LAPD Chief Beck Accused Of Being Insincere In Anti-Arizona Stance

Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck was accused over the weekend of being insincere or at least out-of-line with his troops when it comes to his stance against Arizona's controversial immigration law. Pseudonymous Los Angeles Police Department officer and writer Jack Dunphy opines that, " ... in criticizing SB 1070, Chief Beck was most emphatically not speaking on behalf of most LAPD officers, but rather on behalf of the mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, who selected Beck as chief and whose position on illegal immigration is well known."

Dunphy sets up his argument by saying most cops are far right of their political brethren at City Hall, but that any member of the LAPD who wants to rise up the ranks must become politically savvy and thus tune into the dominant, left-wing rhetoric of the mayor and the Los Angeles City Council.

"Whatever Beck's true opinions on these issues might be, if they differ one iota from the mayor's, he took care to keep those differences to himself during the interviews leading up to his appointment," Dunphy writes.

He argues that he "has yet to encounter" someone in the department who supports Arizona's law, which encourages officers there to check the immigration status of suspects they stop who they believe might be in the United States illegally. Indeed, the union representing Los Angeles police last month expressed some understanding of Arizona's law:

" ... We think that everyone agrees that removing illegal aliens, who perpetrate crimes in our country, will make us all safer," read a statement on the Los Angeles Police Protective League's blog.

Spotted at LA Observed.