Friday marked the 25th anniversary of Los Angeles city voters approving Proposition F, a police reform measure ensuring civilian oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Driven by former L.A. mayor Tom Bradley and prompted by the videotaped Rodney King beatings, Prop F removed the LAPD chief’s civil service protection and strengthened the civilian Police Commission.
In his recent article for the Daily News, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs Raphael J. Sonenshein wrote that the measure might hold new relevance. In April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said all federal-local consent decrees on policing would be under review. Those are agreements between local authorities and the federal government that ensure police reforms. If the federal government doesn’t enforce these reforms, L.A.’s example of local, community action will become all the more pertinent.
Host Larry Mantle sits down with Sonenshein to discuss the history of 1992’s Prop F and what we can learn from it going forward.
Guest:
Raphael J. Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles; author of “Politics in Black and White: Race and Power in Los Angeles” (Princeton University Press, 1994)