Payment of Officers’ Legal Fees Protested

Former Hawthorne Police Sgt. Don Jackson joined with several community groups this week in protesting the Long Beach City Council’s decision to pay defense costs of two policemen who face criminal charges stemming from Jackson’s arrest last January.

Jackson, who recently was granted a disability retirement from the Hawthorne Police Department, said the vote to pay the officers’ legal fees, made at a late-night council meeting April 25, was “handled very much behind closed doors” and is an affront to the vast majority of the people of Long Beach.

Joined by officials of local chapters of the NAACP and the Mexican-American Political Assn., Jackson made his comments Monday at a press conference on the Long Beach courthouse steps after the arraignment of Officers Mark Dickey and Mark Ramsey was postponed until May 30. Both officers face misdemeanor charges of falsifying a police report, and Dickey is charged with assault in the Jan. 14 arrest of Jackson.