On Monday, the Police Commission will meet with Chief Bernard Parks as part of the evaluation process that will be used to decide whether or not the chief will be appointed to another term. While we have not taken a position on the merits of Chief Parks' reappointment, we feel that the public and the chief are entitled to a fair and open process in determining who will be Los Angeles' Chief of Police for the next five years.
Many of our close allies in the struggle for civil rights and police reform have actively supported Chief Parks' bid for another term, and that's understandable, when Chief Parks' record is compared to that of police chiefs past, such as Daryl Gates.
Chief Parks is a man of integrity, and has done much to improve relations between the LAPD and the communities it serves. Nevertheless, much remains to be done, and in many of the critical battles over reform of the LAPD, as well as in the statewide battle for police accountability on racial profiling, Chief Parks has resisted the systemic reforms that we believe are necessary.
For these reasons, the ACLU of Southern California has not taken a position on Chief Parks' reappointment. We call on the Police Commission to carry out its review thoroughly, fairly, and openly.

Saying that local Recreation Department officials unfairly discriminate against girls' athletics, the American Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit seeking an immediate court order that will give the girls' softball league equal access to playing fields before the new season gets underway.
The case, Ashley Bellum et. al v. City of Grants Pass, is being brought on behalf of a group of girls who compete in the Amateur Softball Association's Grants Pass Blaze softball league.
"The ACLU is attempting to establish a new precedent by holding a municipality responsible for gender inequities in the athletic programs it sponsors," said James Dole, an ACLU cooperating attorney from Grants Pass. "Prior to this, challenges to gender inequity in sports were primarily seen in the context of high schools and colleges."
At issue is the city's failure to give the girls' softball team equal access to quality facilities at the All Sports Park in Grants Pass. The complex's six diamonds are the primary venue for practices and games of the community's four youth baseball and softball programs. The city has dedicated the two playing fields of the highest quality to the exclusive use of the two boys' baseball leagues.
This practice, the ACLU lawsuit charges, violates the Fourteenth Amendment, Oregon's constitutional guarantee that the government will not discriminate on the basis of gender, and Oregon law providing for equal access in public accommodations.
"Numerous academic studies show that girls who participate in sports have higher levels of self esteem and confidence and are less likely to experience depression than girls who do not play sports," said Rocio Corboba, staff attorney with the ACLU of Southern California who is co-counsel on the case and who brought a similar case in 1999 titled, Baca v. City of Los Angeles. "When placed against the backdrop of these studies the issues raised in these lawsuits represent a novel trend in the development of gender discrimination litigation which address the unequal allocation of publicly funded sports programs and facilities."
The discriminatory policy has negatively affected the girls and their families in a variety of ways, according to the ACLU complaint. For instance, while the boys' teams enjoy exclusive access to well-maintained fields, the girls of the Blaze league have been forced to share the remaining four diamonds with all the teams in the city's Little League, the local high school's varsity and junior varsity softball teams, and various community adult softball leagues.
Since practice and game times constantly change in order to accommodate the schedules of all the other leagues, teams in the Blaze league are forced to practice on weekdays late into the evening, often cutting into time set aside for home work. Games are usually scheduled on Sunday mornings, forcing spectators and players to decide between attending church services and going to the game.
"The facilities the girls have been forced to play on don't have covered bleachers, batting cages or even proper dugouts," said Lenora Lapidus, Director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project and co-counsel on the case. "How do we expect our daughters to grow up with a strong sense of identity when the community treats them like second-class citizens?"
The ACLU complaint seeks an immediate court ruling in the matter to prevent the city of Grants Pass from implementing a discriminatory field schedule for the girls' Spring/ Summer 2002 softball season, which started this week. The lawsuit further asks the court to order the city to provide the Blaze league with a dedicated 'home' field of comparable quality to the dedicated fields provided to the boys' baseball leagues.

LOS ANGELES - The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California today reiterated its call for an open meeting of the Police Commission regarding the request for reappointment by Chief of Police Bernard Parks. While the ACLU/SC has not taken a position on Chief Parks' reappointment, the affiliate is in agreement with the Chief on the issue of an open Police Commission meeting.

"The people of this city deserve to know how their Chief of Police will be judged by the Commission," said Ramona Ripston, Executive Director of the ACLU/SC. "Not only is an open meeting sound public policy, but this issue is of vital importance to the community. Chief Parks has waived his right to a confidential job review and the commission should grant his request to open the meeting to the public."

On Thursday, March 28, the Chief requested an open meeting with the Police Commission and waived his right to privacy. Since then various groups with diverging views on the Chief's reappointment have weighed in on his behalf in support of an open meeting.

"The need for an open meeting is particularly pressing, given that these deliberations take place in the aftermath of one of the largest police corruption scandals in our Nation's history," wrote Dan Tokaji, ACLU/SC Staff Attorney in a letter to the commission sent today. "At a time when the need for public accountability of the Los Angeles Police Department is at its greatest, it is unfortunate that the Police Commission would choose to deliberate the reappointment of the City's police chief behind a veil of secrecy."

Although the ACLU/SC has been critical of Chief Parks' performance, particularly in the areas of reform and civilian review, it is in full agreement with the Chief that the hearings should be open to the public. The ACLU/SC has continually cited the "culture of secrecy" surrounding the LAPD as one of the main obstacles to true police reform. By refusing to open the meeting to the public, the organization believes, the Police Commission will be contributing to the very culture that has hindered reform efforts time and time again.

"To conduct the deliberations over Chief Parks' reappointment in closed session is to continue an unfortunate pattern, prevalent throughout the Department's troubled history of resisting public accountability," continued Tokaji. "It is precisely such an insistence upon secrecy rather than openness that has created an atmosphere in which police misconduct - such as that prevalent in the Rampart Division - can fester unchecked, resulting in a widespread loss of public trust in those who are sworn to serve and protect."