If you were a witness and/or have any information regarding the events of June 24th in the parking lot behind Chipotle Restaurant in Studio City (Laurel Canyon & Ventura Blvds), please contact us via email: justiceforzac@gmail.com
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Getting out of our foxholes
Zac's case was recently mentioned on a radio program. Please take a listen:
8 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I think that the callers to the show were all touching on aspects of the same problem: The culture of law enforcement that has created terms like "code of silence" and has promoted a "shoot first" mentality.
Just how is someone supposed to behave in a situation like that which Zac faced that night? How does one prepare one's children for a situation like that?
Even though there may be good people in law enforcement, there appears to be a significant number of law enforcement that are in it for the wrong reasons.
If this is a reoccurring problem then something needs to be done.
Police should be trained to deal with situations that does not lead to harming any individual and if someone does get hurt or a lose of life occurs then they need to be tried just like anyone else.
It seems that it's no longer just adults or older individuals but younger children.
Law enforcement is slowly killing the youth of our nation because they seem to believe everything is a threat.
I think that if my grandpa or grandma was behind the wheel of Zac's car instead of Zac, they would be alive today. I believe there was something about Zac being a young person that made these officers think he was a threat. I think they must have had time to think about what they were doing when they intended to shoot Zac. I don't think it was "I had no choice". How could it be? It looks like Zac was shot from the side by an officer who was looking at his driver's side door!!!
But then the discussion turns to other instances and then back to Westlake. So the real question, how to get an investigation into what the deputies, when it's obvious that Baca has already decided it's a closed book? The LA media is focused on the Westlake incident, but even before that, has been ignoring our pleas to really cover the shooting of Zac.
So beyond the vigils, which are being ignored by the media, how can we get attention for what happened in June? We need to discuss that and take action.
There have been 139 Los Angeles area residents killed by law enforcement since January 1, 2007. In the same period of time there have been a total of three officers/agents, one from each agency that have died by gunfire in the line of duty:
LAPD- Randy Simmons (LA Area) LASD- Juan Escalante (LA Area) DEA- Agent Hicks (Apparently by "friendly fire"- Nationwide data)
There is clearly a disproportionate number of victims of killings by officers such that there would not appear to be a justifiable basis for a "shoot first/ask questions later" policy.
139!!! That is simply shocking. Now, are we to believe that each was justifiable? Are we to believe that the officers got it right each and every time and each case where an officer shot was justifiable?
Is it reasonable to believe that statistics would support such a number of victims?
What is the record of the sheriff department in removing deputies from duty?
Does taking the oath that begins a deputies career also include the unwritten contract from management to cover, shuffle and protect employment at almost any cost?
If i was told that the sheriff dept. was washing out 5-10% of deputies in their first three years would i start criticizing the sheriff for allowing unqualified recruits to come on board?
No. I would praise him for being thorough in continually evaluating the viability of the people he hires and licenses to use deadly force.
What if i heard that the sheriff dept has an impeccable record of retaining deputies?
I would be concerned that he may not be effectively monitoring and purging his dept. of the percentage of bad apples which will show up in even the best of barrels.
8 comments:
I think that the callers to the show were all touching on aspects of the same problem: The culture of law enforcement that has created terms like "code of silence" and has promoted a "shoot first" mentality.
Just how is someone supposed to behave in a situation like that which Zac faced that night? How does one prepare one's children for a situation like that?
Even though there may be good people in law enforcement, there appears to be a significant number of law enforcement that are in it for the wrong reasons.
Do the LA County Sheriffs have a commission like LAPD does?
If this is a reoccurring problem then something needs to be done.
Police should be trained to deal with situations that does not lead to harming any individual and if someone does get hurt or a lose of life occurs then they need to be tried just like anyone else.
It seems that it's no longer just adults or older individuals but younger children.
Law enforcement is slowly killing the youth of our nation because they seem to believe everything is a threat.
I think that if my grandpa or grandma was behind the wheel of Zac's car instead of Zac, they would be alive today. I believe there was something about Zac being a young person that made these officers think he was a threat. I think they must have had time to think about what they were doing when they intended to shoot Zac. I don't think it was "I had no choice". How could it be? It looks like Zac was shot from the side by an officer who was looking at his driver's side door!!!
I saw the vigil for this young man today as I drove down Ventura Blvd. I can't believe something like this happened in my area. I use that lot.
But then the discussion turns to other instances and then back to Westlake. So the real question, how to get an investigation into what the deputies, when it's obvious that Baca has already decided it's a closed book? The LA media is focused on the Westlake incident, but even before that, has been ignoring our pleas to really cover the shooting of Zac.
So beyond the vigils, which are being ignored by the media, how can we get attention for what happened in June? We need to discuss that and take action.
There have been 139 Los Angeles area residents killed by law enforcement since January 1, 2007. In the same period of time there have been a total of three officers/agents, one from each agency that have died by gunfire in the line of duty:
LAPD- Randy Simmons (LA Area)
LASD- Juan Escalante (LA Area)
DEA- Agent Hicks (Apparently by "friendly fire"- Nationwide data)
There is clearly a disproportionate number of victims of killings by officers such that there would not appear to be a justifiable basis for a "shoot first/ask questions later" policy.
139!!! That is simply shocking. Now, are we to believe that each was justifiable? Are we to believe that the officers got it right each and every time and each case where an officer shot was justifiable?
Is it reasonable to believe that statistics would support such a number of victims?
What is the record of the sheriff department in removing deputies from duty?
Does taking the oath that begins a deputies career also include the unwritten contract from management to cover, shuffle and protect employment at almost any cost?
If i was told that the sheriff dept. was washing out 5-10% of deputies in their first three years would i start criticizing the sheriff for allowing unqualified recruits to come on board?
No. I would praise him for being thorough in continually evaluating
the viability of the people he hires and licenses to use deadly force.
What if i heard that the sheriff dept has an impeccable record of retaining deputies?
I would be concerned that he may not be effectively monitoring and purging his dept. of the percentage of bad apples which will show up in even the best of barrels.
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