In 1994 and 1995, when O.J. Simpson’s lawyers suggested the former football star might be being framed by the Los Angeles Police Department for the murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. , that must have seemed outlandish. .
Consider the complexity in such a frame. For example, if a police officer were to place a glove on Simpson’s whereabouts at the time of the murder, attention would immediately turn to who discovered the glove. Framing is not just a dirty business, it’s a difficult business. That’s at least partially why it’s rare.
The defenders noticed this and covered their bases. It was suggested that the evidence may have been tainted beyond its usefulness due to investigative authorities “rushing to judgment” or sloppy handling of the evidence. In other words, the LAPD was portrayed as cunningly evil, stubbornly closed-minded, or sloppy and careless.
What is most shocking is that all of these accusations were potentially believable to a Los Angeles jury when Simpson went to trial and was found not guilty.
In 1994, the Los Angeles Police Department had all but lost the trust of the city it was sworn to protect and serve. The beating of Rodney King in 1991, the riots that followed the acquittal of those officers in 1992, and the police department’s abject failure to quell those riots, were all blamed on Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson. By the time he was cut to death, he had left the Los Angeles Police Department in tatters. And then he was stabbed to death.
In the aftermath of the King assault and riots, Los Angeles devoted significant energy to police reform, a process that spanned years of voting initiatives and investments in local government.
The Christopher Commission uncovered evidence of racial discrimination and excessive force and advanced a reform agenda that restructured police department training, discipline, and tracking of officers, as well as imposing term limits on police chiefs. After the riot, the Webster Commission focused on the need to modernize emergency operations and invest in basic patrol services.
Separately, the Colts Commission investigated the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, found a similar pattern of excessive force, and, under the able leadership of Merrick Bobb, established a new police oversight structure: civilian oversight. paved the way for the creation of the regime.
Together, these moves ushered in an era of reform that significantly improved policing in Southern California and demonstrated that responsible policing enhances public safety. And the reform movement, although still ongoing, has spread to other cities.
But the Simpson case demonstrated another aspect of the urgent need for police reform. Police malice and inadequate efforts to root out corruption and brutality not only jeopardized the safety of suspects but also subverted justice. In other words, criminal defendants benefit when the public distrusts police officers.
Remember Detective Mark Fuhrman’s role in the Simpson case? The telegenic cop appeared at the preliminary hearing and became the face of the LAPD for a time in the case against Simpson, although he played only a small and temporary role in the actual investigation.
And months later, a series of tapes surfaced in which Fuhrman can be heard boasting about his machismo and racism to aspiring screenwriters. In the tape, Fuhrman hurls around the “N-word” (a phrase that featured prominently in the hearings preceding Simpson’s trial, as defense attorney Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and prosecutor Chris Durden All the preconceptions about racist and brutal LAPD officers (because of a dispute over questioning Fuhrman about language).
Later, when Fuhrman took the stand during his trial and was asked if he had ever used the “N-word,” he used the fifth word. Fuhrman’s fellow detectives who were actually investigating the murder hung their heads in disgust.
The influence on the jury was inevitable. No matter what anyone thinks about Simpson’s guilt or innocence in the double murder, why did the jurors in this case think so much about a fellow police officer who beat Rodney King, and about a case investigated by detectives concerned about racism? , it’s easy to understand why people might have doubts or even doubts. I was proud. The Los Angeles Police Department waived the presumption of good faith.
This cost the Los Angeles Police Department and the city an enormous amount of money and safety. How many witnesses to crimes have not come forward over the years because they didn’t trust the police? How many cases have been lost because juries didn’t believe the police?
We’ll never know the answers to those questions. They are a reminder that police reform was needed not only to protect those who come into contact with LAPD officers and sheriff’s deputies, but also to establish more just and safer communities.
Los Angeles suffered as a result of the breakdown in trust in law enforcement here. Well, not everyone in LA helped OJ Simpson.
Jim Newton is an author and journalist who teaches and edits Blueprint magazine at UCLA. He was the Times’ lead reporter during the O. J. Simpson murder trial in 1994 and 1995.
