Malibu’s Congressman Wants LAPD Riot Investigated – SMPD Veterans Cannot Understand City’s Lack Of Response
Written by 991KBU on June 11, 2020
Malibu’s local congressman says violent police actions during peaceful protests in Los Angeles need to be investigated.
Congressman Ted Lieu yesterday urge the Los Angeles Police Commission to investigate videos that show uniformed LAPD officers beating up people gathering to protest police violence.
Particularly on June 1st on Fairfax Avenue … police were videoed using batons, rubber bullets and a chemical spray against protestors.
Lieu says some of the protesters to be retreating … and he says the videos are deeply troubling.
This comes as Los Angeles police say they are investigating 56 cases of police misconduct from that demonstration.
28 involve alleged improper use of force … the LAPD said in a statement released to the Los Angeles Times yesterday.
Seven officers have been taken out of the field pending the outcome of the investigations.
Polcie were videoed attacking peaceful protestors near the C B S Television City studios … at the same time that nearby streets were all but abandoned to roving looters.
Malibu area county supervisors Sheila Kuehl wants to order police and the sheriff’s deputies to wear face masks on duty.
The supervisor has authorized a resolution … which passed … tp to direct the County Department of public health to collaborate with the sheriffs office on policies in preventing the spread of Covid 19.
The motion is aimed primarily at peaceful protests … but would also apparently apply to writing traffic tickets.
Some Malibu residents have spotted traffic tickets being written by CHP officers or sheriffs deputies where the officials are not wearing masks.
The board of supervisors is directing the county to provide guidance on proper safety measures for issuing citations … arresting protesters … and even for using tear gas.
Some health officials say the use of Irritating gases at protests causes people to gag … which spreads Covid 19 in the air.
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A Santa Monica newspaper says the Police Department there was clearly unprepared, understaffed and appeared to have no operations plan to stop the violence that struck the city on May 31st.
The Santa Monica Lookout interviewed four former top SMPD officials who helped coordinate some of the Department’s largest operations over the past 30 years, including the 1992 Rodney King riots and the demonstrations at the 2000 Democratic National Convention (DNC).
Two of the officials — retired Police Captains John Miehle and Gary Gallinot — agreed to be interviewed by The Lookout on the record.
All four officials agreed that Santa Monica should have been viewed as a potential target when the violent protests that started in Minneapolis after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd at the hands of police quickly spread across the nation.
“The first comment I made was, ‘Stand by. It’s going everywhere. It’s coming,” said Miehle, who retired in 2001 after serving as second in command under former Police Chief James T. Butts, Jr.
The four officials also agreed that the Department seemed unprepared for the bands of violent outlaws who swarmed into the city, looting 76 stores and damaging a total of 220 businesses, most of them in the Downtown area.
Gallinot said he watched the looting for hours live on television wondering when the police would show up (“Santa Monica Demonstration Turns Violent, Looters Ransack Stores,” June 1, 2020).
“I was embarrassed,” said Gallinot, who was on the planning team for major events before retiring in 2003. “There was no police response.
“I kept saying, ‘They’re coming, they’re coming,’ and no one ever showed up.”
