Vision and Mission, Risk Management, and Torts The dedication of the Los Angeles Police Department lies in discharging her duties to the Los Angeles community and at the same time ensuring that the rights of every citizen are safe-guarded. In line with achieving this aim, the Los Angeles Police Department’s ideologies are reflected in the department’s Mission, vision and core values which are in synchrony with the Law Enforcement Code of Ethics and the Department’s Management principles. The Los Angeles Police Department aims to achieve the objective of working cohesively in order to ensure that anarchy and crime are eradicated as much as possible in the city of Los Angeles (Los Angeles Police Department, 2017).

The police generally have a fundamental purpose of averting chaos, crime and criminality, in order to render military intervention and severe judicial punitive measures unnecessary. In the event that crime is not totally avoided however, it behooves the police to investigate the crime, arrest the perpetrator, and amass appropriate evidence that will be useful in the consequent court case. The effectiveness of the police in discharging their responsibilities as stated above hinges on societal support of the existence, actions and behavior of the police, it is also dependent on how well the police can command the respect of members of the public. At every point in time, police action should be focused squarely on carrying out their duties, and should not seem to arrogate judicial powers through acts of vengeance (on behalf of persons or the state) or by taking judgmental stands on issues and going as far as punishing assumed guilt (Los Angeles Police Department, 2017).

The law of Torts in the USA was established in order to rectify harm done or loss incurred by an individual due to the actions of another person which falls below the civil courts’ definition of a standard of care. The law of torts has a fundamental objective of compensating persons or organizations who are victims of material or personal damage caused by another individual’s illegal behavior and which may possibly foster recurrent wrongdoing. It would be very difficult to compile an exhaustive list of particular reasons for actions that are included in the law of torts in the USA, they however include: liabilities resulting from various sources such as: deliberate wrongdoing, irrational behavior, deficiencies in the planning, production or advertisement of products put up for sale and in the association of an individual towards the tortfeasor (Robinson & McCurdy, 2010).

About 20 years ago, riots occurred in various parts of the city of Los Angeles consequent upon the discharge of four white...

A lot has changed in LA compared to those times which were characterized by stealing, burning of cars and buildings, and general anarchy, and these changes are most visible in the LAPD. It goes without saying that there have been various cases of fracas and problems, however, the LAPD has a good reputation for progress in the opinion of Civil rights activists and community development associations. A quarter of a century after, qualified pundits have described the LAPD as a transformed department and this change has been attributed to a consent decree which is in essence an agreement between the federal government and the police. More emphasis has been placed on cultural awareness programs by police training officers in order to keep up with the changing ethnic and racial composition of the demographic in urban communities. A lack of awareness about religious, ethnic and racial differences among people may lead to faulty decision making on the part of a police officer and consequently a wrong estimation of the potential danger in a given circumstance. On the contrary, being well apprised of the differences mentioned above will help officers to correctly assess knotty and potentially precipitate situations/cases such as violent protests or domestic violence. Another advantage of the consciousness of these differences is that the police will have a good relationship with minority groups within the society and this will most likely reduce the occurrence of aggression toward officers. (Worsnop, 1991)
Various elements of the case of Rodney king can be found in other less popular cases of brutality. The issue of race was evidently present- there was the polarity of the victim (King) being black while the officers who carried out the beating were white. A car chase preceded the beating, after King’s vehicle had been intercepted, the police officers felt that King had not been as yielding as he should have been- an occurrence that is common in many cases of police assault. The person who recorded the beaten-on camera was accompanied by the defendant’s brother Paul to lodge a complaint about the case at the police station, but they were allegedly not given serious attention. Also, the reports about the case recorded by the police were erroneous. Of the four officers who were implicated in the case, three of them had previously been accused of being violent. It may even be safely assumed that in the absence of the camera recording which got into circulation, any reports about the case would have been swept under the carpet considering the fact that the rate of sustenance of complaints as at that time was about percent (Collins, In Brown &…