Rampart OIS Findings

What:
Media Staging

When:
March 15, 2010
9:00 a.m.

Where:
6th Street and Union Avenue
    
Who:
The incident Commander for the Department will be Deputy Chief Jose Perez,
Central-Bureau                
        
Why:
To identify the Media Staging Area, the Media Viewing Area, and identify the street closures as defined by the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

MEDIA VIEWING/STAGING AREAS

Media Staging and Media Viewing areas have been selected outside the impacted areas, and they provide viewing within audible range of the events.  The areas take into consideration the needs of the media, public and officer safety, police tactics and the language of the Crespo decision.  For these events, the designated media viewing area is co-located with the media staging area.

An LAPD Public Information Officer (PIO) will be on hand to facilitate media coverage and assist the on-scene Incident Commander at all assembly and rally areas.  PIOs will be wearing vests that identify them as LAPD PIOs.  Spanish speaking PIOs will also be available.

Union Street South of 6th Street

•Designated Parking Area will be located on Union Street south of 6th Street.  Viewing will be available to Media /pedestrians along 6th at Union.  This is subject to Hard/Soft Street closures designated by the Incident Command Post.

Mac Arthur Park

•Designated staging/ parking for Media satellite vehicles shall be on Parkview south of 6th Street.  Media will be able to access the staging area inside of MacArthur Park on foot.

Rampart  Station

•Designated staging/ parking for Media vehicles shall be on Columbia Avenue north of 6th Street.  The media viewing area for the stage area will be along the front parking lot area of Rampart Station.

No Parking Zones

*There will be no parking on 6th Street from Witmer Street to Parkview Avenue*

Los Angeles City Department of Transportation Traffic Plan

The information stated was obtained from the City of Los Angeles Department of Transportation and
intended to inform the public about street closures.

TBD by DOT and Incident Action Plan

AL CRESPO vs. CITY OF LOS ANGELES, FEDERAL CASE NO. CV 00-08869

These mandates originate from a binding settlement agreement arising out of the 2000 Democratic National Convention, and include the following:

Under the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, it is not uncommon for large numbers of people to assemble for the purpose of demonstrating their opinions.  At such demonstrations, it is the Police Department’s obligation to protect individuals’ First Amendment rights, maintain order, and protect lives and property.  Occasionally, demonstrations become unlawful.  In such circumstances, pursuant to California Penal Code Sections 407 and 409, an assembly may be declared unlawful, and all persons present, including members of the news media, may be lawfully ordered to disperse.   

The law provides that police officers may use reasonable force to disperse an unlawful assembly and to affect the arrest of violators.  The Department’s Use of Force Policy applies to such Actions.  The Department’s policies concerning interaction with the news media are described in the relevant provision in Volume One of the Department Manual, the Department’s Emergency Operations Guide, and the Department’s Media Guide.

LAPD will recognize that the news media has a right, without interfering with police operations, to cover events that may result in the declaration of an unlawful assembly and order to disperse;

LAPD will make efforts to accommodate the media reporting obligation; however, such efforts will be made consistent with the LAPD’s primary obligation to maintain public safety and order;

When the LAPD develops an operations plan for an event that involves a public assembly, LAPD, where practicable, will designate an area outside of the anticipated impacted area but within reasonable viewing distance and audible range of the event in which members of the media may assemble;

When selecting the viewing area, LAPD will take into consideration public and officer safety, police tactics, input provided by the news media and the ability of the LAPD to prevent the location from becoming part of the impacted area;

To the extent reasonably possible, the LAPD will try to prevent the news media viewing area from becoming part of any area impacted by an unlawful assembly declaration and order to disperse.

The decision to assume risk of danger involved in covering a public event remains with the individual news reporter making such a decision, provided that any such decision does not constitute a waiver by a reporter of any constitutional or other legal rights.

The selection of the news media viewing area will take into consideration public and officer safety, police tactics, input provided by the news media, if any, and the ability of the LAPD to prevent the location from becoming part of the impacted area.  The final selection of the viewing area location will be made by the Incident Commander in charge of the incident.    

To the extent reasonably possible and without compromising public or officer safety, the LAPD incident commander will relocate the news media viewing area if, due to changing conditions, the initial area no longer affords the media a reasonable view of the event or becomes a tactical concern for the incident commander;

The incident commander will designate an information officer as part of the incident command system in order to facilitate interaction with the media, and the information officer will be clearly identified at the scene; and

After declaring an unlawful assembly, the LAPD will designate a dispersal route for all persons present, including the media, to use when evacuating the area.

UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY

As was discussed with news media managers and members of the Los Angeles news media committee, the LAPD recognizes the news media’s reporting obligation and will accommodate reporters’ and photographers’ coverage by allowing them to pass through skirmish lines one time.  For officer safety reasons, reporters and photographers will not be allowed to pass through the lines multiple times as was explained and demonstrated for those members of the media who participated in the Department’s Mobile Field Force Training.  

Should the event be declared an unlawful assembly, the LAPD will immediately notify the media by issuing a Department news advisory using City News Service and the LAPD MRS’ regular email delivery service.  The Department will make every effort to issue this news advisory prior to the issuance of a dispersal order.  In the event this scenario were to occur, media organizations should ensure that this vital information is disseminated to media field crews as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Any questions regarding this news advisory should be directed to the LAPD Media Relations Section at 213 486-5910.