Changing of the Guard?

What am I missing here? What are we all missing?

At first glance, nothing. Last week marked the gentlest transition of LAPD police chiefs in my lifetime--Bill Bratton to Charlie Beck. That was partly because tensions between the cops and the black and brown neighborhoods they police (and sometimes terrorized) have eased notably during Bratton's tenure, partly because crime has dropped by many percentage points across the city.

For all that, the chief-designate was admirably humble. He praised the progress but was candid about the work left to do reforming the paramilitary culture of department. The media that hung on every word breathed a big sigh of relief as it looked around and saw that race appeared not to be an issue this time around--the fact that Beck was one of three white finalists for the job evinced not a peep from any black organizations who consider police conduct a bread-and-butter issue in black communities. The city council and other members of the political establishment were equally silent. Maybe the country isn't post-racial, but the whole selection process of L.A.'s top cop seemed to qualify. Not bad, considering that the treatment of Rodney King at the hands of the LAPD nearly twenty years ago ignited a firestorm of resentment amongst black residents and others that burned for a long, long time.

I won't argue with improvement. But improvement is not the same thing as success or full justice. The game is not over. Bratton promised more transparency, especially in the case of controversial police shootings; let's just say he has both given and taketh away. A master of PR, Bratton got ahead of public anger after police cut down 13-year-old Devin Brown in 2005, but he ultimately found that shooting in policy. And while crime may be down, racial profiling continues to be a huge problem in the city; of the hundreds of complaints filed against the LAPD in the last several years, none have been sustained by the department. Post-racial? Depends on what side of the blue line you're on.

But what disturbs me most is how the black establishment, notably the black press, has succumbed whole hog to the Bratton charm offensive. A recent exit interview with Bratton in the L.A. Sentinel could find no fault nor mount any challenge to the chief or his history here. Over at the Wave, a weekly columnist/watchdog who has been a fierce critic of the LAPD since the '65 Watts Riots dropped that stance completely after Bratton asked for a public audience with her. When I asked her about the change of heart, she groused that my problem was that I needed to be more optimistic--this from a woman whose professional demeanor could never be described as optimistic.

But is keeping public servants accountable to their constituents incompatible with optimism? To the contrary; one can't exist without the other. All I'm saying is that we need to keep up the scrutiny even as we applaud. Civil rights attorney Connie Rice, a Bratton advocate, issued a post-Rampart report on the department in 2006 that warned of an occupying-army, us-against-the-streets mindset that still persists in the rank and file. That was three years ago. Just because we've stopped looking for that mindset doesn't mean that it's gone away.

This image was taken from flickr user kevindean.It was used under the Creative Commons license.