How the LAPD broke the law and you were denied the truth

By Ken Scarboro
December 5th, 2011
Section: Opinions

An officer with no visible name tag jabs a protester being directed away from City Hall. After this photograph the officer swung his baton at my camera, hitting my hand instead. Photo Credit: Ken Scarboro / Editor in chief

During the raid on Occupy LA the Los Angeles Police Department broke California law and Mayor Villaraigosa called it “perhaps one of the finest moments in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

An initial standoff between protesters and police started the night of Nov. 27 and continued to just before rush hour the next morning. Villaraigosa’s announcement of the eviction Nov. 28 at 12:01 a.m. brought thousands of protesters and hundreds of journalists to the area around City Hall.  Protesters and police handled themselves extraordinarily well the night of the first standoff, which ended in a continued occupation of City Hall park. I witnessed only one incident of physical exchange between police and protesters.

On the night of Nov. 29, and into the morning of Nov. 30, LAPD evicted the 60-day-old Occupy L.A. tent city from the lawn around City Hall.

Before the real eviction took place, LAPD held a last minute conference with media to discuss the what media would be allowed in when police evicted the Occupy LA encampment.  LAPD  originally planned to let in one media outlet from each medium (print, radio, television) into the camp while police made arrests. They later decided on three outlets from the chosen media.  LAPD would block all other media, under threat of arrest, from City Hall when they evicted protesters.

How LAPD broke California Penal Code

California Penal Code Section 409.5 reads that any law enforcement or public safety agency may close down an area in the case of natural disaster, riot, civil disobedience and some other cases.  However, Subdivision (d) of Section 409.5 reads:

(d) Nothing in this section shall prevent a duly authorized representative of any news service, newspaper, or radio or television station or network from entering the areas closed pursuant to this section. (Emphasis added)

By limiting what media outlets would be allowed in during the eviction the LAPD blatantly ignored California law.  LAPD ensured that the story told about the night of the raid was the story they wanted people to hear.

Not surprisingly, after the the raid all mainstream media reports were of how peacefully and respectfully LAPD and protesters handled themselves. For the most part LAPD did show great restraint.

Not in numbers – 1,400 officers were used to evict hundreds of protesters – but they did refrain from using tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and other less-lethal methods. Bean-bags were used selectively to remove remaining occupiers from their tree house.

While LAPD held back on their technology, and many officers held themselves back physically, there were those who took the moments of chaos during the raid as a cue to let out some aggression.

Decreased access equals decreased accountability

I witnessed a different story while photographing the eviction of Occupy L.A.

When police rushed out of city hall into the park to begin circling around groups of protesters, I worked my way into the center of the park where a group of occupiers set up a tent and sat around it with linked arms. Moving toward the center I saw many officers kicking over trash cans, tearing down tents and pop-up shelters, and pushing and striking protesters with their batons.

After the initial scuffle of trying to get officers into place, there were no incidents and protesters, police and media braced for the next step.  LAPD began giving warnings to protesters that the gathering had been declared an unlawful assembly and they were instructed to leave the area or face arrest or “other police action.”

Police then issued the same warning to all media in the area.  As the last warning for media was given, I found an officer escorting media out of the area, and I followed them out of the park.  What happened as arrests were made I cannot say, and other reports are fuzzy because LAPD parked buses along First Street blocking the view of the media pen in front of police headquarters.

The area protesters, independent media and myself were directed to after exiting the park was a courtyard of the Information Technology Agency, well out of view of City Hall and elevated above Temple Street.  Police formed a line blocking us from City Hall, then began to march forward, forcing us farther away from the scene.

Police then directed us down a flight of stairs to street level. After most of the protesters and independent media made it down, police began pushing and shoving people down the stairs.  One woman fell and they just kept shoving her down the steps.

Some police, in a line to greet us on Temple Street, then began striking and jabbing protesters with their batons. One officer, with no visible name tag or badge number, swung for my camera with his baton, but hit my hand instead.  An L.A. Times editorial stated that, according to police, batons were brandished but not used to strike people.
Lies.

A successful resolution

Villaraigosa successfully removed the occupation from his front lawn and LAPD successfully avoided another black mark on their long history of police brutality against demonstrators and press.

The Occupy movement in Los Angeles is already moving forward as well, much like the nationwide occupations that have been removed from their physical spaces but continue to demonstrate against corporate and political greed.

There are two great travesties that have come from the raid on the Occupy L.A. encampment, however.  First, the LAPD blockaded open media coverage of an event which we are granted access to by law, and thus successfully covered themselves from any real accountability.
The second comes up from one of our most frequent online commenters.

David the small-L libertarian writes, “Blame it on the ‘brutal’ police, as usual.  The city handled these people with kid gloves. When you defy lawful orders don’t be surprised if you get arrested.”

David the small-L makes many keen points and observations regularly, but what disturbs me the most is the normalizing of any violence, even with “kid gloves,” against U.S. citizens exercising their first amendment rights to peaceful assembly and a redress of grievances.

Allowing this lack of accountability to go unchallenged and raising the bar for acceptable violence against protesters will send us down a slippery path that people on both sides of the aisle will regret the outcome.

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  • Enmac502

    how about the police holding people for hours on a bus refusing to give them water, food, or allow them to pee, forcing them to have to urinate on the bus? is that handling themselves well?

    • BigMac

      Being arrested isn’t supposed to be fun. The thing about civil disobedience that people no longer seem to understand is… you are supposed to accept society’s punishment heroically. Whining about having to sit still for a few hours does nothing to ennoble your cause.

    • David the small-L libertarian

      how about the police holding people for hours on a bus refusing to give
      them water, food, or allow them to pee, forcing them to have to urinate
      on the bus? is that handling themselves well?

      Next time you can hire a caterer and volunteer to organize the logistics of handling the nature-calls of 300 arrestees.

  • LaurenfromLA

    I liked your article and agree with the thesis.  But as an old grammarian, I need to alert you to your incorrect use of the word myself.  You can’t say “Protesters, media and myself were escorted out.”  First, you would never say “Myself was escorted out.”  Second, you only use myself if the word I is already in the sentence as in “I, myself, was escorted out.”  As grammar and usage are not being taught in schools anymore, I can’t really blame you.  The incorrect use of the word myself is so common, there is a Facebook page devoted to it.  It is also really common to hear people say, “Come to the party with Cindy and I.”  It’s Cindy and me, because it is an object of a preposition.  You would never say, “Come to the party with I.”  Anyway, sorry to nitpick  But it seems you are a journalist or a journalism student.  So I thought I’d let you know.  

  • Vlad

    The premise of this “opinion” is that the media were complicit in propagandizing a particular viewpoint. This presents a clear lack of understanding about the media. Violence sells. If any one of the media had filmed, or witnessed acts of violence they would have presented it front and center(for ratings).

    Furthermore(not to steal your pseudonum), isn’t EVERYBODY a journalist today? A group of 3-5,000 young protestors, and not 1 iPhone, or Blackberry with video capabilities.

    I’ve found the standard for “truthiness” coming out of the reports from the camps, and now on the pages of he Sundial to be specious, at best.

    Did the LAPD, or the media stage the 30 Tons of; feces, piss-bottles, trash, make-shift smoke bombs, dead grass, grafitti, and destruction of private property?

    Be accountable, and stop whining like little babies.

    Vlad

  • old glory

    “David the small-L makes many keen points and observations regularly, but
    what disturbs me the most is the normalizing of any violence, even with
    “kid gloves,” against U.S. citizens exercising their first amendment
    rights to peaceful assembly and a redress of grievances.”

    It is so easy for you to go after the LAPD. But who has normalized violence? …….News Flash….it’s the Media.

  • David the small-L libertarian

    Mr. Scarboro:
     
    I understand that you’re not happy about being left out of covering the ousting of the Occupiers.  Did the LAPD technically break the law in how it handled the media?  Probably.  Was it a significant assault on the freedom of the press?  Probably not.
     
    After seeing police met with violence by the Occupy folks across the country, it’s pretty obvious to me that the LAPD had a plan for making mass arrests and that having the media in the midst of it would cause them problems including the flashing of cameras in officers’ faces and  the distraction of having to sort them out from the Occupiers.  Certainly they allowed the media into the encampment up to the time that the operation was to take place.
     
    It’s also obvious that the LAPD wanted to reduce the likelihood that the protesters would be warned of the raid to minimize injuries to officers.  LAPD had intelligence that protesters were preparing weapons to use against officers.  The police also know that many in the media are sympathetic to the Occupy movement and didn’t want their plan exposed.  Here are a couple of examples of reporters involved in Occupy:
    New York Times Reporter Natasha Lennard Is #OccupyWallStreet Activist, Supporter
    Reporter Caught Moonlighting for Media Matters
     
    As for the officer pictured without the name tag:  You’ll notice that LAPD officers wear their name tags on their right breast pocket.  That pocket is not visible in the photo.  Do you have another that shows his pocket sans name tag?  I’m not convinced that this is evidence of a conspiracy.
     
    David the small-L libertarian writes, “Blame it on the ‘brutal’ police, as usual.  The city handled these people with kid gloves. When you defy lawful orders don’t be surprised if you get arrested.”
    David the small-L makes many keen points and observations regularly, but what disturbs me the most is the normalizing of any violence, even with “kid gloves,” against U.S. citizens exercising their first amendment rights to peaceful assembly and a redress of grievances.
    Thanks for acknowledging the keenness of my regular points and observations; I’m pleased to see that the editor reads them.
    As much as I’m a proponent of free speech, I fail to understand the argument that taking over a public space for weeks or months on end is protected by the First Amendment. Camping under the guise of “free speech” is not a right. I’ve also commented on that. Why not let the homeless camp out on the steps of city hall to protest homelessness?
    And why is my approval of police using necessary force (with a handful of exceptions, I’m sure) to remove the unhappy campers “normalizing violence”?  Certainly many of those in the Occupy movement think that violence is the way to get their message out.
    That brings me to the infamous UC Davis pepper-spray incident.  The media has been showing the 30-second clip of officers spraying the protesters out of context.  Someone has taken the time to piece the event together and post it on YouTube..  Perhaps the police weren’t as “brutal” as many think they were.

  • Collin Sasse

    I’m not for or against the occupy movement – they have some good ideas, other not so good ideas. They make some valid points. I support their right to make those points, regardless of what they are, just like I support the rights of the westboro baptist church, the tea party, or any other group that wants to rally and hold a protest.

    Regardless of if they “overstayed their welcome”, what I find troubling is not just the LAPD, but at UC Davis, UC Berkeley, New York, and elsewhere – the systematic censorship of media and removal of protestors, penning them away in what the LAPD calls a “free speech zone”. Last I checked, this entire country is a free speech zone.

    You might not support the protestors, but I think we can all agree that we support our Constitutional rights. When those rights (right to media/press, right to assemble, freedom of speech) are infringed upon, it is the people’s duty to change the system of government to protect those rights.

    The press, just like the police, have a job to do – they hold people accountable. (and occasionally predict the weather wrong…). The media document and report on what happens – con artists, murder trials, corrupt political leaders, protests, police actions – it is the job of the media to accurately and fairly report, to the citizens, what is happening. When this ability is compromised by “media pools” and “press pens” we are compromising what we must protect and believe in.

    Regardless of how you feel about the Occupy movement, police
    sending in terrorism units and barring press entry should raise anyone’s
    alarms, doesn’t matter if the protest is the Westboro Church, Occupy
    Wall Street, the Tea Party, or anyone else.

    How you choose to stand up for your rights is your choice – protest, vote, or do nothing. But I beg that you do stand up for those rights. Use it or lose it.

    • old glory

      “The press, just like the police, have a job to do – they hold people
      accountable. (and occasionally predict the weather wrong…). The media
      document and report on what happens – con artists, murder trials,
      corrupt political leaders, protests, police actions – it is the job of
      the media to accurately and fairly report, to the citizens, what is
      happening. When this ability is compromised by “media pools” and “press
      pens” we are compromising what we must protect and believe in.”

      Let me know when they start “accurately and fairly reporting” what is going on. No offense but the media is biased as any of us on the comment boards. And I have news for you. The media “documents and reports” what will sell papers and get them ratings. If you don’t believe that look at the hacking scandal that is going on in England with News Corp. What about Dan Rather and George Bush scandal. The New York Post reporter who lied on multiple stories. The LA Times had reporters who only job was to find negative stories about the LAPD. I repeat “only negative stories.” How is that being fair?   

  • And Furthermore

    Talk about a missed opportunity.  The mayor offered the occupiers office space in downtown for one dollar per year in exchange for vacating the grounds.  What did the occupiers do?  They REJECTED the offer! 

    If the occupiers had any sense at all they would have jumped at the opportunity.  It would not have been seen as a sell-out at all.  In fact, they “could have” even started their own political party.  Instead, they preferred to sit in their tents and accomplish absolutley nothing.  What a bunch of losers!!!

    • fackkkkk12

      You must be delusional. Getting them into an office would pretty much defeat the purpose of protesting. It’s a way to silence them. Nice try though.

  • and furthermore

    Did anyone see the list of “occupations” of the arrested occupiers in the L.A. Times?  Poet, barrista, artist, window washer, etc.  It should be no surprise why they are not as well-off as they think they should be.

  • guest

    Quote: …but what disturbs me the most is the normalizing of any violence, even with “kid gloves,” against U.S. citizens exercising their first amendment rights to peaceful assembly and a redress of grievances.

    Hahaha.  Tell just just how the Mayor of Los Angeles has the power to redress their grievances.  Some of the grievances included forgiving federal students loans, stopping foreclosures, and other subjects beyond the power of the mayor.  The might as well have demanded world peace, too.    

    The occupiers were there far too long.  They made their point and it was time for them to go.  The occupiers wanted a confrontation with the police. 

  • CivilOccupier

    The mayor, the City Attorney, the LAPD chief, and Sheriff Baca top that list, followed by the compliant media.

    • old glory

      The Mayor, City Attorney and Sheriff are all voted in. So turn you attention to the voters if you don’t like it. 

  • BigMac

    It must be those evil Republ…  oh, what a minute, Republicans are not actually in charge of ANY part of government in California. A case can be made that the LAPD acted improperly. Who do you think is to blame?