KTLA News: "Edward M. Davis, Chief of Police, gives press conference on Communist Party" (1971)

15 months ago a judgment was made by the Communist Party to switch their efforts from the black community to the Latin community they felt that the black people were not going to hold still and be exploited by by communists and so they concentrated on the mexican-american community they are now becoming quite sophisticated in this demonstration against Parker center of last saturday the they joined with the Peace Action Council a group of angle militants and the peace Action Council produced over 30,000 leaflets that were passed out to mexico mexican american youth throughout Southern California now there's another demonstration scheduled against this department and the sheriff's office on the thirty-first of january and this whole thing there's no claim on their part that there's widespread police brutality the city honey claim is that we've been too effective in dealing with the Brown Berets and they took us into court to try to stop us from making arrests and so there's no allegation of police brutality in in the city of Los Angeles against the Los Angeles Police Department of any substantial magnitude this is strictly a fight of an organization to be able to do it's illegal activities within the city of Los Angeles and we don't intend to tolerate it widespread police brutality on the east side I would presume that dr. carrion would know about that dr. carrion of the Police Commission has he community communicated any such evidence to you occasionally dr. carrion gets it gets telephone calls not even letters you know and we rapidly get on top of thing has approved and we will implement with the approval of the mayor and the City Council a decentralization program where there will be a deputy chief for example in the San Fernando Valley and the other areas of the city and we will eliminate the functional organization and put in a line organization where to coordinate detectives and traffic and patrol and community relations and everything instead of having to go up to a deputy chief downtown on the glass house it will only have to go up to a deputy chief sitting out in the valley will have five divisions and so this is is more power to the local commander to do his job it's in keeping with my belief that policing should be very close to the people and it's directly contrary to the Los Angeles Times recommending yesterday that we take police work farther away from the people lie consolidating the Sheriff's Office and the police department and so we believe in making it closer I think some of the best jobs of police work are done by the smaller departments who are closer and more sensitive to their people well they would know for example right now and let's say Southwest Division or west los angeles a Southwest Division you want to complain about traffic you have to complain to a traffic deputy chief here you want to complain about detectives you complain to a detective deputy chief here you want to complain about patrol you complain to a patrol deputy chief and then as somebody over him an assistant chief has to coordinate all of this well this pushes the coordination and the man level decision making right now above the the precinct or division level and in each division then we will have a captain 3 who will have the total responsibility for everyone in that division this is long overdue business and industry went to this 40 years ago we're Bob this really is a new idea we stole it from the things that General Electric and General Motors did in the 20s will gradually do it and pick up the problems and resolve them and debug it and put the system in customized and manipulate groups that are in the greatest need of better education better employment and and and better social opportunities we certainly will advocate it you have to engage in a conspiracy and then you have to engage in one overt act and furtherance of the conspiracy that if it weren't stopped would konam culminate you see in the overthrow the government so it's legally impossible to get at these these Bolsheviks before they actually have something happen like all these hundred foot drop back there you know there could have been 50 of them killed in that construction site but you can't stop it normally until actual times I would advocate to amendments of the Constitution one would be that the First Amendment right does not include the right to advocate the violent overthrow of the government and to that the Fourth Amendment does not does not cover the right to possess hard narcotics and if we had those two amendments the Constitution I think America could survive but this morning we have what first came out looking like a murder that turns out to be a double don't overdose of hard narcotics now this is happening what over 250 kids of a median median age average age of 17 years killed in this county last year by the US adult but through the perverted interpretation of the Fourth Amendment it makes it extremely difficult for society to protect its young against dolt there is all these other self acknowledged avowed communist organizations are merely detonators for the main communist party they're used and Exploited and egged on and they're the prison fodder they're the cannon front PLP is important for the citizens of this city and the residents of this area and particularly for parents of Mexican American ancestry to know something about the trend of the demonstration that took place here in front of Parker center last Saturday a very interesting man is here mandela who was born in Russia who was active in the Communist Party in France and was active in the Communist Party in Chicago when he came to this country and is active in the Communist Party in Southern California Hawaii okay right but I'll just go rather briefly another gentleman also identified here Sam Kushner and rose chernon Busenitz again identified in government records and we we find these people meeting and mixing with the young mexican american youth and Ralph Kony's königsberg Florence Kushner a team the man and wife team and a very interesting gentleman here mr. Ben Dobbs mr. Ben Dobbs was convicted under the Smith Act and the US Supreme Court when they threw out the Smith Act in effect to let him out but he was to be in here you see the meeting and interacting with the young Mexican Americans down here in the demonstration and yet not a single one of these people got into the any of the action that resulted in the 42 arrests and mr. Sanchez the head of the brown braid and if they don't watch it they're young men will be exploited on january thirty first nineteen seventy one hungary's were formed and some of the people another subject that is related to it in many ways i'd like your comment on the report which has been released on the UCLA difficulties in nineteen seventy where the police department is being blamed for practically everything well that report was sent to us by one of the vice-chancellor's i have met with the Chancellor young prior to his release of the port and i think it's a very unfortunate report its it fails to identify who the complainants are so we had this several months ago and the Commission which was constituted by the Chancellor refuses to give us any lead on who makes what statement so it's one of those unfortunate broadsides that cannot be investigated because you don't know who is making the allegation and I think it's very unfortunate that it's released at this time when there's peace on the campus at UCLA when there's generally piece on the college campuses the judge it was a judgment of the Commission not to release it it's a very unscholarly document if you've read it it's the paint's where the rather broad brush it's a it's rather dirty tactics and I don't think Chancellor young is any happier with it than I am although I he didn't say that but I would think that things like that after we've had peace on the campus since May there's a rather foolish thing in an attempt on someone's part to provoke difficulty either for the Chancellor in the university system or the police department one of his activities we contacted father loose last week one of our men trying to reach david sanchez to head off their so-called bloodbath and father loose was unable to produce david sanchez father loose was before the grand jury in the closure of the school cases a couple of years ago I suspect he wasn't indicted because his collar was turned around backwards and again again this again this shows the victimization of the of the mexican-american community by white subversive forces that won't go out and do the dirty work themselves I think it's about time we get down to talking about some of these fundamentals incident of a ghetto or a barrio and being economically deprived that many of them and much of the money for the 30,000 leaflets for example in all probability comes from people who have achieved a socio economic success but who have a mission to bring off the revolution and so you