LAPD- New Code of Silence

With out public discussion, the LAPD Police Chiefs, have announced that they will no longer release the names of officers involved in shootings.

Advocates say that the policy will protect police from retribution. Critics say that police are accountable to the public they serve, and that their identities are well known in the communities they work.

The decision to withold names is against precedent. Reports of those involved in shootings were used in 2004 by the L.A. Times.

"The paper found that a small group--1% of the 16,000 officers who worked field assignments was involved in more than 20% of all shootings at suspects. One officers, for example, had four shootings in five months."

"Under the new policy, such information can not be gleaned by the public."

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