A Black LAPD officer who wanted to change the police force from the inside quit after he was racially profiled and arrested in Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 27, 2022.
Bernard Robins spent nine hours in jail before he was released.
Robins was working on a film he’d written — about two teenagers who switch bodies called “Trading Souls” — in front of his parent’s home on West Boulevard near the Inglewood border at around 7 p.m. He was talking with the lighting technician when he noticed two officers staring him down.
Robins, who grew up in Los Angeles, instinctively raised his hands and began walking toward the officers slowly as he notified them he was also an LAPD officer. He also notified the officers that he was carrying his department-issued 9mm Smith & Wesson handgun.
The officers handcuffed him against a fence, and one of the cops said, “You know how this neighborhood is.”
A woman nearby began to record the officers as they went through Robins’ wallet. After finding his department-issued identification, one of the officers claimed that it could be a fake ID. Robins remained handcuffed even after the cops learned his identity and he pleaded with them to call his watch commander.
“This is crazy,” said the woman recording. “He’s a police officer.”
“You work Southwest, right?” asked one of the officers.
“That’s right,” replied Robins.
“Okay, well that’s why I don’t know you; I work 77th,” replied the officer. “Like I said, I’m not trying to target you, man, but now you’re trying to come at me sideways.”
“You’ve got my ID, right, sir, Hernandez?” Robins asked the other officer.
“You understand,” the officer began to reply before Robins interrupted and said, “I understand you have my ID as a police officer, and you’ve still got me handcuffed. Like, come on, bro.”
“If you’re a cop, I’m so sorry that you didn’t know this. But, if you…
Read the full article here