In New York and L.A., Police Are a Hot Topic

Society's relationship with law enforcement tends to resemble a hot dog eater's view of Oscar Mayer — it doesn't really want to see what went into the finished product. But that attitude may be changing in light of recent revelations about the flip side of get-tough policing in several of America's largest cities: brutality, particularly against minorities. In New York and Los Angeles in particular, that change of heart is leading to attempts to involve the federal government in policing forces that some believe no longer have the ability to police themselves.

On Monday, a commission appointed by the Los Angeles City Council voted to seek a Justice Department intervention into the investigation of an undercover anti-gang unit whose abuses have shocked the city. Next week, if the City Council approves the measure as expected, undercover units of the police departments in each of America's three largest cities will be under federal investigation (New York is under scrutiny from the United States Civil Rights Commission following the Amadou Diallo case; meanwhile, the Chicago Police Department last week voted to disband an undercover anti-gang unit following federal indictments of the group).

Part of the reason for the increased attention is political. When L.A. mayor Richard Riordan last week commanded the LAPD to open its files to the U.S. attorney, political analysts saw the move as a last-ditch effort for Riordan to sew up a legacy as a reformer who broke ranks with entrenched power, and to hand that reformist mantle over to Republican candidates in the upcoming mayoral race. But nowhere has the issue of policing methods been more of a hot-button issue than in New York City, where Senate hopefuls Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton have engaged in an almost daily tabloid war over the best way to police the police. Candidate Clinton has hinted that she would call for a federal investigation of the NYPD — at one point before the Diallo trial she spoke of the four accused officers as having "murdered" the African immigrant — while the New York mayor insists that his department has nothing to be ashamed about. From now until November, it's an issue sure to be on the candidates' "on message" list.