Class please watch this documentary and discuss how it relates to the information we have renewed so far. Why is it important that the community was never made aware of the crimes? What is the significance of the amount of time that these crimes went unnoticed? Please discuss the role of police and community in this case. (Please also discuss anything else that comes to mind).
*Be sure to review the discussion board grading rubric found under Course Materials to know the expectations for participation*
Not only did the police and city officials ignore the community, but no one in the community thought Lonnie would be the murderer. He was known to be a good neighbor and a sweet guy. Two of Lonnie’s friends suspected. On one occasion, Garry saw Lonnie carrying a .25 automatic gun, which was the same gun used on surviving victims. Garry had also seen a pair of handcuffs fall out of Lonnie’s car. Lastly, he (Garry) saw pictures of a naked girl inside Lonnie’s house. To add on, another one of Lonnie’s friends, Richard, was with Lonnie when they were in the same car driving around the neighborhood. Lonnie saw a girl. Lonnie gets mad at her, he gets out of the car and starts to attack her. Richard saw the whole situation occur and didn’t say anything to Lonnie. Richard said that Lonnie was attacking her; Lonnie snaps back into reality and lets the girl free. Both Garry and Richard never went to the police while having encounters of Lonnie’s suspicion.
During the time of the murderers, there was a crack cocaine epidemic, riots occurring, and the poverty line was at an all-time low. This resulted in City Officials ignore the community.
The noticeable facts of this documentary were a little strange. First of all there was a lot of ignorance from the Government agencies. Secondly the Riots were gaining too much attention. At last no one in the whole community could have thought of Lonnie as the murderer since he had a good boy reputation. Now all of these facts were connected to each other.
Any community in retrospect has been known for providing information, sometimes most of the information when it comes to a murder. A lot of what was mentioned by Johnson’s peers and neighbors could’ve been used as evidence if Johnson ever were to be a suspect at the time. Ex-drug addict Pamela, women who founded the black coalition fighting black serial murders, and many more people in the documentary shared common ground when it came to the police in their community. If they truly wanted to start an investigation they would’ve brought awareness to the reoccurring issue. Multiple black women were being murdered and because it was happening so often they didn’t care. At some point one of the women quoted an officer who asked: why she cared about the victims if most or all of them were hookers; implying that the lives of those women should be depreciated because of their lifestyle of choice. These serial murders occurred during the 80’S and it wasn’t until 25 years later that Johnson was arrested and brought into court. Although many of the bodies were never found I feel as though investigators could’ve found him much sooner if they made it their priority. Their concern for the issue is very telling on behalf of what the women in that community said about the cops, and hinted how the lack of attention could’ve been racially motivated.
Lonnie Franklin, a former mechanic and garbage man, was arrested on July 7, 2010, and charged with ten murders and one attempted murder. He is also a suspect for many other crimes. Police raided his South Los Angeles home, where they discovered photos and videos of 180 women. When word got out about Lonnie, the whole community was in shock. No one believed what he had done. No one in the community was aware of the crimes happening where they lived. Police never notify anyone about anything. South Los Angeles is a community with the worst schools, hospitals, and jobs. It is possible police never told anyone about the crimes, given that South LA was already a disarray community, and they did not want to create more tension or alarm. Everyone in the community was familiar with Lonnie. They all knew him as a decent guy. He would always chat with people and even helped them when they needed help. People familiar with Lonnie told stories about incidents that involved Lonnie. Gary, one of Lonnie’s friends, told about the time where he noticed handcuffs fall out of Lonnie’s car. He also said Lonnie always had a gun in his front pocket. Others said Lonnie’s house was always dim, the lights were never on. One guy who worked for Lonnie mentioned that Lonnie made him burn a car. In the car, the guy noticed a lot of blood. Margaret Prescod rallied fellow activists and founded the Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Killers to get the word out in affected neighborhoods and also to pressure law enforcement to step up efforts to apprehend the killer. She and Coalition members were handing out yet fliers notifying people about the killer. She was shocked as to how many people were unaware of it. People in black communities don’t feel that there is a justice system that supports them. This is often why they feel they can get away from a lot of things.
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The city officials ignored the community due to a lot of reasons. Reasons regarding the neighborhood but they shouldn’t have done that. And lastly never expected Lonnie to be the murderer.
The police and town authorities neglected the town, but no one in the city thought Lonnie was the murderer. He was known for being a friendly neighbor. Garry had also found a pair of handcuffs that had come out of Lonnie’s car. As previously mentioned, it would have taken a different turn if an investigation had been initiated. This is due to the negligence of municipal authorities, and it demonstrates how serious incidents are not taken seriously and are instead dismissed.