In 2007, Christopher Dorner, a three-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant, accused a fellow officer of kicking and punching a mentally ill man while handcuffing him. The claim of excessive force was declared “unfounded” and subsequently Dorner was fired in 2009 for “making false statements.”
Dorner issued a manifesto accusing the LAPD of using excessive force, of being racist and of firing him for raising those issues through official channels. He retaliated by vowing to kill cops and did so, as well as killing some family members of one and vowed to kill others. Such tactics will not fulfill Dorner’s aim of “reforming” the LAPD. Yes, the LAPD has a long history of racism and of brutalizing the working class of Los Angeles — but it cannot be reformed.
Now Dorner is dead, which is exactly where the LAPD wanted him. They had no intention of capturing him alive and allowing him to use a trial to tell what he knows about the racist evils rampant in the 10,000-member LAPD.
A multi-county manhunt for Dormer lasted almost two weeks. The bosses’ media tried to convince everyone that the police and sheriffs throughout Southern California were working around the clock to keep us safe from Dorner, but in reality they were only protecting their racist institutions.
In fact, the LAPD demonstrated their racist reputation during this manhunt when, without warning, they shot two innocent Latina women who were delivering newspapers. Seven cops just wildly opened fired from behind them, riddling their truck and the surrounding neighborhood with over 70 bullets as if they were in combat. The semi-automatic fire destroyed the truck which was not even close to the make and color of the real suspect’s vehicle. The LA Times reported that in the area there were “bullet holes in cars, trees, garage doors and roofs.”
Fortunately the women weren’t seriously injured, yet the round-the-clock coverage kept people in fear, afraid to drive around and get shot by mistake too. People started wearing T-shirts and posting signs on their trucks declaring, “Don’t shoot, I’m not Dorner!”
The cops searching for Dorner were using drones, not the first time they were being used to target civilians on United States soil. Drones have been used on the U.S.-Mexico border against migrant workers.
Imperialist wars in the Middle East continue to take the lives of tens of thousands of  workers there as well as that of  GIs and break apart their families. The returning soldiers are given little or no support to transition back into civilian life. Though we don’t champion Dorner’s actions, we can see where the problem stems from, because he likely suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his tour in Iraq with the Naval Reserves and snapped.
The LAPD has been a kind of paramilitary force, pioneering the military-style Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) approach to “policing.” The U.S. military has employed such a tactic in Iraq and Afghanistan — “spray and pray” — which has led directly to the massive civilian casualties in those U.S. invasions.
Some working-class people rooted for Dorner throughout the chase for exposing the police for their various forms of racism against workers and youth they claim to protect. Yet, Dormer’s methods and goals to “reform” the police system are flawed. We must not confuse exposing the racist police with actual change. The police are agents who “protect and serve” the ruling class when workers organize around their class interests. No killing spree can end the racism and oppression by the police on working-class people until the system that requires them — capitalism — is smashed through communist revolution.