Ex-LAPD Officer Brian Bentley today in Los Angeles, Calif.
*Brian Bentley, 49, doesn’t agree with what Christopher Dorner — the ex-cop at center of a massive manhunt for the killings of three people—has done, but he certainly understands it.
As a former LAPD officer, Bentley, who is now an author, says that a Dorner-like situation was just a matter of time.
“It took longer than I thought it would for something like this to happen.”
RELATED: Read the (Full) Christopher Dorner Manifesto
In fact, Bentley says that when he was a police officer, there were frequent postings of “look out” bulletins on the walls at police stations featuring officers who’d been terminated and who were believed to have vendettas.
“When the Department terminated you, they intentionally tried to ruin your life,” Bentley explains. “That’s how they discredited you. Dorner isn’t the first ex-police officer to have a manifesto or some sort of hit list.”
And he should know.
Ex-LAPD officer Brian Bentley
Brian Bentley left the LAPD in 1999 after serving ten years with the Department. He was a police officer in 1992 during the uprising and was assigned to guard O.J. Simpson’s house in Brentwood during the infamous trial. He served under police chiefs Daryl Gates, Bayan Lewis, Willie Williams, and Bernard Parks. However, he was fired for writing the book One Time: The Story of a South Central Los Angeles Police Officer that detailed the massive misconduct and racism he witnessed during his time at the LAPD’s Southwest and West L.A. divisions.
He says that when he left the Department he had a manifesto of his own. Not one that involved killing anyone, but a list of people who had wronged him during his time at the Department.
Bentley originally joined the department in 1989 after working as an assistant manager and loan officer for Security Pacific National Bank on 29th and Crenshaw in the West Adams area of Los Angeles. He says that the bank was robbed so many times that the LAPD was always in and out the bank and over the years he developed a relationship with the officers who would respond.
“Back then the LAPD was making a big push bring on more professional people,” Brian says. “They wanted college graduates, blacks, and gays.”
A graduate of Westchester High School and California State University, Los Angeles, Brian remembers going downtown to apply for a public relations specialist job with the City of Los Angeles.
“I walked in and I saw big poster of a black guy in a uniform with a badge. I saw what they were making and what public relations specialists were making and so I applied.”
Prior to joining the Department, Brian says that he didn’t have any negative feelings about the LAPD.
“I signed up because I wanted to make a difference in my community—I wanted to change lives,” he says.
Young, eager to serve, and ready get involved, Brian says that he will never forget what he was told on his first day at the Los Angeles Police Academy.
“I was told that ‘we don’t want people like you here. We have people like you in Nickerson Gardens’.”
Brian continues, “It was horrible for me from day one. I had people pushing me to quit and resign. It was always a fight.”
RELATED: Steven Ivory: Christopher Dorner and the Truth about LAPD
The ex-policeman recalls that his training officer told him that he didn’t belong there because he was black.
Having grown up being taught to be involved in his community, Brian lived in the same area that he patrolled. He said that he didn’t want to be one of those officers who lived in the Inland Empire or Orange County who came into Los Angeles. He was a part of the community, on and off the clock.
For his “rookie year” Bentley was assigned to West L.A. and worked alongside former LAPD detective Mark Furman best known for his part in the investigation of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman and his subsequent felony conviction for perjury.
When trying to figure out where he wanted to work permanently, Brian reflects in his book, that he eliminated the 77th division after speaking to black officers with seniority. These officers told him that 77th division had the most outwardly racist officers of all of South Central Los Angeles along with white and Hispanic officers who went out of their way to make black officers feel uncomfortable.
Brian settled on the LAPD’s Southwest division which was at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Denker Avenue in South Los Angeles.
At the time, Southwest had the second largest population of black officers next to the Wilshire division which had been nicknamed “the plantation.”
He writes in his book, One Time: The Story of a South Central Los Angeles Police Officer:
Unfortunately, at the time of my arrival, the division was recovering from a highly publicized multi-million dollar lawsuit. Several police officers from the division demolished an alleged rock house on 39th and Dalton Ave.
On top of that, two officers from the division were in the county jail awaiting trial for robbery and rape charges. The station motto was: “We don’t get days, we get time.” The motto meant officers didn’t get suspended without pay for misconduct, they got sentenced to prison for felony crimes. As a result, the division was nicknamed “South’s Worst.”
Despite the bad reputation of the division, I was happy to be there and nothing about the station bothered me.
But that feeling quickly changed.
When Brian Bentley joined the LAPD, he explains that it during the time that personnel complaints were not taken.
He remembers trying to make a complaint to his captain about the racism he experienced and was told, ‘I’ve been on the job for 35 years, you don’t think I know there’s racism. Who do you want me to bring it to? The deputy chief or the chief are just as racist?’ and then proceeded to kick him out of his office.
When asked if he thought the Department had changed since he was a part of it, Brian said no.
Diversity training for officers not just in how to deal with the community that they serve, but with the officers they work with, is part of what’s needed he says.
“Even though officers today can file personnel complaints—look at what happens,” he says referring to Christopher Dorner. “There are clearly flaws in the system and Dorner is just one example of something that African-American officers have been experiencing for decades in the LAPD.”
Brian said that he’s still in close contact with friends who are LAPD officers and he says that he knows for a fact that it’s still a bad environment for African-American officers.
Sadly he recalls the experience of three of his fellow officers who also had manifestos similar to Christopher Dorner’s, two black officers and one white female officer, who – instead of acting on their manifestos – committed suicide. It’s something that Brian says is common amongst officers who are terminated and believe the Department has wronged them.
When asked if he believed the claims made in the Dorner manifesto, Brian is very clear.
“Not only do I believe it, but I lived it.”
After writing his book, Brian says that he was the subject of an investigation that was led by two officers profiled in his book that had been promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the Internal Affairs department.
Several interrogations later, including one that lasted 7 hours, Brian says that he was given a charge of misconduct for every incident of racism that he documented in his book that he didn’t report—thus giving him the most charges of misconduct in the history of the LAPD.
So why write the book?
Brian says that what was happening everyday in South Los Angeles at the hands of LAPD officers was wrong and he knew it was wrong. He felt that he needed to write about it and that what was happening needed to be exposed. He didn’t think he’d be fired for writing the book, reprimanded maybe, but not fired.
14 years later, today Brian Bentley is a father of three and fully invested in his children’s lives. He’s written a second a book, a novel entitled Honor With Integrity: A Journey Behind the Blue Line.
He’s closely monitoring the Dorner situation and hoping for a peaceful end for a man whom he says that while he doesn’t condone the killings, he can definitely understand his frustration.
For this ex-police officer, he has hopes that through Christopher Dorner’s manifesto that a real conversation can take place in Los Angeles about LAPD’s internal policies as well as the racism that still exists in the Department.
On whether or not the LAPD is capable of investigating itself, Brian doesn’t believe that it is possible.
“We’ve seen what happens when the LAPD investigates the LAPD.”
Brian S. Bentley’s books One Time: The Story of a South Los Angeles Police Officer and Honor Without Integrity: A Journey Behind the Blue Line are available on Amazon.com.
Chosen as one of Essence Magazine’s 25 Women Shaping the World, Jasmyne A. Cannick is a radio and television politics, race, and pop culture critic. Follow her on Twitter @jasmyne and on Facebook at /jasmyne.
Great article! I’m hoping you can interview the black cops whom were amongst the officers beating Rodney King. I’m sure they have a lot to say now. Loving the conversation, that’s a plus.
The country has heard of the nightmare called the LAPD for too many years. I can’t condone what Dorner has done, it’s deplorable but I understand how he flipped out. He said they’d taken everything from him, lied on him, left him filled with unbearable emotional pain that became uncontrollable rage. I hope those who participated in the making of what the now call a monster can live with the role they’ve played in these deaths including Dorners because he won’t exit alive. He left a manifesto knowing the world would know of it and many will demand that the LAPD is called on the carpet for the allegations he made and for allegations which will arise or rearise from past issues. There should be a real cleaning of house in the LAPD after this.
this was 1990′s LAPD – you think this shit still goes on? blacks are frowned upon in the academy? what a fucking pathetic joke of an article. bullshit.
No Dave, it’s obviously better. They possibly are called nigger only once or twice a week rather than five times. That’s progress.
The other funny thing is you seem very upset. Do you have a vested interest in the LAPD? Do you know them or work for them to know that Brian or Christopher is a liar? I know personally of other stories similar and I have no malice nor love for the LAPD. Please elaborate with your point. Otherwise you seem like a pissed off child because of something you CHOOSE not to believe.
@David Frey– what a dumbass question and comment. It was the 1990′s… and?.
Two to one Mr. Frey is a police officer!
Three to one Mr. Frey is a “WHITE” police officer!
@Dave…people who have NEVER experienced this kind of racism can never understand that its possible to be treated in this manner, but yet they’ve grown up with this mindset, have racism flowing in their blood. But whats more disturbing is the tone and accusation that the person experiencing or writing about it somehow is delusional and incapable of expressing their truth. You can’t possibly speak on this if you’ve never experienced it…Being an intelligent conversation or opinion to our site, something that’s worth debating about. Because at this point you’re comment its useless, stupid and biased
@Dave,,,,, sounds like you’re on the of the LAPD,, got unresolved issues,, or got your head up your ass… The article was great and had some validity and it seems that you had a hard time admitting it….OUCH!!!!!!
Dave Frey… Are you a LAPD police officer? Have you ever even been in their academy to witness or possibly experience the the facts that are being pointed out in this article or in the manifesto? I agree that you are “white” and possibly a LAPD officer. If not with the LAPD you’re an officer somewhere which is VERY scary! The fact is that racism in that department is well documented,along with the racial profiling,beatings of minorities(especially African Americans)illegal searches,criminal activities while wearing the badge, etc.. The LAPD,NYPD and the NOPD are three of the largest most corrupt police forces in America and possibly the world. These are pure fact and not random accusations thrown at America’s police forces. Not to leave out the Chicago police force, but the LAPD has had these ongoing problems since it’s inception and nothing has seemed to be done to end these disgusting acts by those whom you’re supposed to trust and call in a time of crisis! If it’s own officers(employees)can’t trust them,how is the public supposed to? Hopefully, the FBI is brought in to investigate the entire department and all those found at fault and guilty of these horrid acts are prosecuted and placed in the same prison where they wrongfully placed so many innocent citizens!
My question is why the media engaged in a coverup with the LAPD? When will they start interviewing people surrounding Dorner and even this cop’s allegations.
Anderson Copper now sitting on a tape with evidence sent to him by Dorner, but won’t air it because of the LAPD.
daves a angry dood.
Dorner let the cat out of the bag.
I can’t be the only person who doesn’t think this ‘manifesto’ is all crazy talk. I honestly don’t view this man as delusional or psychotic. I think he is angry, and I think he has been through a lot and kept a lot inside, and I think it just all boiled over. Of course I don’t condone murder, and what he did was very wrong, but I read this whole manifesto, and to tell you the truth, most of it makes sense to me. I feel kinda sorry for the guy to be honest. He was probably a “good cop”… you know, the kind you WANT to pull you over. He is very brave for standing up for what was right during his time with the PD. This is a really unfortunate situation and it’s sad that this man felt like the only way he would be heard and taken seriously is to get the entire nation’s attention by acting a fool. Nothing good comes out of any of this, and I sure do hope there are open minded people like me who work for the LAPD and can see past their pride, anger and hatred for this man in order to hear his testimony and plea for change. I HATE to call a murderer a martyr, but in this case, I have to. RIP to EVERYONE who died at the hands of this man, including himself.
Something good comes out of EVERYTHING….just look at what 9/11 did…messed up right
If Bentley was charged with misconduct for every incident he didn’t report that would lead me to believe the department believed every charge he made. If true, what has become of those Bentley names in his book?
LAPD sometimes abuses the citizens its supposed to protect. Now its abusing its own officers? Thats no bueno.
What about gay recruits in the 90′s? He says there was a push to hire them. Were they treated sadistically? You’d think there would be an effort on their part as a group to expose abuses. No offense, but I don’t get why a college graduate would be interested in such an entry level job.
Maybe you should read a bit more. He says he went in for another position, but upon seeing the salary difference, chose to go the officer route.
What is happening with the LAPD is common throughout the country and not just in law enforcement. Hope the guilty ones are doing lots of soul searching behind this. The bosses on my friend’s job were terrified of a man they were harrassing and trying to fire because he ‘never’ took his jacket off during office hours and they suspected him of packing.
Looks like this guy’s death will not be in vain. The spotlight is shining big time on the LAPD yet again. Honestly, I’m surprised at this twist. The media painted him as a monster, but it seems a lot of folks–at least here on this site–did not bite. While I am one of the ones who will in no shape or form condone his killing and think it’s disturbing that some are doing that, I do find it refreshing any time people can be independent in their thinking and dare to debunk what the media sells them. We need more of that type of fierce independence in other areas of the news as well.
From the beginning, I cringed at what he was doing, but believed he was telling the truth. I lived there in the 60s, but haven’t been hiding my head in the sand in the 40 years since.
TGen, you should read those comments on the Christian Science Monitor and LA Times if you haven’t. It seems more folks believe Dorner than not.
according to this survey a lot of folks believed him
http://obsurvey.com/S2.aspx?id=33EB9FAF-0540-4690-853E-C9A8A2D362E1
ITA w/ Melody and TGen. This mess is going on throughout law enforcement in this country. The media is trying to distract from the real issue of police brutality and corruption that is prevelant in various city pllice departments. By the media dismissing the manifesto as simply a ‘rant’ is irresponsible and lazy. I found it interesting that Dorner was able to provide details, names, place and events. This does not sound like a simply ‘rant’ to me.
The sad part is, nothing will change with the LAPD…they just got exposed and like everything else, they’ll figure out some way to sweep the shit under the rug..I hope those two innocent ladies they shot sue their asses into bankruptcy…
Sarah, David Frey knows it’s occurs and zealously promotes racist agendas every opportunity he has, but is deceitful and hypocritical enough to pretend otherwise…which is typical. I’m sure he teaches it to his kids as well.
Brother, I bought your book as support. When my sister lived in LA in Inglewood, I heard the stories too. Sad that it came to this but I hope something comes out of it.
I BELEIVE,every word Mr Bently has said, there is no way that the LAPD or any other police dept will investagate themselves and like Officer Dorner there will be more killings and fusrated officers.Time to do something about this, they’re suppose to be trusted,protective for the people instead it sounds like a gang war among the police so sad!!!
salute to the man for shining some light on this situation. If any of you Police officers feel like work is becoming overwhelming then perhaps you need to go see the psychiatrist over @ http://www.plentyofts.com for a little stress reliever
Great, informative article, but it could use some editing. The paragraph below, for example, confuses “every day” with “everyday”. It also ends with a run-on sentence that doesn’t make sense.
> Brian says that what was happening everyday in South Los Angeles at the hands of LAPD officers was wrong and he knew it was wrong. He felt that he needed to write about it and that what was happening needed to be exposed. He didn’t think he’d be fired for writing the book, reprimanded maybe, but not fired.
I appreciate the effort involved with writing the article, but the small extra step of proofreading will go a long way.
Also, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single instance where the pluralization of a word includes adding an apostrophe (e.g. “manifesto’s”).
LAPD’s Southwest division is at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.and Denker Ave in South Los Angeles.
………One Of My OLD Neighborhoods MLK and Creed
I was just speaking about this in my office today.I totally believe officer Dorner.I hope somewhere out there someone with some common sense will pay attention.
Be careful what you say…you don’t want to end up dead in a burning cabin!!!!
Here wer go again. Another disgruntled black man who doesn’t like the LAPD because he committed misconduct and things did not go his way..so of course everyone is brutal, racist, yada, yada. The LAPD now needs to keep their sights on Bentley in case he becomes the next malcontent to go a rampage and kill everyone who didn’t kiss his black booty everytime he spoke.
Here we go again another ignorant racist white man.
Looks as if many of the racist comments here are from both sides of the fence…
Sounds like a threat there “Johnny” ? You must be a white cop? Plan to pin some murders on the up-petty black man then burn him alive? Typical…
I have seldom read an article with so many typos-who wrote this, a Martian?
No, a dumb whitey…
@Johnny…Another delusional sicko white racist fool… you and your kind will be the 1st to shoot up Movie theaters, schools,,, malls,,, and your family….. Remember “when you’re living in a glass house, don’t throw no stones”…. You make me sick when yall spew racist stupid ass comment like you’re doing,,, Think before you open your DAMN mouth and insert COCK….
Nice Gary…really?
Dave, racism in the LAPD is instituional, and has been that way for years. 20 yearas ago it was exposed through the lens of a video camera with the King beating, but there were many who had reported these types of abuse and were ignored way before that. Now the racism is coming to light and being exposed by officers who had to deal with it from the inside.Nothing has changed other than the ability to cover this practice of racism up, and by no means would I call every officer on the force racist, a matter of fact most people who want to be officers, are doing it because they want to make a difference. But the culture of the LAPD and many other departments, practice racism.
Thanks for publishing this. You’ve captured the views of someone who’s bitter and estranged enough to have a lot of trouble expressing his views – who wouldn’t – but still really needs to be heard. It’s hard to distill the bitterness down to just the essential pieces of information people really need to hear. The racism and insular nature of the LAPD is obvious but I wasn’t aware it goes this deep with its own people. Terrible.
Then don’t EVER call LAPD when you need help on ANY matter…you wanna talk ish but will be the first to call for help when you’re the vic…..
To the guy below me. I live in Los Angeles… and yes the L.A.P.D IS RACIST… they called me a chiwawa and were about to abuse me but one of them said ” We’re gonna get alot of flak if their parents find out” and they cut me lose.. All i did was hop over a fence to get my dumbass friend who was exploring an abandoned building…