Christopher Commission facts for kids

The Christopher Commission was a special group formed in Los Angeles in April 1991. It was officially called the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department. The mayor of Los Angeles at the time, Tom Bradley, created this commission. Its main purpose was to look into the LAPD after a well-known event involving Rodney King.

The commission was led by a lawyer named Warren Christopher. He later became the Secretary of State for the U.S. under President Bill Clinton. The group's job was to "fully and fairly examine how the LAPD worked." This included looking at how they hired and trained officers, how they handled discipline, and how citizens could complain about police actions.

About a year after the commission was formed, the police officers involved in the Rodney King event were found not guilty. This decision led to the 1992 Los Angeles riots in the city.

What Did the Christopher Commission Find?

The Christopher Commission looked closely at how the LAPD operated. They found some important things:

Problems with Force

• The commission found that a number of police officers often used too much force against people. These officers also seemed to ignore the department's rules about using force.
• The report said that the main problem was that LAPD leaders were not controlling these officers. The commission used information that the LAPD already had. This showed a big failure in how the department was managed.
• The group that was supposed to watch over the LAPD, the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, did not have enough resources to do its job well.
• Even worse, the LAPD sometimes gave good reviews and promotions to officers who had problems with using too much force.

Calls for Accountability

• The commission suggested a new way to hold officers responsible for their actions. They believed that bad events would continue unless higher-ranking officers knew they would be held responsible for what happened in their areas. This was true even if they were not directly involved.

Officers with Repeated Issues

• The commission pointed out a problem with officers who had many complaints against them.
• From 1986 to 1990, about 1,800 officers had complaints about using too much force or wrong tactics. Most of these officers had only one or two complaints.
• However, 183 officers had four or more complaints. Forty-four officers had six or more, and sixteen had eight or more. One officer even had sixteen complaints.
• Often, the officers with many complaints still received positive performance reviews. These reviews did not mention the serious complaints against them.

How Complaints Were Handled

• The Christopher Commission found that very few complaints about excessive force were actually confirmed. From 1986 to 1990, out of 2,152 complaints, only 42 were confirmed. This is less than 2 percent.
• The commission stated that the system for handling complaints seemed to be unfair to the people making the complaints.
• At that time, most investigations were done by local police divisions, not by a special internal affairs unit. The commission found this to be a big problem. Often, these local investigators did not even interview witnesses or find them.

The Christopher Commission in Pop Culture

• The band Bad Religion mentions the Christopher Commission in their song "Don't Pray on Me." The lyrics say, "the city exploded but the Gates wouldn't open so the company asked him to quit." This refers to the riots and the LAPD chief at the time.
• In the TV show The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, the Christopher Commission is talked about. A character named Johnnie Cochran mentions how the Los Angeles Police viewed Black people, connecting it to the commission's findings.