Peter Jennings Reporting - LAPD
Air Date: 6/1/04
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The Los Angeles Police Department's motto is a simple one, "to protect
and to serve." But there is nothing simple about it. The truth about the police in Los
Angeles is very complicated. You cannot see it from a helicopter on the 5:00 news. You
need to be here, where almost no one comes unless they have to. Down here there is
no single immutable truth, only conflict. And the closer we look the less clear it is. The
cops, the gangs, the people who grow up here, they're trapped with each other. Down
here the motto is, "protect if you can, serve if you can. But most of all, survive."
Peter Jennings – On Camera
We set out more than a year ago to try and understand the Los Angeles Police
Department. Its recent past had been so troubled that it was operating -still is operating
under Federal oversight. It had just got a new chief as we began. And it was then the
murder capital of the USA.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) We have spent our time in a part of South Los Angeles, about ten square
miles that is as tough and as troubled and as complicated, we discovered, as anywhere
in America. What we found was not exactly what we were expecting. But it was a
remarkable journey. For one thing, the world looks very different from inside a speeding
police car.
DECEMBER 13, 2003: SOUTHEAST DIVISION
LAPD Officer
Shots fired.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) It had been a quiet Saturday night. It changed in an instant.
LAPD Officer
Officer needs help. 107 and Wilmington. Officer needs help. 107 and Wilmington. Shots
fired.
LAPD Officer
Perimeter. 107, male Hispanic, blue sweatshirt, black knit cap.
LAPD Officer
2
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Male Hispanic blue sweatshirt. Officer down.
LAPD Officer
Officer needs help. 107 and Wilmington. Officer down. Correction, 107.
LAPD Officer
Two officers are down.
LAPD Officer
Get down on the ground. Stay down.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) There is no more dangerous place in America to be a police officer.
LAPD Officer
We've got two officers down at 106th and Wilmington.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) And there is no more dangerous place in America to be a young man.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ANNOUNCER
"LAPD" CONTINUES
OCTOBER. 2002
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) This is William J. Bratton, the most famous police chief in America. Bill
Bratton made his name as a police chief in New York City. While he was on the job
there was a dramatic drop in crime. In October 2002, he became the 54th chief in Los
Angeles history. Bratton is here because the legendary LAPD is in trouble. The city is in
trouble. There were more murders in Los Angeles in 2002, than in any city in America.
A decade of scandal has tarnished the celebrated badge. The new chief is perhaps the
last chance to restore the LAPD's honor.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
I wanted to come back into policing, particularly in a large city, to show that police do
count. Secondly, however, was the missed opportunity of New York City, where we got
crime down so dramatically, we showed that with the right amount of police, policing in
an appropriate fashion, you could not only reduce crime, but you could improve
relations, particularly with the minority community, at the same time.
3
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Peter Jennings
Which you didn't succeed in doing in New York.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
That didn't happen there. You can have it both and at the same time. And I desperately
want to be able to prove that concept. Because we have been the flash point, we the
police, for most of the racial violence in the past century. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we
were in fact the catalyst for the healing?
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Two of the worst riots in American history exploded out of the simmering
hostility between the black community of South Los Angeles and law enforcement. In
the 1965 Watts riots and again in 1992, when four cops were acquitted of assault in the
case of Rodney King.
Earl Paysinger
Deputy Chief, South Bureau LAPD
That was a terrible, dark period in our history. And it's going to take a long time to
recover. It was as if we had totally lost the confidence of the community.
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
When Rodney King happened, it was very clear, LAPD's relationship with poor
communities was one of an occupying army. "We just come in, we extract, and we
occupy. And we rule the streets." That's the way LAPD policed.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) In the aftermath of Rodney King, even the O.J. Simpson trial was tainted
by distrust of the LAPD. And then, in 1998, the department's greatest humiliation. A
group of officers in the Rampart division's anti-gang unit had framed people, stolen
drugs and money, and shot unarmed suspects. Six years later, the Rampart scandal is
still being investigated, now under the direction of civil rights attorney Connie Rice.
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
When you have cops who routinely lie on the stand, plant evidence, even attempt to
murder people and then cover it up, that is a complete breakdown. It rocked LAPD to its
core.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The courts were forced to overturn more than 100 criminal convictions.
And because of the Rampart scandal, the LAPD has been under Federal oversight ever
since. Every move they make is monitored. This is the department that Bill Bratton took
4
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
over. Morale was down and crime was up. Less than a month after he got the job, one
of those weekends that said it all.
NOVEMBER 2002
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) On Friday night, two men were killed and another was stabbed on
Saturday. This was not unusual. But on Sunday, a bouncer at a nightclub, John Henry
Smith, was killed when he told a man he couldn't come in. Juan Valenzuela was gunned
down from a passing car while standing with a group of friends. Eliseo Rodriquez was
ambushed in front of his home. By Monday night, there were nine more bodies. 15
homicides in 4 days. And on the same weekend, four other young men died in
confrontations with the cops.
Peter Jennings
How tough a weekend was that?
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
Extraordinarily tough weekend in that it really knocked me back on my heels. It caused
me to think, "what the Hell have I gotten myself into?" Also a surprise to me was how
indifferent in many respects this city had become to it. This isn't in Afghanistan. This
isn't in Lebanon. This is in the streets of the second-largest city in this country. This has
got to stop. And it's got to stop now.
JANUARY 31, 2003: SOUTHEAST DIVISION
Peter Jennings
We spent a lot of time this year riding with Scottie Stevens, an ex-Marine from
Oklahoma, and Tim Pearce, who was born here in Southern California.
LAPD Officer
Let's see. Who can we go play with? Friday night Sentinels?
LAPD Officer
Ooh, that car right there.
Peter Jennings
They work gangs. All the time.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
It's not Mayberry by any stretch of the imagination. Southeast is the epicenter of gangs
throughout the country. It's a community that's caught in the middle of a battle between
5
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
good and evil, gangs and police. You can keep a lid on it, you can control it. But you're
never going to completely stop it.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
Our job as a gang officer is to know everything we can about the gang we're assigned.
And that is their names, their nicknames, their tattoos, their descriptions, their cars, their
girlfriends, their family, where they live, where they hang out, who they hang out with.
So it's a constant attempt to gain that information.
LAPD Officer
Who you claiming?
Suspect
I'm from 9-7 East Coast.
LAPD Officer
You claiming East Coast, too? What did you get put in for?
Suspect
Murder.
LAPD Officer
How many years you do for that?
Suspect
Nine.
LAPD Officer
Nine? How old were you when you did that?
Suspect
14.
Lapd Officer
Damn. What did you do?
Suspect
Murder.
LAPD Officer
I mean, how did you do it?
Suspect
Negligent manner.
6
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
We don't take radio calls unless it's a gang-related one. We just go out there and search
the spots, look for guys.
Peter Jennings
(Cruise and look. Cruise and look. Cruise and look.
LAPD Officer
He's thinking, he's thinking. You see him hitting his brakes.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
We're looking for any kind of a violation, a municipal code violation, littering, drinking in
public, anything like that that would give us a reason to stop and talk with them. And
then when we talk to them it's a step by step process.
LAPD Officer
Step to the fence. Throw your hands on your head. Throw your hands on your head.
Don't ask questions. Step to the fence. Put your hands on your head. Turn around and
face the house. What are you thinking? Put your hands on your head. On your head.
You want to get sprayed? You follow my instructions. That's all I expect. That's it. You
have any weapons on you?
Suspect
No, sir.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Eloy Sanchez is used to this. Those are gang signs he's flashing us.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
Pick your reason to stop them, a legitimate reason to stop them. And stop them and talk
to them. And build it from there.
Suspect
What's up?
LAPD Officer
What do you mean, what's up? You guys know what's up, you know what happened.
You guys aren't giving up any information.
Suspect
7
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
But we wasn't even there. We don't got nothing to do.
LAPD Officer
But you hear, true? What did you hear? You tell me what you heard.
Suspect
You guys. You know, I can't say nothing, Homie. I'll get killed, Homie, you know what I
mean? You know how it is. You know how it is. So that's your job, man. Flowers.
Fagetas. Snivies, KMTs, (CENSORED) all them (CENSORED).
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
At one point they were all kids. But as far as I'm concerned when they joined a gang,
they gave up their childhood.
Suspect
Hey, when's that gonna come out so I can see it or what?
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Eloy wanted to know when our program was on. He didn't live long enough
to see it. This is what happens in Southeast. And it would be easy to disregard this. Just
another dead gang member. But the cops understand that violence begets more
violence. And if they're going to save this neighborhood, they will have to find a way to
stop the killing, even if it is the gang's worst who are most likely to die.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
ANNOUNCER
"LAPD" continues.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) People in Los Angeles told us that Southeast is just a war zone. That is
not true. It's a neighborhood. A neighborhood of black and Latino families. Poor families.
But there is a war here.
FEBRUARY 16, 2003
LAPD Officer
Money is the center of all gangs. That's what it all circles around. Dope, money.
LAPD Officer
They use kids on little scooters, you know. They'll cruise around and be lookouts. They
use the Nextel phones with the walkie-talkie on them. So, the first person to see an
officer approaching a neighborhood gets on the Nextel, lets everybody know. And they
8
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
just step back in their house until the coast is clear. Come back out and start selling
again. As you drive around the division, you go from block to block and the gangs
change. Some are huge, you know, 2000 members.
LAPD Officer
They call Crips crabs. It's an insult. Grape Street are fake street. East Coast is cheese
toast. Florence is flowers. Bounty Hunters are bunny huggers.
LAPD Officer
Some are just 30, 40 members on one or two blocks.
LAPD Officer
There's a little gang on this street that's trying to become something. They're just kids,
you know?
LAPD Officer
We keep slapping them back down to size.
LAPD Officer
They call themselves killing mob. We've gotten three of them with guns in the last
couple months. But they're just kids.
Peter Jennings
K-Mob 13 Watts.
LAPD Officer
That's Bounty Hunter neighborhood right here, which is an enormous gang.
Peter Jennings
So it's ballsy for a guy to come and tag right there.
LAPD Officer
Oh, totally.
LAPD Officer
The guns are the big picture.
LAPD Officer
Pull a gun off a guy, you know, on the street and he goes in. You know someone's not
going to get shot that night by him at least.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
9
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
The neighborhood in general, unfortunately, is hostage. Gangs control everything. They
control it through fear. Most people there are good hardworking families. And then,
there's the other element that we battle everyday.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) This time someone called the police to report that these young men were
pointing a gun at passing cars.
LAPD Officer
You know why we're here then, right? Said they had a gun. We found the gun. And
these guys right here earlier today were at a gang funeral. We know that their tempers
are a little high right now.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Before the police are even off the block, someone retaliates against the
neighbors suspected of calling the cops. A man and a woman are both stabbed.
LAPD Officer
Why don't you tell me who did it? Where's the guy at.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
Almost eight years on this job. And 'til this day I'm still amazed at the amount of violence
that's out there. And I'm also amazed at how little people know about how much
violence is out there.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Here's an example of how people are trapped. If they call the cops, a gang
may come down on them. But people also fear the LAPD.
Dr. William T. Washington
Pastor
The police, to a lot of us in the community, is just another gang. But it's a gang that can
legally oppress and kill. And then say, we have done nothing wrong. We want to get rid
of these violent people who are terrorizing our communities, killing our kids. We want to
see them gotten rid of. But what we're saying is that, you don't know how to do that
without brutalizing us all.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) This is what Chief Bratton is up against. How to win the people's trust?
How to contain the gang violence and restore the morale of his cops, all at the same
time?
Peter Jennings
10
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
You've policed in other cities. You've consulted in a ton of them. Is this that much
different?
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
This is the toughest of all of them. That's why I'm here.
Peter Jennings
Not enough men, not enough money.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
Not enough personnel, not enough money.
Peter Jennings
But do you believe that the size of the department really has a lot to do with your
relationship with the community?
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
I do, because there are so few of them. And their backup is so far away frequently. They
adopt tactics that eventually alienate them from the communities they're trying to police.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Los Angeles is the second-largest city in the country, spread over 450
square miles. There are 9,000 cops. New York city, by comparison, has almost 40,000.
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
If you don't have enough boots on the ground, you act like a porcupine. You puff
yourself up. You amplify your power. You make yourself look scarier than you are. And
you have to project a power you don't have. And how do you do that? You basically do it
through terror.
Earl Paysinger
Deputy Chief, South Bureau LAPD
I have seen it in years past where we have absolutely demanded members of this
organization to do more with less. But you have to be careful. If you ask for too many
tickets, if you ask for too many arrests, all of which or some of which you know they
can't do because there aren't enough of them. Because if you ask too much, they'll
deliver for you. But you won't want to know how they got the result.
MAY 16, 2003
Peter Jennings
11
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
(Voice Over) Chief Bratton keeps telling the city that if he's truly going to change the
department, change the city, he will need more cops. Six months after he got here,
Bratton asked the City Council for 320 more officers. The City Council said, no.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
What are they thinking about over there? This city desperately needs more police
officers. These police officers desperately need more like them out in these streets.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) It's a tough sell in Los Angeles. Nobody wants to pay for cops to work in
someone else's neighborhood.
John Linder
Consultant To Chief Bratton
We have only enough police officers here to make certain that the wealthier
neighborhoods stay safe. And I think that the question that the community of Los
Angeles has to confront is that question. Do we want to make the whole city safe?
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The Chief was improving morale. He transferred more officers to gang
units. But there are fewer than 30 officers in Southeast Division working gangs. And
there may be 10,000 gang members in Southeast alone.
Peter Jennings
Do other people in Los Angeles not care enough about what happens down here
because this is a black neighborhood, for the most part, black and Latino, and it is poor,
and you guys keep the crime contained?
LAPD Officer
They really don't want to know everything that occurs down here. And they don't put us
in a position to win. We're not here to win anything. We're here to maintain control
between civilization and utter chaos. That's all we're here for. Until they're willing to give
us everything that we need to win, and all the resources that go with it, they don't want
us to win.
LAPD Officer
When you come here, I think you have to leave some of your values back at your home.
Because you're dealing with people who don't share those values and people who, if
they have the opportunity, will kill you.
Peter Jennings
What are the values you have to leave at home?
LAPD Officer
12
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Giving someone the benefit of the doubt, trust, and a lot of times, compassion.
JUNE 6, 2003
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The community is deeply in need of compassion. Scottie Stevens and Tim
Pearce spent much of the year focusing on the little gang called K-Mob. The gang is
small but getting more active.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
His name is "Little Loco." Officer Zamudio and I caught him with a gun. He was one of
those kids that we got right away. His hair had just been shaved. And he was one of
those, "okay, this is your first one, all right. You don't even have a tattoo yet. Call it quits
here, just stop." He went to camp, got out, and immediately went back to it. The most
dangerous ones are the younger ones, between the ages of about 15 to 19, because
that's when they're at their soldier stage. They're the gun carriers, the dope couriers, the
robbery crews. We had info he was dealing dope out of his front yard, possibly being
involved or having knowledge about a couple of murders. Gun battle was going on.
LAPD Officer
How old are you again?
Suspect
15.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
And his house seemed to be the center point of the activity.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
There's nothing easy about growing up in that neighborhood. The odds are totally
against them. It's only a matter of time before Grape Street rolls through here and
dumps on you guys. True? But you know what? At your house, look at how many little
kids are sitting in front of your house right now. Now they don't have a clue what's going
on, right? Not a clue. But you're out here slinging, okay? Now here comes Grape Street.
Here comes Grape Street down -rolling down here, ready to do a drive-by on you guys.
Bam, bam, bam. Who is going to get hit on that porch? Not you because you're going to
have your eyes wide open, right? You're going to see them coming. So, you're going to
start heading for the corner of the house. The little girls are still going to be standing
there smiling and they're the ones that are going to get popped, right? Can't you see
that? But that's going to be on you.
13
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
So far, we haven't found one that we could save, as hard as we've tried.
LAPD Officer
If this is what you choose, you chose it. Be a man about it. Don't start playing games. I
know. You're making bad decision, kid.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) By the end of the summer last year, the Los Angeles Police Department,
as a whole, was having a better year. The crime rate was falling. City wide, homicide
was down almost 25 percent. That was not the case in Southeast Division. Crime
statistics can always be massaged and often are by departments. But homicide
numbers are as clear as the lives that have been lost.
Sal Labarbera
Southeast Homicide Detective
Witnesses. I mean, we need people to talk to us and to come forward and to tell us what
happened.
SEPTEMBER 25, 2003
Sal Labarbera
Southeast Homicide Detective
When we're out at a crime scene, who's there, who's not there. And usually if it's quiet
and there's nobody out there, everyone knows what happened. We're faced with, if it's a
gang case and most of them are, is how much trust does the community have in the
police? The police aren't always there. The gang members are.
Local Resident
This (CENSORED) go on everyday. Killings, double homicides. It's never on the news.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Jill Leovy is a reporter for "The LA Times." She covers this neighborhood
everyday.
JILL LEOVY
"Los Angeles Times"
This problem of young men fighting and killing each other amid a fairly peaceful, urban
environment is maddening and exasperating, and it drives you crazy. This hovering
question that is -crackles in the air everywhere in South LA and that every cop and
every person on the street is on to. But that nobody is really talking about in-depth,
which is, why? Why is this happening to these people?
14
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
OCTOBER 4, 2003
LAPD Officer
It's an 8-7 location, they sell a little marijuana out of.
LAPD Officer
Two guys got out, both with machine guns, one a Uzi, and one a AK-47, and just did a
spray.
LAPD Officer
In excess of 40 rounds were fired. Both the male and female were struck, right there in
the living room.
LAPD Officer
They said the bullets went through the front wall, through all the walls in the house and
came out the back wall of the house.
OCTOBER 6, 2003
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
A woman, her three children in a Southeast area. They were subject to a drive-by
shooting in front of their home. The six-year-old, D'angelo Beck, was shot in the head
last night. And he is, at this time, on life support.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
I have a son about the same age. It made everybody in the unit mad. And it made
everybody in the division mad. The dad is actually known to us. Me and Tim worked that
house for a little while. There was a lot of strange activity going on that kind of led us to
believe that everything there wasn't completely legitimate.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
The suspect car rolls by and starts firing at them. The people in the Suburban throw it in
reverse, take out this fence here and back right up and hit the house. The 6-year-old
boy was sitting inside the Suburban. He took one to the head. It went in the right side of
his head and out the back.
OCTOBER 8, 2003
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
15
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
It was a 6-year-old kid that was born into a situation that they couldn't control. The child
died because his father was a gang member. The child died because his father was
dealing dope out of that front yard and had gang members in his front yard. The
complete blame for that child dying, other than the person who pulled the trigger, is on
that dad's head.
Local Resident
The blacks and the Latinos in the community must stand up side-by- side and tell the
world that the police department is here to do good. And we're gonna support them
1,000 percent.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The Chief had been on the job for almost a year now. He was getting good
marks from many people. He was pretty upbeat in public. But privately he was
frustrated.
John Linder
Consultant To Chief Bratton
I think his success here has been substantial. But I don't think it has been as immensely
quick as it was in other places. And I think that relates to the realities that he then
confronted. And I think reality hit hard.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
I think we're kidding ourselves if we really think that we're winning here. Particularly in
the area of gang initiatives. I'm still very, very concerned and unsettled that, you know,
we've got a long way to go. We're doing better. But it's still not good enough. There was
an all-too typical homicide here. It's almost as if it didn't happen. You won't read about it
in any papers. You won't hear about it in the news. There was a life lost and it's not
even a blip in time.
Earl Paysinger
Deputy Chief, South Bureau LAPD
When a horrible crime occurs, when somebody is victimized in a despicable way in
another part of the community, there's an incredible political and social response. But
yet, when that same thing happens in a place called "south bureau" or other
communities like it, it just passes as if it were a tide. And both personally and
professionally, I have a huge problem with that. And I wonder to myself, "why is that?" Is
it because that there is such a saturation of those kinds of episodes, it just calmly
passes by? I don't think so. I think it's something that has much more depth to it, that
really does speak to the issue of race.
OCTOBER 23, 2003
Earl Paysinger
16
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Deputy Chief, South Bureau LAPD
This stems from a shooting at 54th and Normandie. It's not only because of those young
people. It's also because of a young man that was 6 years old, who was shot and killed
during a barrage of gunfire that had gang influence about it. Our job, in a deliberate and
a professional way, is to send them a powerful message that they don't get to wreak
havoc in our communities. They just don't get to do it.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) In late October, the department tried to send the gangs a powerful
message. More than 400 officers hit 37 locations simultaneously. The explosive devices
are intended to divert attention while the SWAT Team makes its entry. Chief Bratton
says that 10 percent of the gangsters do most of the violence. And the cops know who
they are. By the end of this night, there were 29 arrests and the cops picked up 13
guns. There are 18 divisions in the LAPD. Southeast is just one. 150,000 people live
here. Almost everyone knows someone who has a gang connection. Chewy and Slim
live in a housing project called Jordan Downs. The cops are in their lives all the time.
Local Resident
They give you the third degree. You know what I'm saying? They make you feel like
you're not human, like you're cargo. You know what I mean? It's no rights. Over the
years, the police has instilled fear in everything over here.
Local Resident
I ain't seen a positive cop yet, man.
Peter Jennings
You haven't seen a positive cop yet?
Local Resident
I ain't seen a positive cop yet.
Peter Jennings
What's the worse thing the cops could do to you around here?
Local Resident
What's the worst? They could kill you. The worst they could do is kill you.
LAPD Officer
Is that a cell phone you have in your side pocket right there? Oh, okay. Do you mind if I
see it real quick?
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
17
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
It's so routine it's presumed to be valid, that it's okay to stop anybody with or without
probable cause. There's no such thing as probable cause in South LA, because the
entire neighborhood is seen as gang territory.
Local Resident
They see an individual walking down the street and automatically will start casing that
person, trying to find anything negative, something, something. You know, 'cause that's
what officers are trained to do.
Local Resident
You know the routine, get right in that routine whatever. "Any drugs or dope on you?"
"No, sir, I'm coming from my mom's house."
Dr. William T. Washington
Pastor
It's like back in the South when I was brought up. It was the same attitude. You know,
our people taught us, "keep your mouth closed. Don't say anything. They might hurt
you." Well, here we are in the 21st century teaching our children the same thing. I don't
like that. But if they're going to survive.
Local Resident
Me being a black man, six feet tall, I'm all type of target. Not trying to be funny. But I can
just walk down the street and just be myself and I can be a target. You know what I'm
saying? Just for the simple fact who's behind the wheel. "Okay, we on him." This what
we go through. We been born in this right here.
LAPD Officer
You never know who's got a gun, right. Where you going, bro? Where you going?
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
In Beverly Hills and in Baldwin Hills, upper middle class neighborhoods, are they looking
for the same kinds of violations? Are they pulling everybody over? Are they looking for
seat belts not being buckled? Are they pursuing the same types of violations across the
board? Or are they just being used in this neighborhood as a pretext for carrying out
what is actually a sweeping policy of rounding people up?
Dr. William T. Washington
Pastor
The boys are afraid, because they don't know what the police are going to do them. The
police has all the power. So, when they are stopped, the police can say anything. They
could write up anything. I mean, wouldn't you be afraid? Of course you would.
Peter Jennings
18
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
(Voice Over) The fear in this part of town is like a plague. The gangs are afraid of the
cops. At times, the cops are frightened by the gangs. Ordinary people fear the cops and
the gangs. And everything that happens here is contaminated by the past.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
There's still a history that is embedded with large parts of our minority population. And
it's based on reality. It's not based on perception. But I haven't run in to any black male
in particular in this city that has not had a negative experience in their lives with the Los
Angeles Police.
Peter Jennings
What does that tell you? We haven't run into anybody, either, who hasn't had a negative
experience with the police and many of them currently.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
It tells me that there's still a long way to go.
Peter Jennings
But you're talking about using the cops as a leading edge, in terms of improving race
relations in America. And if you ride with the cops in South Los Angeles, they are
constantly looking for a reason to stop somebody. A kid without a seat belt. As close as
they can to the legal limit. Why is that? How is that good for race relations?
CHIEF William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
We know that works in the sense of dealing with crime, in terms of getting those people
that have the guns, getting those people who are wanted on the warrants. It's a way of
policing that has extraordinary benefits. But it also has extraordinary risks.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Peter Jennings
The Los Angeles Police Department has been at war with the gangs in South LA for 30
years. And today, there are more gangs than ever. Thousands of young gang members
have been killed. Tens of thousands have been arrested. And still, the gangs continue
to grow.
Local Resident
We live in a whole different world when you come over here. This is a whole different
tip. When the kids come home from after school, they come right into the streets. You
go anywhere else, the kids might have somewhere to go, like an after-school center or
somewhere they can direct their energy to. Over here, their energy is directed into
negative energy.
19
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Local Resident
In your neighborhood, in your neighborhood versus our neighborhood, this is what they
have to do everyday after school. Throw rocks, play in vacant fields that have been
vacant since the 1965 riots. We don't see Girl Scouts. We don't see Boy Scouts. We
don't have a YMCA. We don't have nothing in this community for them to do. Nothing.
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
Our day-care system is a gang system. And it's the failure of the political leadership in
this city to provide the support systems for poor families. LA is a third-world city. We are
a third-world city, for much of what exists here. And if you don't claim your children, the
streets and the gangs will raise them.
Local Resident
The gang-bangers are getting courted in younger and younger. So, if this is all you
know around here, and you don't have the opportunity or the resources to get out and
go find positive environments to be in, you're going to adapt. If your friend is involved in
this gang or whatever, he's trying to survive. If he has no other options available, what
can you help? If you're a police officer and he's a criminal, how can you help? Well, I'm
going to lock him up. I'm going to continue the problem.
Local Resident
Is Bratton that dude from New York? Think about it. He locked down New York. He put
a lot of people in jail in New York. Small cases, you know, minor infractions. He's
coming over here to do the same thing. We don't -you know what I'm saying? What is
jail going to do? Jail is not to help you. Jail is only to continue the process of breaking
you down. Jail don't work.
DECEMBER 5, 2003
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) But jail is exactly what Chief Bratton has in mind for the worst of them. The
cops are making more arrests. And yet, by early December, the number of homicides in
Southeast division was already higher than all of last year. And now, the police
themselves were becoming the target.
Peter Jennings
Recently, they've been shooting at cops.
LAPD Officer
Yes.
Peter Jennings
What's that all about?
20
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
LAPD Officer
When you start focusing more attention on the gang members, you tend to irritate them
a little bit. And their response to that is to push back. And that's how they do it.
Dr. William T. Washington
Pastor
I saw Chief Bratton on TV and he was talking about this. And he was saying that it is
happening more in LA than any other place. I believe that it's going to happen even
more so. And it's because, what do these boys have to lose in the end? They have
nothing to lose. And up to this, this thing just keep building and building and building.
LAPD Officer
When someone shoots at the police that is their way of sending up a flag saying, I want
more (CENSORED) attention. So basically, the next week, or the next month, every
time we see one of these guys, if they're good to go for anything, citations, impounds,
jaywalking, I don't care what it is. They need to go. Okay?
LAPD Officer
'Cause they're people all over the place. Let's start scooping them up.
LAPD Officer
I think they see the pressure now. They don't like the pressure. We're cutting their
business off. Their dope sales are down. Money's down.
LAPD Officer
What's up, fellas? Just chilling', having a good time? Let's talk. How's that? Talk for a
minute?
Local Resident
I don't gang bang. I ain't never been in a gang before.
LAPD Officer
The heat, but you got to understand, the heat is coming down on you, okay? The heat is
coming down on you. And the heat's gonna come down on the rest of your boys, okay, if
you guys don't put an end to this thing. Now, you know who we're looking for.
Local Resident
No, I swear to God on my grandma, rest in peace. I don't be over there. I ain't even
know they was shooting until I tried to go to.
LAPD Officer
They been shooting at officers, brother.
Local Resident
21
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
I heard about it. You know you gonna hear about that. But I ain't got nothing to do with
it.
LAPD Officer
That's your group on the left. Three went inside.
Scott Stevens
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
They're under the false impression that they're actually going to scare us away. Which
is just the opposite. You shoot at us then there's going to be ten-times as many cops in
there as there was when the incident happened.
Peter Jennings
Do you want people in the neighborhood to be afraid of you?
LAPD Officer
I want the gang members to be afraid of us. I don't want the ordinary citizens to be
afraid of us. It's definitely an advantage if the gang members are afraid of us.
LAPD Officer
With so much street crime, so many guns out there, and so many people that turn their
guns on us, we have to come up with our guard at 100 percent or we will die.
DECEMBER 13, 2003
LAPD Officer
Shots fired. Officer down.
LAPD Officer
Officer needs help. 107 and Wilmington. Officer down. Two officers are down.
LAPD Officer
Get down on the ground. Stay down.
LAPD Officer
I'll stay with you, bro. RA's on its way. Okay. Sit down. Relax, relax, relax.
LAPD Officer
Talk to me. Who's involved?
LAPD Officer
Zamudio and Colson. They're both hit.
LAPD Officer
Hey, stop that car. That car. Stop that red car. Stop that red car.
22
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
LAPD Officer
George 21. Be advised the suspects are two male Hispanics armed with a shotgun.
LAPD Officer
Suspects bound south on Wilmington in a blue car that hit that fence. I think he lost his
shotgun right there.
LAPD Officer
Roger, we got the shotgun under the van.
Peter Jennings
What happened?
LAPD Officer
We rolled up. They were two guys running. One guy had a shotgun. And when we
stopped, he looked at us. He said, "who's that?" And bam, he just shot at us.
LAPD Officer
I had arrested him. I'd chased him. We could talk and we could get along. And he didn't
come off as the type that's going to pull a gun and shoot at a cop. I believed that he's
not the type that's going to do that. Now, as far as I'm concerned, any one of them could
turn around and shoot at a cop at any given moment.
Peter Jennings
This guy had a gun, or at least there was a gun found by him over here.
LAPD Officer
Right.
LAPD Officer
And if they're willing to shoot at me they're willing to shoot at anybody. So why give
them the benefit of the doubt?
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) The two cops shot this night were lucky. They were not critically injured.
The gang member shot at the scene survived. He'll go on trial. A massive manhunt later
that night turned up another man who the police suspect.
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
What gang are we dealing with over here?
LAPD Officer
K-Mmob. Yeah, Killer Mob. Very small.
23
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
That's a new one for me. I've never even heard of them.
Peter Jennings
What did that whole night ultimately say to you about the relationship between gangs
with guns prepared to come after you and the department?
Chief William J. Bratton
Los Angeles Police Department
That we're doing the right thing. That if they're prepared to come at us with our badges
and our guns and the power that we have, it's only a matter of time 'til that violence
ultimately will begin to spill out from those neighborhoods that are most afflicted with it.
Peter Jennings
Is it going to get worse?
LAPD Officer
Yeah, it's definitely going to get worse before it gets better.
Peter Jennings
Why?
LAPD Officer
I think the harder we push, the harder they're going to push.
Peter Jennings
In the long run, can the police stop it?
LAPD Officer
I really don't think so.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) Chief Bratton doesn't think the cops alone can stop it. You can't arrest your
way out of this problem. Bratton campaigns hard for better schools, better drug
treatment, and better jobs. And by the end of our time with the LAPD, we also believe
he'd done something very profound. He had convinced the toughest critics that he
cared.
Constance Rice
Civil Rights Attorney
He absolutely refuses to accept that violence in these underclass neighborhoods is
acceptable. He refuses to accept that as just a given, as just the way it is, which is how
24
Peter Jennings Reporting: LAPD
much of the political leadership in this region reacts. It's just the way it is. He says, "it's
not the way it has to be and I won't accept it." That I give him an A-plus for.
Peter Jennings
(Voice Over) We knew that we had not seen some things. The drug dealing on the other
side of the door. The violence that gang members endure and administer just to belong.
Maybe at times, some of the cops were on their best behavior for us. It is possible to
conclude that this city cares less about solving the problems here than containing them
here. And that race has a lot to do with that. But we also believe that the good cops and
the good people who live here have something important in common. It is a simple idea.
The future of the neighborhood is worth fighting for.
Tim Pearce
Southeast Gang Unit, LAPD
Nobody should have to die from gang violence. We shouldn't have it, you know. And
that's what I think our goal is, as gang officers. I mean, I would like to turn our
neighborhood back into a place where everybody can walk their dogs and play in the
street and skateboard and ride bikes and, you know, like where I grew up. That's kind of
my goal. Will it happen? At the rate we're going and the amount of gang members that
are out there, it's an unbelievable battle but it's possible.
COMMERCIAL BREAK
Peter Jennings
I'm Peter Jennings. Thank you for joining us. Good night.