#10 - 1,000 more reasons why LAPD can profile you, harass you, label you and your neighbors a gangsta’, eventually bust you on some petty thing, get you caught up into the criminal ‘injustice’ system and land you into a shiny new prison cell. Since 1984 there have been 1,500 new “crimes” added to the books and 21 prisons have been built to lock us up in California.

#9 - Black and Brown Trumps Blue! We call on all Black and Latino police officers (and all officers of good will) to expose the structural racism inherent in the policing system. We call on you to stand with the community; you know this expansion will have racist repercussions.

#8 - While the large majority of politicians, Republicans and Democrats alike, have been riding the “tough on crime” wave - Black and Latino youth are being locked-up in record numbers. There are 2.3 million people in U.S. jails and prisons, almost a million of whom are Black people and 500,000 of whom are Latinos.

#7 - Next time you hear a knock on your door, it won’t be the Girl Scouts, it will be the police ramming it down. The U.S. Supreme Court has weakened the 4th Amendment and its protection against unreasonable search. The police no longer have to knock, announce themselves, nor wait even 20 seconds before entering your house.

#6 - Policing will account for 40% of the current Los Angeles City Budget. LAPD’s budget increased 20.5% over the last three years. This should be cut and used for 1,000 new buses.

#5 - Chief Bratton’s “Broken Windows” policing leads to more broken dreams, broken families,and more arrests for being Black, Brown and broke. Under William Bratton’s leadership as New York police commissioner (1994-1996), complaints of police brutality went up 67% and arrests went up by 50%.

#4 - Devin Brown and Suzie Peña were killed by the LAPD. Stanley Miller was kicked and beaten with 11 baton blows. Worse, Mayor Villaraigosa’s police commissioners voted in favor of hiding the identity of any officer that is involved in a police shooting. Police brutality will not be resolved by adding 1,000 more officers as touted by Chief Bratton. Progressive people in law enforcement worry that a massive expansion of the police force leads to a recruitment pool of more unstable and racist applicants.

#3 - Police are the first line in the prison conveyor belt. L.A. County holds the illustrious record of the highest arrest rate in the United States. Each year, 180,000 adults go through LA jails and 15,000 youth go through juvenile hall.

#2 - The Mayor and L.A. City Council are trying to circumvent L.A. City voters by pushing an increase in trash collection fees to fund 1,000 more police, without voter approval. Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council can try to increase the police force by 1,000 more officers. But, we expect them at minimum to let the public decide. They must also be more honest with the public that this fee increase is: 1) a tax, and 2) being used to increase the police force.

#1 - LAPD’s first target is Black and Latino youth; the next target is the progressive movement. An unfettered, unchallenged, ever growing police force will devastate our communities. Remember the nightmare of Rampart and the beating of Rodney King? It is urgent that progressive forces in the City actively oppose the growing police state. We are kidding ourselves if we don’t remember the devastating impact that the LAPD and other law enforcement agencies have had on our movements. Who framed Geronimo Pratt who spent his entire adult life in prison on trumped up murders charges? Who swung the batons at the protestors at the Chicano Moratorium? Who was responsible for violently attacking Latino Janitors struggling for a living wage? Who limited our ability to peacefully protest and attacked our events at the 2000 L.A. Democratic Party Convention?