As a law and order man, I try to give all constables a pass. Theres is a job of inconvenience and angst, of which I can well identify. And if there ever were an agency beleaguered by the media, be it Britney and the stalkerazzi or the news choppers hovering over slow-speed madmen, it is the LAPD. But ever since a citizen's lens etched the Rodney King beatdown in the national consciousness, L.A.'s finest have had waged a fatwa on the fancycam. The latest outrage comes to us courtesy of beFrank, West Coast bureau chief of the Photog Nation. Apparently a cluster of cameras was forming around the scene of drive-by shooting in Glassell Park yesterday when an officer ran afoul of KCAL's Jeff Mailes, pictured here being unceremoniously stuffed into a squad car. The offense: Uncertain. But the violation clearly centers around some real estate near the shooting, a a patch of ground open to the public - but closed to the media.Why some officers insist on keeping camera crews out of breaking news scenes is a mystery. You can cite property rights and public safety all you want, but that guy with the badge trying to push you back to the county line is the same one who got the COPS box set last Christmas and if you just be nice, you'll both avoid in run-ins with the management. Having said that are some tenants that should be observed by all, like the delineation of crime scenes and public property. One would think it would be as evident as billowing yellow tape, but the roadside negotiations between cops and camera-ops rivals that of the drama being cranked out in all those faceless LA. warehouses. Therefore, I'm forced at pixelpoint to issue another Schmuck Alert for the L.A. freakin' P.D. What up, fellas? The DVR dump your favorite episode of Reno 911? Schmucks...
3 comments:
I am a Lieutenant with the LAPD and I can assure you the officer in the photo is not LAPD. If you look at the right shoulder of the officer whose back is to the camera you can see a patch on his shoulder. LAPD officers do not wear agencey patches with the exception of traffic officers who would not have been deployed at the scene of the incident in that capacity. The officers in question are probably Los Angeles Unified School District Police offices who are not part of the LAPD. Please check your facts.
You are so wrong. I saw the video of this and that officer has stripes on his shoulder, not a patch. He is pure LAPD. In fact, LAPD Internal Affairs will be investigating this. Check your facts, bro.
I was at the scene in question. The officer who took the photographer into custody was a sergeant with LAPD not the school district police. The officer assisting in the photo is not the one that took the photographer into custody. Check the LA Daily News photos if you want to see better images of the officers. The school district officers were working traffic outside the perimeter. Anonymous
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