TONIGHT! CITY COUNCIL MEETING, Fullerton, CA
A year after a mentally ill homeless man was beaten by police officers and later died, Fullerton leaders are expected to launch a study that could set the wheels in motion to disband the city's 104-year-old Police Department.

The City Council is slated Tuesday to decide whether to order a preliminary analysis on letting the Orange County Sheriff's Department patrol the city, one of the oldest in the county.

Fullerton has been buffeted by controversy and political upheaval since the death of Kelly Thomas last summer. Two officers have been charged in his death, the police chief has left, three officers quit the force in the face of termination proceedings and three of the five council members were recalled in a June election.

Fullerton Councilman Bruce Whitaker, a sharp critic of how the police handled the violent encounter with Thomas, said that although the department needs to be examined, the driving force behind potentially contracting out police services is the $37 million required to operate the 144-officer department.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0807-fullerton-police-20120807,0,4478252.story