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La Voz de Aztlan
March 27, 2000

When Law Enforcement Becomes Criminal

Some philosophers often muse about opposites as they manifest in life; the yin and the yang, the good and the evil, the decadent and the moral, the crooks and the honest, the political liberal and the conservative and so on at infinitum. They point out that these opposites appear to be a polar phenomena distinct and different from each other. Sometimes, however, a closer analysis reveals that these opposites merge into each other at a point and it becomes impossible to differentiate one from the other.

Presently in the United States, law enforcement and more specifically police departments in our major cities seem to be reciprocating at the edge between acting as criminals and its opposite which is enforcing the law. What this says about the current state of the country in terms of its spiritual and moral health is very disturbing. It seems that the country is on the verge of some kind of breakdown where the opposites of what at one time were considered evil are now considered good.

We can not deny that law enforcement is out of control throughout the country. Every week we are bombarded by news of incredible corruption, brutality and criminality by police officers whether it be in Los Angeles or clear across the country in New York City. We are hearing stories of the most disgusting nature where police officers have become evil monsters of the worst kind. What happened to Abner Louima in the New York police station bathroom at the hands of the police is unmentionable. In Los Angeles presently we have cops that robbed banks, mugged immigrants, framed youths, stole drugs and on and on. In El Monte, California we recently had a police swat squad travel to Compton, a city a good 10 miles away, to assault an innocent family at night looking for money and drugs. They murdered the patriarch of the family in his bedroom and threw his elderly wife out into the street with no clothes. Many here in California now believe that the police simply carried out a home invasion robbery.

That these police actions are incredibly sinister can not be denied, but what is even more disturbing is that the police are committing these crimes with almost total impunity. No amount of protests, demonstrations or marches by the frightened citizenry seem to matter to government bureaucrats that supposedly manage the police. The United States Department of Justice appears to in many occasions support the misdeeds of the various police agencies. This is true in Los Angeles where the USDJ has consistently dragged its feet in investigating and prosecuting some of the worst crimes committed against innocent individuals and families; crimes which have trampled on the human and civil rights of the victims.

So how can one explain the fact that the police, who are suppose to serve and protect citizens, are actually doing the opposite by beating, torturing, robbing and killing these very citizens. Is it a failed "Drug War" to blame? Is money fueling the corruption? Perhaps there is a pattern to all these police crimes that may provide a clue. There is one commonality to the worst of these crimes. It appears that the most aggrieved victims of the police are people of color! This in the United States is the common factor.

It almost seems that police forces operate like military occupation forces in minority communities. Those who actually control the police appear to have hired "occupation administrators" as the Nazis did with the "Judenrat" in Germany. They have hired and trained "Kapos" to police minority communities and to keep these citizens in their place. These "Kapos", have a lot of simmering self hate and can be easily trained to be particularly brutal to their own kind. This appears to be the correct model in the Rampart area of Los Angeles where the worst brutal cops where of the same ethnic background as the victims.

In this model, the Latino elected officials or "occupation administrators" will invariably remain quite when their constituents are brutalized by those who allow them political power, because if they spoke out, they know that they would be booted out in no time at all. This sort of politics is both shameful and disgusting, but the U.S political system is set up for this very thing. Not until enough citizens understand the very nature of the system and develop enough courage to undertake more effective actions than just demonstrating in protest, will we be able to be truly free!

* * * * *

LOS(T) ANGELES: The Shameful LAPD and LAUSD Corruption Scandals

California Proposition 21 Will Incarcerate More Latino Children

The Hypocrisy of U.S. Immigration Policy

A DEAFENING SILENCE: Latino Elected Leaders and the LAPD Corruption Scandal

COCAINE: Los Angeles Police and the City Hall Connection

LAPD CORRUPTION: Who Killed Officer Cuesta?

Hector Carreon is the founder and editor of La Voz de Aztlan and resides in Whittier, California. He was born in the Mexican state of Chihuahua and moved to Aztlan at the age of 5 years. Hector is a graduate in Civil Engineering from California State University at Long Beach where he was a founding member of the Society of Mexican-American Engineers and Scientists (MAES). He served honorably for two year as a Vietnam-era soldier in the U.S Army's 2nd Armored Division and is a graduate of the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund's Advanced Leadership Program. Hector Carreon can be contacted at La Voz de Aztlan