LAPD Board of Rights: Terminate Officer James Kang

The Los Angeles Police Department’s Board of Rights concluded on March 7th that 44-year-old officer James Kang (제임스 강) deserves to be terminated from the LAPD.

The decision relates to an incident on January 24, 2012, in the city of Santa Clarita. Kang, while off duty, was allegedly driving recklessly and then pulled a gun on a man whose vehicle he had hit.

This is another black mark on the record of Korean-American officers in the LAPD, among whom the misconduct rate is perceived to be extremely high. LAPD officer David Park is one of the Gang of Four who terrorized bike rider Manuel Gallegos and is now the subject of a civil lawsuit scheduled for a jury trial in May.

LAPD officers Jin Oh and David Shin are currently defendants in a lawsuit involving the brutal Kim Nguyen case. Recently deceased LAPD officer Nicholas Lee was reported to have filed a cumulative-trauma claim in August 1998, the same year he started work at the department.

Rarely have Korean-American cops been held accountable for their misbehavior, with non-Korean locals believing their complaints about warrantless searches, harassment, and sexual assaults are being ignored due to the political clout of Korean-American business owners who ply the police department with donations and who have prominent positions in the city agencies that are supposed to keep such abuses in check.