KTLA News: "Compton Police Department" (1972)

[Kenneth Hahn, L.A. County Supervisor] Now, there's nothing new, in these studies, whatsoever. [Hahn] You do not need to study, study, study. [Hahn] They've been studying county government since 1851, [Hahn] and there's time for change. And the change and the time is now. [Hahn] 1913 since the County Charter was adopted by the people, actually was submitted, [Hahn]to the people, in 1912. It was ratified to be effective in, for 1913. [Hahn] There is a basic need for overhaul in 1972. [Hahn] And it's not too much to ask, that the people of this county, [Hahn] should it be entitled to more supervisors than in Alpine County, where they only have five [Hahn] supervisors for a thousand people. [Hahn] or Modoc County, [Hahn] five supervisors for twelve hundred people. [Hahn] Certainly, the people of this county are entitled to have at least one for a million people. [No audio available in this section] [Camera crew instructions] [George A. Murphy, President IACP] Gentlemen, in Compton, seventy thousand people live with a crime rate, that is four times the national average. [Murphy] Municipal inaction in the face of this monstrous crime wave is a scandal. [Murphy] The federal government has poured seven million dollars in law enforcement assistant funds into Compton last year. [Murphy] But, an on-the-spot investigation of the Compton Police Department indicates that the funds are either being wasted, or misdirected. [Murphy] In a city that has seen thirty one murders in the first six months of this year, [Murphy] there were only five patrolmen and one detective on the street, [Murphy] during last night's four to midnight shift. Two of them patrolmen were on traffic duty. [Murphy] Last night, we observed twelve radio patrol cars parked outside Compton Police Headquarters, [Murphy] with no police officers available to man them. [Murphy] Such findings will be presented to the Attorney General of the State of California, [Murphy] Evelle J. Younger and to the United States Attorney General Richard Kleindienst. [Murphy] The state funnels federal laws and federal funds for law enforcement down to the local communities. [Murphy] The morale of the Compton Police Department is absolutely zero. [Murphy] Last night, the most experienced patrolman on the street had three years on the job. [Murphy] Two of the men riding alone in radio motor patrol cars had less than a year's experience. [Murphy] I am told that men with three days experience have been sent out on homicide investigations. [Camera up to speed noise] [KTLA news reporter] Precisely why did you come to take a hand and involve yourself into this matter? [Murphy] Well, as the newly elected President to the International Conference of Police Associations, of which the men of Compton belong. [Murphy] Ah, when they acquainted us with their problem here and the fact that the city officials, [Murphy] ah, were reluctant [Murphy] to step in and try and do anything to rectify this condition, we felt that the best way, [Murphy] that we could possibly give them any kind of assistance at all, [Murphy] would be to come out here and bring to light this monstrous situation that, ah, is absolutely a cancer on society. [KTLA reporter] That's a rather broad charge, that they're reluctant, inactive and you say completely negligent in this. [Murphy] Well, I think when you say a broad charge we can only go on, on past experience. [Murphy] And this has not been a one-time shot, in Compton, this has been an ongoing thing in Compton. And the fact that, [Murphy] over the past several years, [Murphy] there's been nothing done to correct this situation. [Murphy] Whether it's an attempt to sweep it underneath the carpet, or whether it's an attempt just to ignore it entirely, [Murphy] ah, is not in our purview to be determined. [Murphy] But someplace along the line, [Murphy] the people with the authority to do something about it in Compton and in the State of California aren't doing anything. [Murphy] And we can't afford to have this kind of a situation exist. [KTLA reporter] Now, you mention the Attorney General. What specifially can Mr. Young do? [Murphy] I think that Mr. Young can step in, [Murphy] investigate these facts and figures that were presented. [Murphy] If they're true, he can, ah, set up whatever procedures he has to implement additional patrol in congress. Er, in ah, Compton. [Murphy] Whether it be, in the form of, ah, diverting other state funds to hire more policemen in Compton. [Murphy] I think the problem centers around the fact that they're trying to do a job with too few men. [Murphy] Ah, they're trying to do a job, [camera noise] There's the fact that we notified the, [Murphy] ah, elected officials in Compton, the councilman and the mayor. That we were in town and would like to have dinner with them, [camera noise] [KTLA reporter] There is a very direct relationship, then, between the situation [KTLA reporter] which exists where the police department substandard wages and salaries and the, [KTLA reporter] ah, extent of crime down there. How do you relate these two things? [Murphy] Well, I think, from my experience yesterday, I think part of the problem lies that the chief of police in Compton seems to have taken the attitude, [Murphy] that he's putting in time now. He doesn't want to make any waves. And, as a matter of fact, he didn't even want to talk to us yesterday until ah, as such time as we got in to see him. And, ah, he himself, could lend a big hand to these men. And I don't place the economic, responsibility on him because I know it's not fair or factual to do that. But he himself, talking to the people and the elected officials in Compton, could surely come to their assistance. Number one, to get more manpower. Number two, to get a better distribution of patrol. And to try and resolve this even on that level. Without going into the economics, and I know the economic structure throughout the country today is tough. It as tough for these people as it is for anybody else. But how do you tell a kid who works in Compton, that he's only worth nine thousand dollars, when a kid across the street is getting twelve thousand.