Bratton walks a fine line on race
LAPD chief concedes he could be more sensitive, but statistics back his assertions on black-Latino killings.
Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton is reaching out to black leaders in an effort to counter criticism that he has written off concerns about racial violence.
In recent weeks, the chief has been bombarded by challenges on the issue after he asserted that racial violence between blacks and Latinos has been overblown by the media and the public.
His campaign met with skepticism last week over coffee and cookies at an invitation-only meeting with black journalists and commentators at the LAPD's 77th Street station. For more than an hour, Bratton smiled and nodded as some participants directed barbs his way, insisting that blacks were being targeted by Latino gang members.
"I'm looking for some help in how to frame this," the chief said, uncharacteristically meek. "I'm trying to find some common ground."
By the end, it appeared Bratton faced challenges reconciling the fears of black residents with the reality of his crime statistics.
"You say you are not ignorant of . . . our sensitivity to racial gang violence, but the first thing out of your mouth is that [these crimes] are not racially motivated," Betty Pleasant, a contributing editor at the Wave newspaper, told the chief.
"You need to expand your definition of what's racially motivated," she said.
The perception among blacks of widespread race-based violence has been stoked by high-profile cases over the years.
Last year, for example, federal prosecutors charged members of a Latino gang with waging a violent campaign to drive blacks out of the unincorporated Florence-Firestone neighborhood. And, in the Harbor Gateway district of L.A., police launched a crackdown last year on another Latino gang accused of targeting blacks, including 14-year-old Cheryl Green, whose death became a rallying point.
Though such cases have left lasting impressions that are difficult to erase, police say they are not indicative of overall crime statistics.
A Times review of all homicides in Los Angeles since 2007 has found evidence supporting the chief's main contention: that whatever racial tensions exist in the city, they have not spilled over into homicides.
Six of a total of 103 homicides in the city this year are confirmed to have involved a Latino killing a black. One of those was the slaying of LAPD Officer Randy Simmons during a SWAT call-out Feb. 6. As of Friday, three Latinos are believed to have been killed by blacks in the city. In none of these cases have police found evidence of a racially motivated hate crime.
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