A group of civil rights advocates on Tuesday pressed the Los Angeles Police Commission to establish an independent commission to investigate their claims that police selectively enforce laws to harass gay men and women.
According to several speakers, LAPD officers target gays, their businesses and their communities with undercover operations aimed at citing people for lewd conduct and other offenses.
"There is a widely and strongly held view . . . that the LAPD chooses to enforce laws against people who are or are perceived as being lesbian or gay in a stricter and harder fashion than against people who are not," said Myron Dean Quon, an attorney with the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Police Commission President Edith Perez said the civilian panel will "take a serious look" at the allegations to determine whether an independent commission is needed.
Meanwhile, LAPD officials said the department already is investigating similar concerns that were brought to Chief Bernard C. Parks' attention several months ago by the Gay and Lesbian Law Enforcement Advisory Council, which meets regularly with LAPD representatives. As a result, Parks formed a task force involving community leaders and LAPD officials.
"We are anxious to review any issues of concern," said LAPD spokesman Dave Kalish. "Chief Parks strives for continuous improvement in all the department's relations with the community."
Cmdr. Scott LaChasse, who is the department's vice coordinator, said the LAPD does not selectively target the gay community for enforcement of lewd conduct violations, but merely responds to public complaints about problems.
"A lot of what we are fighting is a perception problem. People generally cite things that happened years ago," he said.
The civil rights activists who confronted commissioners Tuesday said the LAPD can't be trusted to investigate itself.
"The best remedy to this problem is to have a qualified, independent body examine the issue," Quon said.
If the commission refuses to appoint such a panel, the activists said, they may sue the LAPD. Among the group's main contentions--which were made in public statements and in a petition to the commission--are that LAPD officers use "gay-baiting and luring tactics" to entrap mostly gay men into committing illegal acts.
They cited cases in which vice officers "role play" as if they are interested in having sex with gay men, entrapping them into lewd acts. They charged that heterosexual conduct is rarely the subject of such vice operations.
