Snoop Dogg and Xzibit were among a group of people recently given the privilege to engage in a constructive conversation with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. In a video shared by HipHop Crown Nation, Snoop and X discuss criminal reform with a handful of sheriffs.
In one clip, an officer shares a startling FBI statistic with the group of predominantly Black men. “Typically when a police officer gets shot or killed, it’s typically in the first 60 seconds to two minutes,” he says.
“We can get killed off of that one minute conversation that you having with us based off that FBI stat that’s fucking bullshit because every nigga not gon’ allow you two minutes to even entertain that,” Snoop responds “Our first two minutes, our heart is beating fast. Then, when y’all walk up to the car it’s even faster.”
Later in the visual, Xzibit asks the LASD members a crucial question about accountability. “We usually don’t get to have this kind of honest dialogue,” he explains. “Where can we start the dialogue to be like okay, we can tell ours and we can get movement from our people but when is it going to be something where the good cops become vocal about the bad cops and then police themselves in that manner?”
Unfortunately, the answer to X’s question isn’t shown on the video. But one sheriff does mention later in the montage that officers do get spoken to for their wrongdoings.
“Anything that our deputies have done that has been inappropriate that’s ever been seen by the fellas, gets addressed even at the smallest thing,” he says.
Apparently, it’s not the first meeting the LASD has had with these particular concerned constituents. In the beginning of the video, one sheriff refers to a conversation that took place “a few weeks back.” “I want you guys to live, plain and simple,” he says. “Why don’t we have a sit-down meeting where we can discuss how to keep you alive?”
In February, the family of a Black man fatally shot by LASD deputies in August filed a $35 million claim against the county for the “severe and substantial damages” they endured from Dijon Kizzee’s death.
The claim alleges the county did not properly train the deputies involved who killed Kizzee and he “did nothing to justify this use of serious and unreasonable force against him.”
While Kizzee’s name wasn’t brought up directly in the clip, Snoop, X and the other men in attendance were speaking out for Black males like Kizzee who have been killed at the hands of officers in LA and other cities across the country.
Check out the video below: