KTLA News: "Reverend Thomas Kilgore speaks to the press about the LAPD's insensitivity..." (1979)

You've been asked to come to this time there are 206 clergy. We believe that there's still a massive insensitivity uh to the black community and we've said this before both police commission that police often come into the black community as if they're coming into an armed camp. They themselves sometimes show fear. We believe the police department in Los Angeles generally is a good department of police. We believe this police in which there are killings that we think are unnecessary must be stopped and it is that that we are dealing with the police department on and trying to get some corrective measures uh instituted in the department representing 13 denominations that are concerned about various community issues. the four issues that we have given most attention to up to this time. First, the relationship between the police department of Los Angeles and the community, particularly the minority and black communities, and we'll be glad to speak to that in the course of this uh uh news conference. Secondly, the whole school problem of integration and busing and all the other problems centered around adequate and competent education for all of the children in our district. Thirdly, we have an economic development committee that on this and we voted this very day for representatives of that committee to participate in a high level conference in Sacramento to get all of the basic information and all the proper papers for filing for us to set up two corporations. an economic development corporation that will the purpose of which will be for the people in this black community to begin to control their own economic destiny. And a consumer cooperative that will make it possible for people, little people to put together two or three dollars a week over a long period of time out of the 250,000 people in our churches to build up a fund to undercurge such economic conservation. Our fourth committee that has been working very hard has been a committee interested in health, alcoholism and drugs. At this meeting today before we close these that we are presently involved in. >> What is the feeling consensus of the gathering? >> The uh black community and the consensus of the gathering u may be different and yet we think we represent the community to a large extent. feel that with the if the police work cooperatively with us and we see some indications of that now uh that we together can correct it and that the manual itself will be followed because as we have studied the police manual there are four or five steps that a police must be exhaust before he actually shoots to kill anybody and we feel that in many instances these steps are not being followed >> Reverend Kildor since 1964 since where we have most problems we've got to deal with and we're willing to work with the police department. We want them when they get perceptive captains in these precincts who really relate with the black community to let those captains stay there until something substantive happens. >> In other communities, we're getting along very well. For instance, I pastor churches in the Newton district and over 665 I've known the captains there. We've had good captains in Newton and Newton has not had some of the same problems that some of the other uh precincts have had. So, what we're saying is let's look at the spots that are bad and let's work together in clearing them up. Let's get rid of police that do not have the right kind of sensitivity, who don't some of them who don't like people of certain races of colors and so on. And we're almost convinced that that's happening in some areas. And let's clean up the department at this point and let it be truly the greatest police department in the country. Can I What is that?