The battle against police abuse must, therefore, be fought primarily on the local level. There are shortcomings, too, in federal law itself, which does not permit "pattern and practice" lawsuits. While some federal statutes specify criminal penalties for willful violations of civil rights and conspiracies to violate civil rights, the United States Department of Justice has been insufficiently aggressive in prosecuting cases of police abuse. Yet it must be fought locally: the nation's 19,000 law enforcement agencies are essentially independent.
The problem is national: no police department in the country is known to be completely free of misconduct. It has a long history, and it seems to defy all attempts at eradication.
And it is to those efforts that this manual is dedicated. Rather, it arose out of our realization that, ultimately, it will take a strong and sustained effort by community groups to bring about real and lasting reform.
This manual was not inspired by, nor is it intended to generate, animosity toward the police, or to promote the perception that all police officers are prone to abuse. In communities all across the United States people have organized to bring about change, and some of the most successful strategies are described in this manual, now in its 3rd printing. The fact that police abuse remains a significant problem does not mean there has been no progress. "They saw activity that appeared inappropriate," the Bloomfield Police Chief stated. The beating was so severe that a group of Bloomfield police intervened to stop it.
An amateur video, televised nationwide, showed King lying on the ground while three officers kicked him and struck him repeatedly with their nightsticks. In the early hours of March 3, 1991, a police chase in Los Angeles ended in an incident that would become synonymous with police brutality: the beating of a young man named Rodney King by members of the Los Angeles Police Department. CONTROLLING THE POLICE - COMMUNITY GOALSĬertification and Licensing of Police Officers