Law Enforcement and the Community Establishing a positive relationship between law enforcement agencies and Los Angeles, diverse communities is the most important improvement we must make in the criminal justice system. With the recent passage of Proposition F, which incorporated many of the Christopher Commission's reforms, and the hiring of a new police chief who supports community policing concepts, the LAPD has begun to make the necessary changes. Los Angeles County cannot afford for the Sheriff's Department to remain complacent while the LAPD transforms itself. The Committee urges Sheriff Block and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to see that the Kolts Commission's recommendations are implemented. Testimony before the Christopher Commission, the Kolts Commission, and this Committee indicated that the perception of police abuse and brutality remains widespread in minority communities.
Police officers are often the only witnesses to assaults or abuse by other officers.
They must report such incidents so that problem officers can receive the needed counseling and discipline. Unfortunately, a widely acknowledged code of silence operates to prevent officers from reporting abusive behavior by fellow officers. The Committee urges Governor Wilson to sign Assembly Bill 2340, which requires any law enforcement officer who witnesses another officer assault or beat a person in violation of the law to file a report on the assault within 48 hours. The measure makes the willful failure to file such a report a misdemeanor. It also provides, however, that no prosecution for violation of the reporting requirement shall be pursued unless a conviction is first obtained of the officer who should have been the subject of the omitted report.