News & Commentary

Police in California have a problem with deadly force. Last year, police shot and killed 162 people in the state, half of whom did not have guns. California departments have some of the highest rates of killings in the nation. In a 2015 report, for example, the Guardian identified central California's Kern County as the place where a member of the public is most likely to die at the hands of police.

Peter Arellano's life changed when a Los Angeles Police Department officer handed him a piece of paper informing him that he was now subject to a "gang injunction." He could no longer visit his neighbors in their homes, drive to church with his family, ride his bike through the local park, or even stand in his own front yard with his father or brother. If he violated these terms, he could be arrested and jailed. Arellano, who has never been convicted of any crime, had effectively been placed on house arrest.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a radical leader who demanded an end to racial injustice, criticized the complicity of white moderates, and advocated for a radical redistribution of political and economic power. His leadership was buttressed by the work of organizers, Black women and men, LGBTQ people

The Los Angeles Police Commission is considering new guidelines for LAPD body camera video footage, and you have until May 7th to weigh-in. This is your chance to influence critical issues surrounding police transparency: When do body camera videos get released? Who gets to see it? Should relatives of victims play a role in these decisions? 

This is not Arizona. But when it comes to police policies on immigrants across California, you wouldn’t know it.

A version of the following blog appeared in the Voice of OC

Death of L.A. teen at hands of cops was caught on tape. But refusal to release video has some questioning policies, use nationwide.

The growing problem of police violence and public mistrust in law enforcement isn’t a breakdown of policing but of democracy.

A federal jury needed little time last week to convict two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies for beating an inmate with mental illness and filing false reports to cover up the assault. Convictions stemming from the scandalous abuse in the jails have become commonplace – 21 current or former L.A. County Sheriff’s Department members have now been convicted.