LAPD Officer Michael Silva says he has been left with a feeling of 'being in between' this year — commiserating with protesters and his fellow officers, and being judged by both.
LAPD leaders are concerned about a looming decline in black officers, particularly as pandemic-related restrictions undercut recruitment efforts.While he has also been offered support from other colleagues, Silva said he has been left at times with a feeling of “being in between” his colleagues and other Black people on the street — commiserating with both, and feeling judged on all sides.
Once adopted, Silva entered a blended family. His mother is white; his father is Latino. His parents also had other adopted children, including Silva’s biological half-sister, and he grew up the youngest of four, first in Baldwin Park and then in West Covina. Later, Silva got a job with People Assisting the Homeless, or PATH, and began working with L.A.'s homeless population — including in the same area where he was found as a baby, helping people get off the street and fill out applications to eventually transition from shelters into permanent housing.
When Navarro contracted COVID-19, the couple and Navarro’s son were trapped at home. Silva kept testing negative, as did Navarro’s son, but they were quarantined for weeks. Michael Silva said he doesn’t know what’s next, but he hopes there will come a time soon when cops and community activists can get together, share their fears and frustrations and “come up with a plan together.”Silva grew up as a young Black man feeling misunderstood an, at times disrespected by police officers, he said. He believes some of the anger toward cops in L.A.
To halt the decline, the LAPD set a goal of hiring at least 100 Black recruits during the 2020-2021 fiscal year but dramatically scaled back its ambitions after the COVID-19 pandemic sapped city coffers and the city implemented a hiring freeze. It ended the year having hired just 28 Black officers. Rice said Black officers told her they were “taken aback” by the virulence of the backlash and were ignored or shut down by commanders when they tried in internal discussions to “raise the racial equity issues” that were animating the tens of thousands of protesters in the streets.
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