Why the LAPD's Hunt for Dorner Is Indefensible

[davidcay]

51. from the author of the piece

I do wish posters here would read what I wrote in full, available at Salon.com or AlterNet.org, before posting and then focus on the issue I wrote about -- which was not about Dorner, but about how the fusillade of bullets fired without warning at two women in a blue pickup was far outside of LAPD policy. (The second shooting was by Torrance PD.)

In the 80s I reported on LAPD management for the LATimes, documenting a failure to solve crimes, massive political spying, brutality and other abuses. This was the first sustained independent examination ever of the LAPD.

My Salon.com piece does not defend Dorner, as some posters here seem to think. To those noting that, thank you.

Of course the police needed to catch Dorner before he killed more innocent people (like the daughter of an officer and her fiance) or officers (like the ambushed Riverside cops and the San Bernadino deputy).

But searching for a large black man in a grey Nissan Titan pickup does not justify shooting at two Latinas in a blue Toyota Tacoma pickup or a slight male surfer in a black Honda Ridgeline.

My Salon piece links to the LAPD policies, which cannot be reconciled with the attack on these innocent women.

To the angry posters here who seem to ignore or justify the LAPD shootings: How you would feel if, without warning, police shot at your wife or mother? They fired not one or two shots and then assessed, as policy and training require, but instead got off dozens of shots, many of which went wildly into homes. Second, do you think police are a law unto themselves or that must operate in accord with the policies of their departments and the law?

And if you plan to reply to this, again, please read my piece at http://www.salon.com/2013/02/16/lapds_indefensible_dorner_pursuit/

Thank you.
David Cay Johnston