The LAPD briefed the public on status of the Dorner case at a press conference held Wednesday. (Jacqueline Jackson/Neon Tommy)

After an extended standoff with police Tuesday afternoon, it was reported, though not confirmed, that Chris Dorner likely shot himself as the cabin he had barricaded himself inside burned down. The charred human remains found at the site have yet to be positively identified as Dorner’s, but it now seems extremely likely that Dorner is dead and his reign of terror is over.

The fallout for the Los Angeles Police Dept., however, has just begun.

The public reaction to Dorner’s tragic and evil actions was shockingly sympathetic, a fact that has to be disturbing to the LAPD. While Dorner was condemned by most people, there was still a surprisingly large number of individuals both on the internet and locally—in South Los Angeles in particular—who expressed, if not support for, at least an understanding of the cop-killer's actions.

Although most condemned his decision to resort to violence, particularly violence against the family members of those he felt had harmed him, many people felt his grievances (that he had been fired for attempting to expose police brutality) had much merit given their own experience with the police. Dorner's image of a corrupt and brutal department is exactly in line with many people’s perceptions of the LAPD.

Perceptions of the LAPD as a heavy-handed, insular, corrupt and racist organization are not nearly as prevalent as they were in the days of Rampart and Rodney King and they shouldn’t be. The city's police department has made good strides in their community relations and in improving their public image over the last 20 years. It is clear, however, from the amount of public sympathy garnered by Dorner that they still have a long way to go.

Many Angelenos still view the police as the enemy and are more afraid of them than the criminals the police are supposed to protect us from. The events of this past week have done absolutely nothing to change that perception, as the LAPD made misstep after misstep. Twice, they fired upon the wrong vehicle, seriously injuring its occupants. And while it is understandable that the police, who were being “hunted” by Dorner, would be jumpy and trigger-happy, these two incidents only confirmed the notion of the LAPD’s shoot first, ask questions second mentality that causes many to fear the department. Furthermore, both trucks riddled with bullets by officers did not match the description of Dorner’s truck and the occupants, two females and a white male respectively, obviously did not fit the description of Dorner.

"I don't want to use the word buffoonery but it really is unbridled police lawlessness," said Robert Sheahen, an attorney for one of the victims. "These people need training and they need restraint." Many residents of Los Angeles expressed that they were more afraid of the police accidentally shooting them than they were of Dorner.

Police action during Tuesday's shootout was also criticized by many observers. More information or video footage will hopefully surface in the coming days and weeks but information remains scarce right now. We do know that the San Bernadino County Sheriff's Department in conjunction with the LAPD ordered all news helicopters to leave the area as police closed in on the cabin. This order was said to have been because the fugitive may have been watching the broadcasts and receiving information from them—despite the fact that Candy Martin, owner of the cabin, assured police that there was no internet or television access inside. This left many in the general public questioning whether the police simply didn’t want the public to be privy to the measures that they were about to take.

The final piece likely to be widely-discussed in the coming days is the end of the standoff. Police initially claimed that Dorner set fire to the cabin before they heard a single gunshot, assumed to be his suicide. It now appears, through audio clips that this was not entirely the case. The police department apparently set the house ablaze intentionally—a move that was arguably warranted but extra-legal nevertheless.

It is difficult, I think, to be too critical of the actions of the police this past week. They are used to chasing criminals, not being chased by one, especially one who has vowed to bring “unconventional and asymmetrical warfare” upon the department. Officers were understandably jumpy and tense and were also understandably singularly focused on finding and killing Dorner, who had threatened not just them but their families as well. The two mistaken identity shootings, while incompetent, were not malicious.

That police were willing to stretch the law and burn down the house comes as no surprise. But if the LAPD truly hopes to improve relations within the community, something that clearly has not happened to a significant degree, they cannot be engaging in these types of behavior, in special situations like this one or during routine police activities. The police must hold themselves to a higher standard than the general public, not a lower one, if they ever hope to improve their public appearance—an essential long-term goal to an effective police force in Los Angeles.

Reach Contributor Daniel Lewin here.