Good morning -- here's what's happening 4.30.08

Of the 320 complaints of racial profiling filed against LAPD officers last year, not one was found to be credible? That's the sixth year in a row that all claims have been dismissed, and more than a few people are, well, skeptical. Joel Rubin has the details.

Home prices fell almost 20% in L.A. and the O.C. Peter Y. Hong delivers the bad news.

While we're at it, we'll let the other shoe drop: The economy grew just 0.6% in the first quarter. Maura Reynolds reports.

That sound you hear? It's wallets slamming shut across the nation as consumers get really, really worried. Peter G. Gosselin has the story.

The Sierra Madre wildfire is 81% contained. Wire service via Long Beach P-T.

When wildfires burn California's thick and sheltering cover of brush, secrets are revealed. What lies beneath, from Janet Wilson.

Thirty-three years after the Vietnam war ended, the people of Little Saigon remember. My-Thuan Tran spends time with the expats on this emotional and, for some, difficult anniversary. Her story here.

The Swiss chemist who invented LSD has died. Thomas H. Maugh II writes about his life.

A 5.2 earthquake rocked northern California last night. AP via LAT.

Marcus Hill stutters. And he wins speech competitions. Mind over matter, and grace under pressure. Story from (who else?) Bob Pool.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times

Chart: Los Angeles TImes

Comments

[Wassup]

I've certainly had my doubts over the cops in the last couple of decades since I moved here from New York, and know from experience that there used to be a sense of closing ranks with each other, right or wrong -- even on traffic violations and other revenue-generating matters where they've knowingly entrapped citizens.

But I think there has been a radical shift in the other extreme recently under Bratton and the Mayor, maybe too much so, so that now the cops are always blamed first, like after the May First Melee, and their morale is down and danger is up. Especially with Bratton and the Hispanic politicians adament against repealing or at least better utilizing SP40 so that cops can question and cooperate in deporting illegal gangmembers -- this endangers the cops who have to contend with these criminals laughing in their faces, knowing their hands are tied, and getting back on the streets again and again to terrorize, deal drugs and murder.

There has also been a correspondingly huge increase in the way "civil rights" lawyers from the ACLU to small ambulance chasers take on the case of anyone of color or gay, knowing the cards are stacked against the cops. Look at Tennie Pierce and Brenda Lee's multi-million $ settlements, then the counter-suits from those who say they were discriminated against for being white, etc.

Look at the recent case in Glassell Park, highlighted by your own stories -- people close ranks against the cops, accuse them of harassment and abuse even when it's an outright lie and attempt to just keep them out of their own crime- infested and gang-controlled neighborhoods. They "play the game" against cops, especially if they're white in a Latino or black neighborhood.

So I'm not sure there ARE any real allegations here -- however, I sure hope there's an objective commission in place tofind out. I DON'T think that Mack's current Police Commission is it -- Mack is generally against the cops' union, the Protective League, on everything from their concerns about privacy when it comes to their financial records, to their concerns that the current interpretation of SP40 is endangering their lives. Mack is more supportive of the ACLU than his own LAPD much of the time.