Give LAPD Probe a Chance

Posturing and politicking are predictable responses to the emotionally freighted image of a Los Angeles Police Department officer beating a black suspect, but they could undermine a fair investigation as surely as any cover-up or whitewash.

A widely viewed news-chopper videotape shows LAPD Officer John J. Hatfield striking car-thief suspect Stanley Miller 11 times with a metal flashlight after Miller appeared to surrender. Even cops said it looked bad. But the city’s response to the June 23 incident, although not without stumbles, has been vastly better than that following the Rodney King beating, which it inevitably recalls.

The LAPD immediately met with community leaders. The department is following reforms put into place after the King catastrophe and the later Rampart corruption scandal. The county Sheriff’s Department, which patrols the Compton neighborhood where the car chase ended, is conducting its own investigation, as is the FBI. The civilian Police Commission’s inspector general was called to the scene immediately rather than being shut out, as in the past.

Still, suspicion remains widespread in South L.A.’s black community that the investigation will reach the usual conclusion and find the officers’ use of force, however aggressive, justified. With a mayoral election on the horizon, politicians have rushed in to exploit these fears. Activist Danny Bakewell, an ally of Bernard Parks -- city councilman, mayoral challenger and former police chief -- has created his own citizen committee to compete with an equally politically motivated one named by Mayor James K. Hahn. And Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), who never misses a chance to pour gasoline on a fire, has called for criminal charges to be filed against the officers.

The official investigations could exonerate the cops involved or nail them as rogues and racists. But they could also find a less either-or explanation: a cascade of faulty tactics; a mistake driven by the adrenaline surge of a car chase; a tripwire reflex that springs from being in too many dangerous situations with too little backup. Such a finding would argue not just for improving training but also for hiring additional cops.

Explanations are not excuses. But if the goal is reforming the LAPD, understanding the root of the behavior is critical to changing it. And if one key to reform is getting rank-and-file officers to admit to -- and learn from -- mistakes rather than closing ranks, they have to be assured that their punishment will suit the offense, not political expediency.

Because of the LAPD’s history, its investigation demands close scrutiny. That investigation also deserves a chance to play out before anyone calls for heads to roll. If the test for the LAPD and Chief William J. Bratton is to conduct an open and fair inquiry, the challenge for the rest of the city is to focus on justice, not vengeance or exoneration.