trust lenders or the housing market The State Department of Justice to review LAPD for an alleged misuse of CALGANG database

THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO REVIEW LAPD FOR AN ALLEGED MISUSE OF CALGANG DATABASE

The California Department of Justice is reviewing the Los Angeles Police Department’s records and policies regarding the use of state’s gang member database after allegations emerged that the officers in an elite crime suppression team falsified records and listed innocent people as gang members.

CalGang is a California database intended to identify and to track gang members and in the past, it has come under scrutiny after several allegations of misuse by the LAPD. one of the innocent people victimized by the database is Larry Sanders who is a singer-songwriter best known for singing the hook on the hit song “Gangsters Paradise.” Sanders also works as a gang interventionist.

The Attorney General Xavier Becerra could revoke or even suspend the department’s access to the database. CalGang is a criminal intelligence compilation of 80,000 gang members and known associates statewide used by the local, state, federal and tribunal law enforcement to share information. The LAPD uses the database more than any other agency and according to the AG’s office, at least 20 members of the department’s Metropolitan Division are under investigations after the authorities found discrepancies on-field interview cards that police officers fill out after stopping and questioning people. The AG’s office has presented the case to LA county prosecutors for possible criminal charges.

Mr. Sanders describes how the police officer responded to a report of disorderly behavior at a park near his South Central LA house where he was hanging out. While the officer

never found the reported behavior, he questioned Mr. Sanders and his friends before taking his name and leaving.

“I think maybe they got mad because I told them that I was old enough to be their father,” he says. “One thing went from, you know, from my mind to the next thing. So they started searching patterns down.”

One week later, Larry receives a letter informing him that he was now added to the CalGang database. However, he hired a lawyer who got his name removed from the database. “I wasn’t what they were claiming me to be,” said Sanders. “I can’t just accept it.”

Everyone who has challenged the LAPD’s decision to place them or their child in the CalGang database in court has had their name removed. Sanders was among 15 other people who appealed to their CalGang designation. So far, the city has lost two cases in court and LAPD agreed to remove 13 others who filed for a petition.

The Justice Department has said that so far, they still do not know how many people are erroneously listed as gang members in the database. It declined to comment when asked if other agencies are also being investigated.

LAPD’s officials, however, say that the removals were due to how the court interpreted a state law that vetoes them from submitting more evidence to the courts that they originally disclosed to the petitioners. They hold that the removals of people like Sanders do not suggest that it was putting people in the database who did not deserve to be there.

Petitioners like Sanders say that their removal from the secretive database shows that they never should have been on the list in the first place and that the evidence against them was flimsy. Sanders says that the experience rattled him and everyone who knew him.

“Thank God my grandkids don’t look at Spectrum news or read the newspapers or stuff like that, because I’ll know they be like, ‘Papa what’s going on, what are you doing with this?’ Because I’m an angel in their eyes,” he says. “And my kids, they was asking me, ‘Dad what’s going on?’ I said, man, this is not real, man.”

California’s Assembly Bill 90 gave the Attorney General the authority to oversee and review the use of Calgang. This came after reports of LAPD’s misuse of the Calgang surfaced in January. Becerra says that the state’s Department of Justice is now auditing the LAPD’s use of the database.

False or accurate, this evidence contaminates a system that is reliant on the integrity of its data. While the database is used as an intelligence-gathering tool, gang sentencing enhancements increase penalties in criminal cases. Back in 2016, a critical audit was done and found that the long-troubled database lacked oversight. Some agencies could not substantiate some of the listings. The Department of Justice was given oversight of the database the following year said that the officials were working on additional reforms to the system.

court, LAPD Assist. Chief Horace Frank said that the department in December began requiring the notification letter to provide more details about the reasons for inclusion. Individuals will now be given a spreadsheet that in addition to indicating the general criteria a person met, gives the name of the officer-involved and includes a space for additional details.

“We decided, ‘OK, we’ll make sure we send the person all the information as to why we’re putting you in the system,’” he said. “Unfortunately we weren’t doing that initially. We were basically just checking the boxes.”

Becerra claims that the police department did not inform his office of its probe until after the media reports surfaced. The department has promised to investigate the alleged misuse and institute reforms.

“The California Gang Database is a critical tool for law enforcement in its efforts to solve violent crime and any information entered must be accurate,” police Chief Michael Moore said in a statement. “We are committed to holding anyone who falsified information accountable and will also fully cooperate with the State Attorney General office,” he added.

“This new effort on the part of the Department of Justice to scrub the system to make sure the CalGang database is providing accurate information is absolutely important,” Becerra says.

Sources & Works Cited https://www.heraldpalladium.com/news/wire/stateto-review-la-police-use-of-california-gang-database/ article_898fca05-689c-55df-a5e3-74b7b04ce1a5.html https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-02-13/ california-gang-database-lapd-calgang https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/02/17/lapdcalgang-california-misuse

Home Ownership

By Eric Lawrence Frazier MBA

Home ownership brings stability to individuals and families who have never had a dwelling place that they could call their own. There is something special about owning real estate that is unlike anything else on earth you can own.

Real Estate you own is not like cars that decay over time and you have to replace them. Real Estate you own is not like clothes that go out of style and you have to buy new ones. Real Estate you own is not like expensive vacations or experiences that only last a moment in time. Real Estate you own is not like an apartment where the landlord may increase the rent until it’s no longer affordable. Real Estate you own is not like staying at your parents house where you know can’t stay forever.

Home ownership is the beginning of wealth that increases over time and becomes your estate & legacy Home ownership is the pride of a mother nurturer and the kitchen her domain Home ownership is the pride of a father provider and protector of his territory and family. Home ownership is the foundation of permanence and the place where life happens, birthdays celebrated, deaths mourned.

Home ownership is the place you build memories that can never be taken from you. Memories etched in walls and concrete, experienced in rooms and floors, Memories living in trees and shrubs planted by your hand. Howe ownership is the manifestation of you - your style, your colors, your smell, your stuff, your junk, your memories, your yard and your spaces, your life.

It’s the height markers on your first child’s bedroom wall. It’s the hearts drawn in the concrete slabs when you pour your patio floor It’s the birthday parties, and anniversaries in the living room and kitchen. It’s the back yard barbecue with friends, neighbors and family contentions it’s the high school and college graduation, and wedding receptions Its’ the family nights and block parties and the fellowship of family connections

Home ownership

It’s more than real estate. Land, brick and mortar, wood frame construction and chicken wire. It’s more than money saved, gifts recieved and grants obtained It’s more than the debt you incur to buy it. It’s more than the payments you make to own it. It’s more than the appreciation that comes with keeping it over time. It’s memories, it’s family, and it’s life that can happen in one place