LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The Los Angeles City Council has approved a settlement that bans LAPD officers patrolling Skid Row from conducting unconstitutional searches of homeless individuals, and requires that officers undergo crucial training regarding the constitutional requirements to search and detain people.

The settlement with the ACLU/SC, National Lawyers Guild attorney Carol Sobel and the law firm of Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson & Renick LLP resolves a lawsuit against the LAPD for its unconstitutional searches of the homeless, and for probation sweeps that effectively criminalized homeless individuals.

During the first year of the city's so-called 'Safer Cities Initiative' on Skid Row, the LAPD gave out 12,000 citations, about twice the citywide average. Most of those infractions were for pedestrian violations. Residents and service providers complain police stop, detain, cite and arrest Skid Row residents for trivial violations like jaywalking or littering, making it more difficult for people to leave the streets behind.

'This settlement will ensure important checks on the LAPD's aggressive tactics on Skid Row. The constitution protects every Angeleno against unlawful stops and searches, from those living in Hollywood Hills to those sleeping on the streets of downtown,' said Peter Bibring, an ACLU/SC staff attorney. 'But abuses are bound to occur as long as the city tries to address homelessness on Skid Row as a law enforcement problem rather than a social problem. Especially at this time of year when many families are without homes, we hope that this agreement will help the city reframe its priorities and provide badly needed supportive housing and services that have successfully reduced homelessness in other cities.'

Added Sobel: 'This is an important step in protecting the rights of the poorest residents of our city. Now the work begins to see it is put into practice.'

Two years ago, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa launched the Safer Cities Initiative, billing it as a multi-faceted, enlightened approach to deal with homelessness that would include supportive housing and transitional services. But no new housing or services have materialized.

Instead, according to studies, the city has flooded the area with police officers creating a law enforcement concentration hundreds of times greater than in other parts of the city. Meanwhile, police have stepped up enforcement of minor violations often targeting the most vulnerable.

Under the settlement, officers who are on the front lines of the LAPD's cleanup of downtown's Skid Row will be provided with scenario-based training on lawful stops, searches and detainment. However, the Safer Cities Initiative continues to be the subject of ongoing community opposition and litigation.

The one-hour mandatory training will focus on federal laws that prohibit officers from using minor infractions such as jaywalking or sleeping on the sidewalk as a pretext to search or detain individuals when there is no evidence that a crime has been committed.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - A high-school class president who was prohibited from wearing a homemade 'Prop. 8 Equals HATE' T-shirt at school must be allowed to wear it because the message is protected free speech under both the federal and state constitutions as well as state statute, the ACLU of Southern California has told officials of Big Bear High School.

Attorneys for the ACLU/SC have sent a letter to the officials demanding that they acknowledge their action was unlawful and allow sophomore Mariah Jimenez to wear the T-shirt to school if she so chooses.

Citing extensive federal and state law on free speech, ACLU/SC staff attorneys Peter Bibring and Lori Rifkin state in the letter that a school may not simply prohibit speech because it presents a controversial idea and could incite opponents of the speech to cause a disruption. Schools can only prohibit speech that incites disruption because it specifically calls for a disturbance, or because the manner of expression is so inflammatory that the speech provokes a disturbance.

'School administrators can't silence a student whenever they fear someone might be annoyed or offended by the student's views,' said Bibring. 'The First Amendment's protections are at their strongest for political speech, which often deals with controversial issues.'

On Nov. 3, one day before California residents were to vote on Proposition 8, Jimenez wore a T-shirt to school on which she had written, 'Prop. 8 Equals HATE.' The proposition sought to amend the state constitution and prohibit same-sex marriage.

Jimenez encountered no problems during the morning hours, other than a few students who disagreed with her by telling her, 'Vote yes on Prop. 8.' But during Jimenez' sixth-period class, teacher Sue Reynolds objected to the shirt, telling Jimenez that she should not be wearing such a divisive message. Reynolds sent Jimenez to the principal's office.

Principal Mike Ghelber insisted Jimenez either take off the shirt or remain in the principal's office. Jimenez took off the shirt and returned to class.

'The answer to controversial speech isn't censorship, but more speech,' attorney Rifkin said. 'Instead of stopping Ms. Jimenez from wearing a shirt because other people may disagree with its message, the school district should use this as an opportunity to educate both teachers and students about the importance of free speech and nondiscrimination.'

Image: Mariah Jimenez, wearing her DIY shirt.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The U.S. Embassy will protest to the government of the United Arab Emirates regarding the treatment of American citizen Naji Hamdan, who was severely tortured during the three months he was imprisoned by state security forces in the U.A.E.

Sean Cooper, chief consul at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said that, acting at Hamdan's request, the embassy will 'engage' U.A.E. officials 'on this most serious matter' when they return to work next week after the Muslim Eid holiday.

Hamdan, who has been detained in the U.A.E. since August 29, 2008, reported that he believes the U.S. is responsible for his detention, and that U.S. officials participated in his interrogation and possibly his torture while in U.A.E. state security custody. Hamdan said that several of the interrogators spoke American English and did not speak fluent Arabic. He could not see these individuals because his captors always blindfolded him during torture and interrogation sessions. Hamdan also reported that his captors interrogated him about information that only U.S. federal agents had access to, such as his behavior during a prior interrogation by FBI agents at the U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi. They also questioned him extensively about his life in the United States, where Hamdan lived for more than two decades.

'These and other details provide strong evidence that U.S. officials not only sought Hamdan's arrest by a foreign government, but apparently participated in his interrogation and torture in violation of federal criminal law,' said Ahilan Arulanantham, director of immigrants' rights and national security for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. Hamdan was charged and transferred to the Al Wathba prison late last month, only one week after the ACLU/SC filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C. seeking his release from the custody of the United States.

'U.S. officials must now take every step possible to end the brutal treatment of this American citizen by a foreign government acting as our proxy, and ensure that he is not prosecuted based on evidence obtained through torture,' Arulanantham said.

Hamdan told his brother, Hossam Hemdan,(CQ) that his captors routinely beat him and kept him in a freezing underground room during portions of his months-long detention by U.A.E. state security forces. His torturers severely beat him on his back, legs, head, and the soles of his feet. The torturers sometimes kicked him in the location of his liver, knowing that he has a liver condition. On at least one occasion, they strapped his arms and legs down to an electric chair, while suggesting that they would use it. They deprived him of sleep by shining a bright spotlight on his face for hours at a time, and engaged in other abuses.

The torture was so severe that he often passed out from the pain, Hamdan told his brother. The agents also threatened to punish Hamdan's wife and family if he did not confess to their allegations that he had engaged in terrorist activity.

It is a crime under U.S. federal law - 8 U.S.C. 2340A -- for U.S. officials to engage in or conspire to commit acts of torture.

'This is a nightmare for Naji and for his whole family,' said Hossam Hemdan. 'People in the United States need to know that this is happening. It's terrible that an innocent U.S. citizen would be treated this way by his own government.'

Last week U.S. District Judge James Robertson ordered the U.S. government to respond to the ACLU/SC's habeas corpus petition to free Hamdan. The government must respond by mid-January.