POLICE WATCH : Candid Camera

Another grainy videotape--one that appears to show a police officer beating a suspect with a series of flagrant baton blows to the head and a dropped knee to the neck--has understandably stirred up outrage, shock and concern.

Some are already comparing last Friday’s incident, in which Compton police officer Michael Jackson violently subdued 17-year-old Felipe Soltero, with the taped beating of Rodney King by four Los Angeles police officers in March, 1991. But while it’s easy to draw parallels between the incidents, it’s also important to be mindful of the differences.

One is the swift official response. On Wednesday, two days after the release of the videotape, the FBI and the Los Angeles County district attorney launched separate investigations into possible civil-rights violations and charges of police brutality. The speed of the federal and local response is welcome and reassuring, particularly at a time of sporadic tension between ethnic groups in Southern California. In the Compton case, the officer was African American and the suspect Latino.

Still, this case points up the necessity, especially in a diverse community, for continual police education. Reports of the Christopher and Kolts commissions have proved extremely valuable and instructive for larger law-enforcement agencies like the Los Angeles Police Department and the county Sheriff’s Department. But if this videotape is an accurate depiction of what happened, the same thing needs to happen in some smaller jurisdictions, like Compton.