Park. In an op-ed today, Marc Cooper makes some critical points on LAPD culture that are worth noting here:
Indeed, during last year's pro-immigration-reform marches — several times the magnitude of this week's rallies — the LAPD maintained a relaxed and laid-back posture. Most of the rank-and-file and command staff I interviewed during those events seemed to be downright happy with their assignment. Whatever preparations the LAPD had made to suppress any violent outbreaks were well hidden.
[...]
The firing of foam bullets at anyone except an identified violent target is against LAPD rules, and it is as unacceptable as sending a squad of baton-swinging cops into a park you know is loaded with families and children. Bratton admitted that none of the arrests made were related to the rounds that were fired. The sophisticated crowd-control training conducted at the academy went down the tubes as a "protect your fellow officer at all costs" frenzy apparently spread through the ranks.
Remember, during the March 25 gran marcha last year, LAPD was virtually invisible. What changed? Why 600 officers for a fraction of the people?
