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LAPD Plan to Curb Flashlight Beatings
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We're just so excited that our police commission "unveiled a plan Tuesday aimed at discouraging officers from using flashlights as weapons, except in emergencies." No longer will foot chases end with perps getting tackled and pummeled with aluminum lights. We're so relieved.
Except for one thing: we didn't even know the flashlight was okay to use as a weapon by our police department. Unlike the baton choke hold that was in fashion under former Chief Darryl Gates, officers aren't even trained on appropriate flashlight maneuvers.
We want our police department to feel as safe as possible and for those that are there to protect us to get home to their families every night. That said, with LAPD's contentious relationship with the communities it services, we hope that the police commission does even more to deal with these troublesome issues of violence that keep coming up.
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Training officers on how to use flashlights to subdue suspects after most of the city watched someone get hit 11 times with one last June just doesn't seem like quite enough to improve community relations or prevent unnecessary violence by cops in the future.
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