August 13, 1989, lapd vehicle South Bureau homicide crenshaw
South African Emblem
When I was working as a Police Officer assigned to the South Bureau Community Resources Against Street Gangs with my partner, we observed this plain dual purpose detective vehicle with a South African emblem. We went staight to the media because if we didn't, the car would be moved and no one would believe what we witnessed. The emblem can be seen on the front grill of the vehicle. Scroll to read the Los Angeles Times article and the apology by then Chief Daryl Gates.
Location
Photo taken at Los Angeles Police Department, South Bureau Homicide lower Crenshaw Mall Parking Structure
Site Content
Additional Information
LAPD Investigates Placing of South Africa Badge on Police Car
By ANDREA FORD-TIMES STAFF WRITER
AUG. 12, 1989 12 AM PT
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating why an emblem representing the South African flag and the words “South Africa” was placed back on the grill of an unmarked city-owned police car after the badge had been ordered removed last week.
Lt. Doug Collison, commanding officer of the South Bureau homicide section, where the car is assigned, confirmed Friday that the investigation is under way. “I’m disturbed by the whole incident and consider it a very, very serious matter,” Collison said, adding that “This is not what we’re about.”
Several black officers, however, contend that the emblem controversy is symptomatic of a wider problem: Police supervisors who, through their silence, have tolerated what the black officers describe as an openly racist clique of white policemen who work in the South Bureau, which patrols predominantly black neighborhoods.
The black officers, who spoke on condition that they not be identified for fear that they would be “isolated and ostracized,” said they were deeply offended by what they interpreted as an endorsement of the South African government’s policy of racial separation, or apartheid. Some of the officers also contend they had seen white officers wearing swastika rings while on duty, but that could not be confirmed.
One officer said mounting the South Africa badge on the vehicle was “tantamount to driving around in a Jewish neighborhood with a swastika on the car.” He added that Jewish people “wouldn’t tolerate that and we shouldn’t either.”
The car is used by homicide detectives in the course of their investigations.
The officer said that Mayor Tom Bradley and black City Council members should “do something” about what he described as racist activities by “a great many” members of the Police Department. Bradley’s office said he was unavailable for comment. Also unavailable were City Councilmen Nate Holden, Robert Farrell and Gilbert Lindsay, the council’s black members.
The black officers said they have not taken their complaints to police officials because similar complaints in the past have brought no action.
Cmdr. William Booth, the LAPD’s chief press officer, said Friday that if the officers know of such incidents, “it is their duty” to bring them to the attention of police officials or the department’s Internal Affairs Division. No such complaints have been lodged, he said.
“Personally, I don’t think a flag of South Africa provokes the same kind of revulsion around the world as a swastika,” Booth said of the car emblem. “Nevertheless, it does show a lack of sensitivity, especially in a community where you know the sensitivity is there.”
Badge Removed
Booth confirmed the black officers’ assertion that the emblem was removed from a police car Aug. 3 during a dedication ceremony for a suite of South Bureau homicide offices and a police substation inside the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza shopping mall. High-ranking police and city officials attended the dedication. Booth said police supervisors had noticed the emblem and ordered it removed.
Later, Booth said, someone “very unwisely and very dumb” put the badge back on the car, in violation of LAPD rules against “decorating” city property without the approval of the City Council.
A Times reporter and a photographer saw the badge on a late-model brown Chevrolet Caprice on Thursday while it was parked in a “Police Only” spot in a public parking lot at the mall. The car was still there but the badge was gone 90 minutes later when a television crew arrived to film it, a member of the crew later said.
Learn More
This is a content preview space you can use to get your audience interested in what you have to say so they can’t wait to learn and read more. Pull out the most interesting detail that appears on the page and write it here.
Site Content
Additional Information
This is a long form text area designed for your content that you can fill up with as many words as your heart desires. You can write articles, long mission statements, company policies, executive profiles, company awards/distinctions, office locations, shareholder reports, whitepapers, media mentions and other pieces of content that don’t fit into a shorter, more succinct space.
Articles – Good topics for articles include anything related to your company – recent changes to operations, the latest company softball game – or the industry you’re in. General business trends (think national and even international) are great article fodder, too.
Mission statements – You can tell a lot about a company by its mission statement. Don’t have one? Now might be a good time to create one and post it here. A good mission statement tells you what drives a company to do what it does.
Company policies – Are there company policies that are particularly important to your business? Perhaps your unlimited paternity/maternity leave policy has endeared you to employees across the company. This is a good place to talk about that.
Executive profiles – A company is only as strong as its executive leadership. This is a good place to show off who’s occupying the corner offices. Write a nice bio about each executive that includes what they do, how long they’ve been at it, and what got them to where they are.
