Locals did not hold back when they were allowed to speak truth to power to Chief Michel Moore.
The timing of Tuesday’s LAPD’s Police Commission meeting couldn’t have been more perfect for angry Angelenos to berate the civilian oversight body.
It also couldn’t have come at a worse time for embattled chief Michel Moore who less than 24 hours previously, during Mayor Eric Garcetti’s daily address to the city, told protesters and looters that the blood of George Floyd was on their hands. Later, Moore walked back his comments, and later apologized again at the beginning of the public meeting, but the damage had already been done.
To make things worse for the Chief and the Commission, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was being done over Zoom. Angelenos have had little trouble speaking truth to power in person during normal times when the regularly scheduled meetings were held at LAPD headquarters in DTLA, but one would have to schlep down there, take time off of work, pay for parking and sit and wait for the Public Comment Period.
But Tuesday, ticked-off citizens were able to sound off from the comfort of their own homes, fueled by scenes of the boys in blue manhandling peaceful protesters, the shackling of a black woman who waved down the police, ramming a vehicle into pedestrians, smashing car windows of suspects, attacking journalists, and the use of rubber bullets on people standing in the street. All while instructing this white woman what to scrawl on a window.
For the majority of the epic 8+ hour meeting, one person after another let it be known that Moore’s apology wasn’t enough. They wanted change. And change they got. At first each person who Zoomed-in to the streaming video conference call were allotted two minutes to go off, but as the day ground on, technical issues were resolved, and the insults became more personal, the public were given 60 seconds and then just 30 seconds. No matter, Los Angelenos had little problem keeping their vitriol concise yesterday.
Before we list some of the more incendiary moments, here is the full meeting, and also here’s the LA Time’s 6:41 minute edit that is a more family-friendly version. Also, of note, no, skateboard legend Tony Hawk did not drop in. But these people did, and warning, explicit language follows.
John Barr, whose rant ends with “Black lives matter, act like it”:
Jeremy Frish only had 30 seconds but was able to air his grievences *and* yield some time. This video, by the way has been seen 8 million times:
This woman asserted that the chief’s disrespect is written on his face:
Josh tells Chief Moore that after he retires (again) he can always learn to code.
Gabrielle Horton called in to remind the commission that this is the same conversation that they have been having for years, to no avail.
This Jewish man living in Koreatown reminded Chief Moore that rubber bullets are metal covered in rubber and can kill.
While some of the anger was vicious, moments were sad, like this from a 16-year old black girl:
Some of the callers were upset that the commision didn’t seem to take this hours-long tongue lashing seriously, demanding that they stare into the camera and take it.
This woman said she has never felt more unsafe in LA than at protests when LAPD shows up. She said she wants people fired and for the LAPD to rebuild from the ground up:
This teacher got emotional talking about one of her students who died at the hands of an off-duty LAPD officer while shopping at Costco:
This man told the entire commission to resign and then said he would meet them in Hell. Who knew Satan lives in the city?:
This veteran called the commission cowards for limiting the voices to just 30 seconds.
This man is concerned that the LAPD is being trained by someone who probably shouldn’t be training the police.
This gentleman said he didn’t buy a gun when he lived among gangs, but felt the need to arm himself against the LAPD:
Chief Moore got off on the wrong foot when he retired for one day before becoming Top Cop, a move that netted him over $1 million through a loophole. This caller reminded him of that:
And finally this woman clearly and calmly stated her issues and solutions for the Chief:
The commission cancelled the meeting they had scheduled for today.