On Naming Conventions

“The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their proper name.” - Confucius

In response to the senseless murder of George Floyd, the feeling of arresting helplessness so many of us feel in the face of yet another entirely avoidable tragedy, and the brave women and men both peacefully marching in and dutifully patrolling our city’s streets tonight, I propose we change the name of the LAPD.

Now I’m a realist. With almost 10,000 officers, approximately 5,000 vehicles, and twenty-one separate stations, a radical, seemingly arbitrary change to something so trivial hardly feels actionable – not to mention appropriate – in the face of the anger, the disillusionment, and the antipathy our fellow Angelenos are struggling with this evening.

The visceral hurt and pain we felt last week watching yet another black man die needlessly in America; our feeling – nay, our intuition – that George Floyd could have just as easily been murdered in our own city’s streets; and our fear that the next George Floyd (and, by extension, the next Derek Chauvin) walks amongst us as we speak belie the very real efforts and fundamental changes that have already taken place in Los Angeles.

Until today, I did not know that body cameras are already used in the vast majority of LAPD deployments. I could not have told you that last year, we enacted SB 1421 and AB 748 to further democratize the access we as citizens have to that footage. I was unaware of the implementation in 2016 of our Civilian Oversight Commission or the follow on decision in 2017 to add civilian jurists to the board charged with reviewing serious officer misconduct. My privilege enabled my ignorance because like so many of you, I did not take ownership of my city’s chief law enforcement organization. And – while these past efforts are laudable – I also still do not believe that we have done enough.

Which is why beginning today, I propose we add an apostrophe to the LAPD.

Now – while unassuming – the apostrophe enjoys a beautiful economy, a pluripotency disguised by its size. 

In its most overt application, my proposal will reaffirm forevermore that the duty of Los Angeles’ Police Department is to the people, its power is derived therefrom, and its responsibility is to ensure unequivocally that justice is meted out in the same manner it is weighed: blindly, dispassionately, and co-equally to every woman and man in our society. Our possession of our laws and her agents should be conveyed explicitly.

Apostrophes are also used, however, to mark the omission of characters. How appropriate, then, to reclaim a body with its insertion?

Finally, when used diacritically, apostrophes help to distinguish between two seemingly similar words that over time take on fundamentally different meanings. And that is my hope – that is the evolution I hope this coming revolution foments.

Make no mistake, I am very much heartened by some of the steps that have already been taken here in Los Angeles – points of progress I was blithely unaware of – but we demand more of our city, our institutions, and our elected officials. It is time for holistic, fundamental change in this country and that journey of reclamation, remembrance, and reconstitution will be a long one.

Let’s start by making our mark here in LA and – working together – we’ll see what comes behind it.

Mr. Fishel is the son of a former probation and parole officer, a recent donor to The Bail Project (https://bailproject.org/), and the father of three sons born in Los Angeles.