Why Riots happen and what kind of change they can inspire, aka how the LA Riots changed the police for the better. A thread you might need for your online discussions

What were the LA Riots?

The video was silent, but it spoke volumes: three white Los Angeles police officers, supervised by a sergeant, threw Rodney King to the ground, tased, kicked and stomped him, and battered him with batons 56 times.

More than 20 officers responded when the black motorist led police on a high-speed chase after he didn't pull over for allegedly speeding; 10 of them just stood around and watched as King was beaten.

King's injuries resulted in skull fractures, broken bones and teeth, and permanent brain damage.

Ultimately, four officers were charged with excessive use of force.

A year later, on April 29, 1992, a jury consisting of 12 residents from the distant suburbs of Ventura County — nine white, one Latino, one biracial, one Asian — found the four officers not guilty.

The acquittals were announced around 3 p.m.; less than three hours later, they rioted.
Residents set fires, looted and destroyed liquor stores, grocery stores, retail shops and fast food restaurants. Motorists were targeted; some were pulled out of their cars and beaten.

In the week after the King tape first aired, city residents overwhelmingly said they believed police used excessive force in the arrest and that police brutality was commonplace, according to a Los Angeles Times poll.

A majority thought King was beaten because he was black, and that police were generally tougher on blacks than others. Half of respondents didn't view the Los Angeles Police Department as being honest.

After the riots, the city's mayor commissioned an investigation into what caused them and what could be done to prevent the city from erupting again. The 228-page Christopher Commission Report found a pervasive pattern of excessive force by officers ...

...and that the department did little to rein it in. It recommended that the city create a new civilian Inspector General to oversee all complaints of misconduct, and to audit the department's disciplinary system yearly.

The report also made public damning transcripts of conversations that officers were having with each other from computer terminals in patrol cars, displaying how pervasive casual racism was within the department. "Sounds like monkey slapping time," one message read.

In 2001 -- 10 years after the Rodney King beating and nine years after the officers who beat him were acquitted by an all-white suburban jury -- the LAPD began what Harvard researchers would later call "one of the most ambitious attempts at police reform ever attempted"

The consent decree implemented many of the recommendations that came out of the immediate aftermath of the LA riots: "discipline reports," created a database of information about officers and supervisors to identify at-risk behavior, revised procedures on search and arrest

Last year, the LAPD commissioned a study on bias in policing -- something Rice said it never would have done 25 years ago. It found that 73% of residents strongly or somewhat approve of the LAPD's work.

If the people hadnt taken to the streets, there would have been no changes

"This whole vision seemed crazy 25 years ago," Rice said. "You realize we were asking a bunch of macho men to be social workers with a badge and a gun -- you may as well have been asking them to be Rockettes."
"Now I am dancing with them," she said.

The rioting was terrible and all the after effects weren't great but the changes it inspired in the LAPD were undeniable. The LAPD became more diverse and were more accountable than ever, none of which would have happened without 5 days of No Justice No Peace.

I am going to mute this thread, but if you have questions here are some sources:

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/la-oe-los-angeles-riots-voices-updates-20170427-htmlstory.html

https://www.npr.org/2017/04/26/524744989/when-la-erupted-in-anger-a-look-back-at-the-rodney-king-riots https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/28/us/lapd-change-since-la-riots/index.html