Despite his actions, a disgusting amount of people rose up in support of Dorner’s quest. The Facebook page “We Support Christopher Jordan Dorner” has received over 16,000 likes, and the page’s creator even compares Dorner to the founding fathers for taking action against the “ruling class.” Yet none of this sympathy seems to extend to his victims’ families. It is sickening to see such widespread support for a man who wrote this to his targets, “I never had the opportunity to have a family of my own … [so] I am terminating yours.”
None of this is to say that the LAPD is a racism-free or benign organization. From 1965 to 1992, the department was plagued with complaints of racism and brutality culminating in multiple race riots. A study commissioned by the ACLU in 2008 found that blacks were three times more likely to be stopped than whites or Latinos and five times more likely to be arrested by the LAPD. But Dorner’s method of redressing this racism only serves to solidify an “us versus them” mentality. And true reform can never come if critics praise a cop killer; the LAPD would never bother responding to the claims of such people.
Nonetheless, times have changed since 1992, and the LAPD is far more ethnically diverse. Due to the reforms of police Chief Bill Bratton, whites now make up less than a third of the force whereas in 1991 during the Rodney King riots, they comprised almost two-thirds. Fifteen percent of the force is now black, 41 percent is Hispanic, and Asians make up 8 percent. Increased diversity shows a stronger commitment to equal treatment under the law.
These reforms have proven fruitful in changing the LAPD’s image, too. Fifty-five percent of blacks say the LAPD is doing a “good job,” compared to 66 percent of whites and 59 percent of Latinos, according to a 2012 survey by the Center for the Study of Los Angeles. Sixty-nine percent of all residents further believe that the people of Los Angeles have made some or a lot of progress in improving race relations since 1992. It seems that racial tensions have significantly calmed since the ’90s and that the reforms have made all ethnic groups less hostile towards the police.
Yes, there is still a long way to go for the LAPD to completely eliminate racism and corruption from itself, but the progress that has been made was through nonviolent and official channels, not by the deranged tactics of a sociopath.