| How many cops does it take to make
an LAPD bomb squad? Want to know who's on the department's 10-most-wanted
list? How can you commend an officer for a job well done, or report
police misconduct?
How do we cover up a Citizens complaint against officers?
Now you can get your answers - except for that last one, along with hot links to sample
a Jack Webb love rap track or clips from an episode of Cops
- via the World Wide Web. Simply click on to the LAPD's brand-new
Web site, http://www.lapdonline.org/.
This open posture comes hard, however, for an institution steeped
in secrecy.
The issue is being pressed by the Police Protective League,
which has filed suit to block publication of SLO mug shots,
citing privacy rights and a "potential" threat to the officers
and their families.
"We've been contacted by over 50 percent of the SLOs, expressing
concern that being publicly ID'd would jeopardize their safety and the safety of their families," says league president Dave
Hepburn.
In court papers filed August 11, League
general counsel Enrique Hernandez cites a Web site called "Killercop.com,"
which reportedly advocated violence against LAPD officers, offering
a "$1,000.05 reward to the first person who kills a cop making
an illegal arrest . . . and $2,000.10 if it's an LAPD cop."
The Web site was shut down after complaints were lodged by the department, but it re-emerges occasionally.
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