Policing in a post-privacy world. Los Angeles' 8th District City Council Race: Bernard Parks vs. Forescee Hogan-Rowles. Waste in Los Angeles Community College District's construction projects. Will generation HOT inherit an unlivable planet?
Policing in a post-privacy, caught-on-tape world
20 years ago today Rodney King stepped out of his car, onto video, and into history. Clunky, grainy footage taken by a bystander on a Handycam showed police officers using a level of brutality that angered an already frustrated community and became the catalyst for the Los Angeles riots. Since that incident police departments all over the country, from Los Angeles to Seattle to Houston, have been installing video cameras in police cars in the hopes that being filmed will keep police officers from overstepping the bounds of their authority. The ever increasing use of cell phone cameras, the ubiquity of YouTube, and the myriad other ways privacy is no longer an option, have forever altered the anonymity under which police previously operated. Has this constant surveillance helped keep the public safe from the danger of police going to far? Or has it hindered the ability of police officers to effectively do their job?
Guest:
David Klinger, Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis University of Missouri-St. Louis; author of Into the Kill Zone: A Cop's Eye View of Deadly Force (Jossey-Bass); former LAPD officer
Battle for L.A.’s 8th District City Council seat - Parks vs. Hogan-Rowles
The race for the 8th District Los Angeles City Council seat, which represents South LA from USC to the 105 Freeway, has become unexpectedly competitive. Incumbent Councilman (and former LAPD Chief) Bernard Parks is being challenged by former DWP Commissioner Forescee Hogan-Rowles, who has been the beneficiary of over $450,000 in campaign spending by various unions, including the LA County Federation of Labor and the LA Police Protective League. Beyond South LA, the race may be pivotal in determining the balance of power for union interests in the entire City Council.
Guests:
Bernard Parks, Los Angeles City Councilman, 8th District
Forescee Hogan-Rowles, Former DWP Commissioner and 8th District candidate
Waste and errors in construction by the Los Angeles Community College District
This week The Los Angeles Times is publishing a series about waste, shoddy workmanship and questionable financial dealings in taxpayer-financed construction projects in the Los Angeles Community College District. Over the last ten years the District (along with construction companies and labor unions) has persuaded voters to pass a series of bond measures totaling $5.7 billion; a significant amount of that seems to have gone to wasteful markups by contractors and substandard construction that required further spending to correct. How deep do the problems run, and what’s the total cost to taxpayers likely to be?
Guests:
Daniel LaVista, Chancellor of the Los Angeles Community College District
Michael Finnegan, Los Angeles Times Reporter writing on this series
Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times Reporter writing on this series
Will generation HOT inherit an unlivable planet?
Mark Hertsgaard has been writing about global warming for years but it wasn’t until he became a father that the predicted crisis of climate change began to touch him on a deeper level. In his new book Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth, Hertsgaard explores practical responses to the new era of global warming our civilization has entered. Now, the challenge isn’t just about trying to halt or reverse the warming trend but also figuring out how to live through the changes that are already occurring. The book also reflects the author’s deep regret and emotional distress at having to pass on to his children a world that may be almost unlivable, one in which storms, droughts, rising sea levels and mass extinctions of species are commonplace events. How do we prepare our children who for the changes that many climate scientists believe will befall us in the decades to come?
Guest:
Mark Hertsgaard, author of Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth