In these Days of Repentance We Must Demand Repentance from the Torrance PD

Three weeks ago, two former officers with the Torrance Police Department, Christopher Tomsic and Cody Weldin, were charged with vandalism for spray painting a swastika on the seat of a car that they had impounded. The actions for which they were charged occurred on January 27, 2020 when they were on duty with the Torrance PD. In his statement, Los Angeles DA George Gascon reiterated that his office is “committed to uprooting discrimination with law enforcement ranks.”

While Gascon’s sentiment is on-point, and his action in this case is correct, there is a long way to go to clean up the Torrance Police Department. Lest one thinks that this was an isolated incident, thirteen other officers were relieved of duty, according to Torrance Police Chief Jeremiah Hart, because of an ongoing investigation into messages that he characterized as “racism and hatred.” DA Gascon was more frank and said they were “exchanging racist, discriminatory, homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.” This has led the DA’s office to review hundreds of cases in which the officers were involved.

This, however, is not the end of it. Chris Tomsic, one of the officers who spray painted the swastika, was involved in the shooting of Michael Lopez. Tomsic was one of five  officers who killed Lopez after a car chase that was triggered by the Lopez’ truck having “a broken center brake light in violation of Vehicle Code 22450(a).” So Tomsic was one of a crew of officers who decided that a broken tail light was a capital offense. Moreover, as was spelled out in then DA Lacey’s report, the car chase itself involved maneuvers which endangered the lives of the passengers in multiple other cars on the road. (Lacey, as was her practice, did not find anything wrong with this. That is why she is no longer DA.)

Additionally, another Torrance officer, David Chandler, Jr., who was involved in the antisemitic and racist texting has just been charged with excessive force in a nonfatal 2018 shooting of a person holding a knife walking away from the officer. DA Gascon is also reopening the case of two Torrance officers who shot Christopher DeAndre Mitchell in 2018 and were cleared by former DA Lacey.

Moreover, the previous Torrance police chief had to step down from his position as a result of scandals.  In 2017 Mark Matsuda retired after he was suspended for making sexist, racist, homophobic, and Islamophobic comments.

From any angle, it is obvious that the Torrance Police Department is out of control and cannot correct itself. This is an intolerable situation. The only reasonable solution is to create a civilian oversight board or commission as there is for the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.  A 2018 Grand Jury report already pointed out the need for civilian oversight of the police department. In their words “the absence of civilian oversight in 44 of the 46 law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County is a problem and should be an issue of great concern.”

The current incident of police officers spraying Nazi graffiti should be of the highest concern to the Jewish community for two reasons. First, because it reveals that, in Torrance, some who are supposed to protect the community are endangering it. Second, this incident pulls the curtain back on the network of interwoven hatreds (antisemitism, racism, anti-Blackness, misogyny, homophobia, Islamophobia) which animate the culture of law enforcement in Torrance. To expect the Torrance police force to police itself is just like the person who tries to purify themselves in a ritual bath while grasping something impure in their hands.

In this season of repentance, the demand to not just speak but to “do sorry” is very prominent. Maimonides says that the one who confesses a sin but does nothing to rectify it is considered as one who has not done anything. The Jewish community should join its voice with the voices of all the families and communities who have been harmed by the Torrance PD and demand that the Mayor and City Council appoint a civilian oversight committee immediately.