1994 Los Angeles Police Rampart Division Photos

In 1994, photographer Joseph Rodríguez had unprecedented access to cover the Los Angeles police for two weeks for the New York Times. This happened three years after the Rodney King beatings were videotaped and two years after the riots broke out for the acquittal of the four officers involved, leading to a reckoning on the use of force that is both known and unresolved today.

Rodríguez, a well-known documentary photographer who grew up in Brooklyn and is no stranger to the criminal justice system, was sent to document a police force that was trying to reshape its image in the community. The unit in which he joined, called the “Rampart Division”, is now known for a corruption scandal that broke out a few years later. At the time, Rodríguez observed and documented police officers responding to shootings and domestic violence calls, pointing guns at gang members and patrolling neighborhoods day after day.

At a time when many interactions with the police are captured in cell phone videos and shared on social media, it is impressive to see images that document the complex role of police officers on and off duty. Rodríguez’s photos highlight the issues we still face today about justice, strength, racism and who can practice violence against whom. Although they were taken more than two decades ago, the photos offer an insight into how the police see themselves, a crucial thing to understand when considering who we are as a society. Rodríguez transformed the work into a new book, LAPD 1994. The photographs are also on display at the Bronx Documentary Center (and, conveniently, online). He spoke to BuzzFeed News about his complicated feelings about police officers and how a social documentary can help change the narratives.

How did this task begin?

When this project came up, I was leaving two years of really investigative gang work in Los Angeles. I was really exhausted, but one thing I learned from Gilles Peress, Magnum’s war photographer, is that whenever you get access, you should get it. I knew this was a one-time deal. We were about to enter a police station (which turned out to be extremely corrupt), but they gave me access, let me drive around with them for a few weeks. It was strange to be sitting in the back seat of a police car, but this time with a camera. I knew what I was looking at and I needed to keep my eyes open. I knew it wouldn’t last, so I just didn’t sleep for two weeks, basically.

What was the reaction you received when showing compassionate police work?

I believe there are a lot of good cops around here. They really do exist. I understand the criminal justice system and how it works. There are good people and bad people, but I was very aware of this blue shield of silence.

Was I trying to make them look good? No, I’m just a humanist. I photograph the person in front of me and that’s it. The number one crime in this country is really domestic violence. And they see it every day, and it pisses you off. Don’t be naive – Rampart [Division] it was really corrupted. It was one of the most corrupt police divisions, and I didn’t find out until after a story was published and the FBI went there and I don’t know.

At the time, you had two of the most powerful gangs in Los Angeles, the MS-13 and the 18th Street gang. I had photographed some of these guys, so I knew how serious they were. This shock unit with which I drove, its main task was to take the weapons off the street.

In a way, the LAPD was like another gang. They did things and kept them kind of calm. The story is there in the book, and there will be an open discussion at the BDC. This is going to be interesting, how people are going to read these photos and what they mean.

How do you feel about policing now?

I saw things get more tense after we militarized the police. What I saw on the ground, the militarization of the police after 9/11 – just an incredible amount of money went in. There was an increase in Reagan, Clinton and, suddenly, there is a flood of police arriving like the Avengers. They don’t even talk to anyone, they just grab everyone, take the weapons.

In your opinion, what is the ideal role of a police officer?

Do you see some of this in LAPD 1994. There was Officer Llanes. They were on patrol one night and found a woman. She is crying and screaming in a phone booth, and they leave. There are no weapons or anything. It is a very different type of image. They see it every day, and that is community policing. They talk to her and try to get her off the streets.

In another photo, you barely see Llanes in the frame. It’s a big, wide picture, and you have the father and the little son, and it’s called domestic violence, and he’s trying to calm things down. That’s how I remember policing in the 60s and 70s. You had regular policemen who worked in the same neighborhoods for 20 years, so they met the pizzeria, they met the high school kids. So it was more of a conversation. Today there is very little talk, and there is the latent question of “What is the position of the police on their own race issues?” If you do the work every other day in these neighborhoods, I mean, phew. The guys said they had more divorces than any other division. It is a difficult job to do. But I’m not here to make you look good. I’m just here to show the truth, to show the moments. Even with my own subjective feelings and problems with the police, I kept it separate because that’s the job. I am not an activist. I’m not going in there to make you look bad either.

I loved that moment when there’s a new baby in the neighborhood and the cop in the car is like, Oh hey, look, there’s our new baby. This is the old way. He was also not an angel, but it was good to see that humanity.

I want to make it clear – one of the things that attracted me, every night, was the sheer sensation of armed violence. It was like we were walking down the street at 2 pm and there were some idiots with a bunch of shotguns, AK-47s, shooting. It was really like that. I got really tired. I spent six months in therapy after that and East side stories [another book by Rodríguez]. PTSD is a funny thing; it accumulates in you and hits you like a ton of bricks.

What is your favorite image from this work?

I like the first picture of the policeman shining his shoes. There is something about this image, with the sign on the wall, “everyone here brings happiness”. Oh man, come on, are you serious? And you look at the shoeshineer’s face coming in. It’s just – with all the black enamel coming out of the box over there, it represents, for me, a lot of our history. Who is at the top, who is doing service.

This other image that I liked a lot was that of the two detectives, the close-up, because it is so different: policing in Los Angeles versus New York. In LA, they wear Armani suits. They really like that look. In New York, they use polyester. I found this interesting.

This is not the kind of book that makes you feel good or gives you that warm feeling. It is a document about his particular time and what was going on. One of the other photos that I find almost surreal to me is the gun in the grass after this guy was just shot. That’s the evidence right there. That is America’s problem there.

Do you have any advice for aspiring photographers?

Getting access is 90% of the game. Put that person on the other end of the phone. I know what it’s like to be at the bottom. I know what it’s like to be in trouble. I know what it’s like to be in an angry space. I use my photography to bring some hope for something. I wouldn’t say this is a very promising book, but that’s okay. You can see this in my Taxi book, which is a very different book from New York at the time. I’m a guy of social realism. I grew up with this practice of social documentary: “Where’s the problem? What is the problem? We will try to make some corrections ”. I believe in looking back at times to make sense of today.