The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has instituted a campaign of illegal practices and harassment in the Skid Row community of Los Angeles. This enforcement program is known by the euphemism: the Safer City Initiative (SCI). Safety for who?

For over 2 years, WRAP member Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) has documented the systemic police misconduct under SCI that makes Skid Row unsafe for its poor residents. They have written reports, filed complaints, litigated, and testified to police commissions to no avail. At each turn they’ve been met with either official silence or denial. Illegal and unfair practices continue.

LA CAN is now requesting a Department of Justice investigation “to seek civil remedies due to policies and practices that foster a pattern of misconduct by employees of the LAPD’s Central Division.” Specific calls for grassroots support for this investigation are coming soon.

For right now, LA CAN is asking organizations opposed to SCI to sign on to a letter to Congressmember and Chairman of the Domestic Policy Subcommittee Dennis Kucinich to launch an independent investigation of the widespread abuse of poor and homeless individuals taking place in the Skid Row neighborhood. Contact Pete White immediately at 213-228-0024 or PeteW@cangress.org to sign on and help Skid Row set a precedent for poor communities facing police misconduct across the country! Click HERE to see letter. (more…)