Scrutiny for L.A.'s Own Secret Police

When the City Council and the mayor recently went toe to toe over the proposed hiring of 320 police officers, the fact that 55 of them would be assigned to the LAPD's counter-terrorism bureau didn't attract much attention. But there are plenty of questions to ask. Does the bureau really need more cops to seek out and frustrate potential terrorists in L.A.? What has the bureau been doing since 9/11 with the force it already has? Has it mistreated those accused or suspected of harboring terrorist intentions? Is it following California law, as required, or has it adopted some of the extraordinary powers employed by federal agents in their pursuit of terrorists? And who's keeping an eye on the department's most secret division, anyway?

These are not idle questions. Earlier this month, a U.S. Justice Department internal report, conducted by its inspector general, sharply criticized the department and the FBI for misusing immigration laws in its war on terrorism. Many of the secretly arrested and detained immigrants were held for prolonged periods in unduly harsh settings -- sometimes without charge. Most of the 762 detained were Arab and Muslim men.

There's also some notorious LAPD history to bear in mind. One of the counter-terrorism bureau's predecessors -- the Public Disorder Intelligence Division (PDID) -- had a scandalous record of illegal spying.

By 1975, for example, PDID was the custodian of almost 2 million dossiers on 55,000 individuals and organizations. Most of them were disposed of under court order. In the course of a lawsuit filed in 1981, it was learned that the intelligence unit had illegally spied on more than 200 individuals and organizations. Among those targeted were two California governors, a state attorney general, a mayor of Los Angeles, a future LAPD chief, City Council members, the National Organization for Women, the PTA and the World Council of Churches.

There was no outside oversight of the PDID. After William H. Parker became LAPD chief in 1950, he declared all intelligence files the "property of the chief of police," shielded from subpoena and outside perusal. But after the settlement of the 1981 suit, the Police Department entered into a consent decree that required it to dismantle the PDID. Its replacement, the Anti-Terrorism Division, was audited by a civilian staff member of the Police Commission.