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ACLU of Southern California
Staff attorney and Director of Police Practices with the ACLU of Southern California
PROFILE
Peter Bibring
Guest
FROM Peter Bibring
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Measure C: A debate on changing how police are disciplined A measure on next Tuesday’s ballot in Los Angeles would make a big change in how police officers are disciplined. Measure C would allow an officer to choose to have an all-civilian panel hear their case, instead of the current system.
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No Charges for LAPD Who Shot Newspaper Delivery Women The LA District Attorney announced today that eight officers of the LAPD will not be charged in a case of mistaken identity. Two years ago, former cop Christopher Dorner was on a rampage, threatening murder, and the manhunt was on. In Torrance, Margie Carranza and her mother, Emma Hernandez were delivering newspapers from a pickup truck. The officers opened fire on the women—an incident Chief Charlie Beck and the Police Commission agreed was "out of policy." Peter Bibring is Director of Police Practices at the ACLU of Southern California.
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Chief Beck Calls for Charges in Shooting of Homeless Man For the first time in the case of a fatal, on-duty shooting, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has called for criminal charges against one of his officers. Clifford Proctor, shot and killed an unarmed, black civilian named Brendon Glenn last May in Venice. Beck's recommendation has gone to District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
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Will Police Body Cams Make the LAPD User Friendly? When police departments around the country have mandated body cameras, both uses of force by officers and public complaints have often dropped dramatically. Starting Monday, the LAPD will issue 860 body cams — the first of a planned 7000. But, even though the Police Commission, the police department and the police union agree they’re a good idea, many questions remain.
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
LAPD Considers Body Camera Rules In Baltimore, schools are closed today. Police and National Guard troops are patrolling the streets, and residents are assessing the damage from last night’s rioting and looting. President Obama today said there was no excuse for it. The rioting broke out after the funeral 25-year-old Freddie Gray, who died of a spinal injury while in police custody. Gray was arrested more than two weeks ago, and still police and city officials don’t know exactly what happened. That’s renewed calls for Baltimore police to wear body cameras. It’s an issue that’s also being discussed here in Los Angeles. Today, the Los Angeles Police Commission is considering a body camera policy for the LAPD. But some civil rights activists aren’t happy with it.
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The Secret Cell Phone Surveillance that Casts a Wide Net Local police and sheriff's departments are using the Stingray — a mobile device that can track all our cell phone calls. They don't need a warrant. But the cops can't talk about how they use Stingray because they signed non-disclosure agreements.
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Will Different Pictures Tell the Same Story? Protesters marched from Skid Row to police headquarters today in downtown Los Angeles. The immediate issue was Sunday's police killing of a homeless, black man identified today as Charley Robinet, a 39-year-old French national. He reportedly was released from a federal prison in May after serving 15 years for a bank robbery in Thousand Oaks. Cell phone video of Sunday's shooting death has gone viral. Police have yet to release pictures taken by body cams on two of several officers involved in the killing.
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LA Law Enforcement to Collect Biometric Data Without any public notice at all, Los Angeles County is taking bids for compiling America’s biggest repository of personal data outside what’s kept by the FBI. And it’s not just personal records, it’s personal characteristics—not only fingerprints, but palm prints, pictures and scans of the iris in your eye. Voice recordings could be next. There’s never been any public announcement. The project was discovered by the Center for Investigative Reporting in the Bay Area.
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LAPD Refuses to Name Officer Who Killed Ezell Ford Police in Ferguson, Missouri, were reluctant to release the name of the officer who killed Michael Brown, but they did, despite concern for his safety. In Los Angeles, the LAPD has refused to reveal who killed Ezell Ford, whose parents say he was mentally ill. What’s the public reaction here?
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Privacy in the Era of the CalGang Database CalGang is a copyrighted database maintained for law enforcement by a private company. Some 200,000 names are shared by police, sheriffs’ deputies and prosecutors who use allegations of gang association in the investigation of crimes. Last weekend, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 458, which requires that parents or guardians be notified when minor children are listed so they can appeal if they want to.
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Law Enforcement: Technology and Privacy Special cameras on law enforcement patrol cars continuously scan the license plates of other drivers. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck calls them, "an investigative tool with unlimited potential." The Sheriff's Department says information from a license-plate scan helped solve a murder months after it happened, but the American Civil Liberties Union says there's a problem with privacy. The LAPD won't answer questions while there's a lawsuit pending.
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First Case of Racial Profiling Confirmed at LAPD Today's LA Times reports that Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck has signed off on a recommendation that one of his officers be found guilty of racial profiling. Long-time civil rights advocate, Police Commissioner John Mack says, "We've come a very long way." Charges of racial profiling by the LAPD are familiar. What's new is the Department's finding that — at least once — it really happened.
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DNA: Can a Family Member's Genetic Code Help Catch a Killer? The serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" eluded police in Los Angeles for some twenty-five years. But last week the LAPD arrested Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. after making a breakthrough using DNA obtained from the suspect's son, a convicted felon. Only Colorado and California allow the unusual type of detection known a "familial," or mitochondrial DNA. Will the Grim Sleeper case lead to increased use of familial DNA searches by law enforcement agencies? What rules govern how genetic material can be used for tracking down criminals? What privacy rights are at risk? Whose DNA winds up in the database that police use to make the check?
To the Point
DNA: Can a Family Member's Genetic Code Help Catch a Killer? The serial killer known as the "Grim Sleeper" eluded police in Los Angeles for some twenty-five years. But last week the LAPD arrested Lonnie David Franklin, Jr. after making a breakthrough using DNA obtained from the suspect's son, a convicted felon. Only Colorado and California allow the unusual type of detection known a "familial," or mitochondrial DNA. Will the Grim Sleeper case lead to increased use of familial DNA searches by law enforcement agencies? What rules govern how genetic material can be used for tracking down criminals? What privacy rights are at risk? Whose DNA winds up in the database that police use to make the check?
Which Way, L.A.?
Big Brother Technology in Squad Cars? It's not the City of London yet, but Los Angeles is expanding the use of video scanners by the LAPD. Automated recognition systems mounted in patrol cars can process 1500 license plates every minute. A cop with a computer can handle about 100 in a ten-hour shift. The technology is great for solving auto thefts, picking up wanted felons or monitoring sexual predators' movements. But it also collects and stores vast amounts of data about innocent people. Peter Bibring is a staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California.
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Left, Right & Center
The week that wouldn't quit Will next week get even weirder? (Special one-hour episode)
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
Terrorism and tweets, hate speech and murder Just days before an election, Britain is coping with a rash of deadly terrorism, and Prime Minister Theresa May is on the defensive. And again today, President Trump has tweeted criticism of the Mayor of London. Later, a double murder in Portland, Oregon has revealed the ugly past of a supposedly “progressive” city. One immediate question: is “hate speech” protected by the First Amendment?
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.