Black LAPD Officer Quits & Files Lawsuit After 77th Gang Unit Denies His Police Identification

PublishedMarch 17, 2023

Los Angeles, CA—Bernard Robins is a former officer who spent three years with the Los Angeles Police Department. In 2022, he quit LAPD and filed a lawsuit, after he was racially profiled and detained by officers from LAPD’s gang unit who refused to accept his police identification.

Now, Robins is determined to get LAPD’s gang unit disbanded, because the department is rooted in racially profiling Black men from the inner city.

Robins is a native of Los Angeles and someone who worked hard to rise beyond the issues of gangs and violence, that continues to steal the lives of too many promising Black men in L.A. He lost two brothers prior to joining LAPD and was focused mainly on his development as a man and young professional.

Initially they said they stopped me for tinted windows. They then told me after seeing my police I.D that they couldn’t verify that I was an officer for over an hour. There are systems where you can look up officers current status in 5 minutes, said Robins.