News & Commentary

The Police Commission has assembled a well-respected group of people to conduct a review of the Los Angeles Police Department. Still, this falls far short of a truly independent commission.

Impartial investigators have determined that current Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD) efforts to deal with gender discrimination and harassment problems are insufficient. Both sides in a major class action lawsuit agreed to the investigation. A report detailing the department's failures will be released to the public for the first time at a press conference tomorrow morning. Women's groups and other civil rights groups will call upon the LASD and County to undertake major structural reforms, including creation of an independent entity to handle complaints of discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

California imposes a harsh penalty on teenage welfare recipients who have children without even warning them of the penalty, claim five welfare recipients who filed suit today over California's "family cap." The policy, intended to discourage welfare recipients from having more children, denies benefits to babies born to parents already receiving aid, but only if the parents received detailed notice about the policy before becoming pregnant.

I have great respect for the integrity and good faith of the Police Commission and its president, Gerald Chaleff. We are pleased to see some movement from the Commission on police reform, but this proposal is still no substitute for the creation of a truly independent panel. The Police Commission has proposed assembling a group of experts to help it review the Board of Inquiry report, and, eventually, discuss ideas for reform. Essentially, this group's mandate and the parameter of its inquiry will be set by the Commission, and to a large extent by the Board of Inquiry report itself.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed the district Court decision in Lifestyles Organization, Limited (LSO) v. Stroh. The ACLU Foundation of Southern California originally filed suit in July, 1997, to prevent the California Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) from censoring an erotic art show at the Convention Center. Plaintiffs charged that ABC misused its authority to suppress art content of which it disapproved. The ABC had threatened to revoke the liquor license of the Palm Springs Convention Center if the exhibit proceeded, yet no alcohol was to be served at the exhibition. No one from either the Palm Springs Convention Center or the ABC had seen the art works to be displayed at the Lifestyles art show and no judicial determination had been obtained calling the work obscene. The district court granted a temporary restraining order the day before the exhibit was to open, allowing more than 170 works by 38 artists to be displayed.

The thirty day suspension of CRASH unit activities and transfer of CRASH personnel are positive - but inadequate - steps in restoring confidence in the operations of the LAPD. Fundamental change is what is essential.

Today the ACLU of Southern California, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Japanese American Citizens League, and California Women's Law Center announced the six-figure settlement of a significant retaliation lawsuit against the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department (LASD), and asked that Los Angeles County take immediate steps to make sure that such misconduct does not recur. In a letter to each of the county supervisors, the civil rights groups will call for the creation of an independent review process, so that the LASD can prevent similar incidents and avoid its own version of the ongoing LAPD scandal.

"Regardless of who my family is or where they come from, I have the right to be as equal a citizen as any other in America"

Two confidential sources for government agencies that spied on John Lennon have changed sides and advocated opening secret files on the ex-Beatle, according to a new book. "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files," by Jon Wiener, a history professor at the University of California, Irvine, reports that Julie Maynard, an FBI confidential informant who spied on Lennon in the early 1970s, joined the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Wiener and the ACLU of Southern California. The lawsuit seeks release of the Bureau's files on Lennon, which date from 1971-72. The book also reports that David Shayler, who worked for MI5, the British counterpart to the FBI, has revealed that MI5 has files dating from the late 1960s on Lennon.