INGLEWOOD – The city of Inglewood is closing out 2021 entangled in controversy over a second round of destroying certain police records.
Mayor James Butts is a former police officer, who appears to be having internal issues with the Inglewood Police Officers Association (IPOA).
IPOA declined to comment on the injunction filed by the ACLU preventing the City from destroying certain police records related to investigations of misconduct. The department has lost close to two dozen personnel in the last 18 months, due to either retirement or transferring to outside agencies
This is the second time the city has taken such an action, during the last city council meeting, the year prior to the law taking effect.
SB 1421 went into effect in Jan. 2020, and the last meeting of 2019, the city destroyed decades of documents related to police brutality/misconduct allegations and investigations.
In August 2020, the state legislature took caution and amended the law under SB 776, which placed a 30 year retention policy on certain police records to keep them from being destroyed.
Those same legislators, who voted in favor of SB 776 and are patting themselves on the back for implementing “police reform” laws, are eerily silent on what the Inglewood City Council is doing, in defiance of the reform spearheaded by Sen. Steve Bradford and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, and Asm. Reggie Jones-Sawyer, Mike Gipson, and Nate Holden.
If the Black Caucus’ narrative is “transparency” is the order of the day, why aren’t they calling for Butts’ head as they are Sheriff Alex Villanueva?
The caucus’ chosen candidate, Cecil Rhambo, is also silent on Inglewood’s attempt to destroy records, after they all endorsed his candidacy for Sheriff, but is running on a platform of “accountability and transparency”.
Isaac Bryan is quiet too.
Is Butts getting a pass because he’s Black or because he’s serving the will of their collective donors?
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Our ELECTED TO SERVE have a habit of looking the other way when they learn that James Butts does wrong.
Bradford has been in council meetings, watched as Butts insult residents and sat silently.
None of the Black Caucus members stood up and said hey the negative environmental impacts on our community as a result of permitting 3 event venues within a mile and a half with insufficient parking should be concerning. NONE seemed to bat an eye when JAMES BUTTS LIED ABOUT COPYRIGHT !!!
Could it be that their “turn a blind eye” attitude when a fellow elected’s actions are wrong is even more hardwired than their own integrity?
Not mentioned but also silent – Maxine Waters?
Hmmmm …..if a white mayor acted with such disrespect for a legal requirement intended to prevent police brutality primarily of minorities, would Maxine remain so silent ?
Does infringement of minority rights only matter if a private video is streamed or it is election season?
Could it be since the actions were not caught on cell phone our elected are happy to say police abuse/brutality or worse is a-okay if it is only minorities injured and a minority led council approves?!
Of the 482 cities in California ONLY INGLEWOOD’s Mayor has chosen to not just sit back and ignore public record requests but INTENTIONALLY DESTROY POLICE RECORDS ….
Don’t you wonder if there is a significant reason that Butts wants these records destroyed?
REMEMBER :
THIS DISCUSSION IS ONLY FOR THE YEARS SINCE HIS LAST DESTRUCTION OF RECORDS ? –
All of these events occurred while James BUTTS and his HIGHLY PAID Police Chief have been in office. Could it be some of the reports include violation of rights/ behaviors encouraged, endorsed or even sanctioned by specific / favored officers? So many questions this destruction raises -Is disparity in “overtime pay” generosity in anyway related ?
This action of destruction makes even those who believe(d) most officers genuinely protect and serve, question how many or which of our officers have done such wrong that “Butts and his team” are so inspired to violate state law and so committed to disallowing the public to learn about.
Does this explain the reason the Inglewood Police Commission has not met ?
Doing wrong under “the color of authority” is among the greatest ills any society should tolerate !
So why are all our other elected so willing to pretend they knew of no wrong, heard of no wrong and keep their mouths shut when made aware of wrong?
How many walking wounded have our police been responsible for?……all while the BLACK CAUCUS REMAINS SILENT
Would they be silent if their relative was one of the “subjects/suspects” in one of those destroyed reports?
Perhaps they need to be reminded ……
THIS IS NOT ABOUT PAPER or storage space IT IS ABOUT LIVES!!!!!