May 2012 – Chief Beck on Gotcha

When Chief Bratton replaced Chief Parks as the head of the Department, he had an immediate problem. The Parks harsh disciplinary system had convinced patrol officers that the mere act of getting out of their cars risked career suicide. Thus, smile-and-wave was replacing stop-and-frisk. Predictably, arrests went way down and crime went way up. When Bratton addressed his first Delegate’s Conference, he told the audience of delegates that he had never seen a department that ate its own like the LAPD did. [Full Article] 

April 2012 – Hey, who cares? It’s someone else’s tax dollars!

Councilman Dennis Zine (currently running for city controller) asked a question that hasn’t been asked before: Why are police officers successfully suing the Department, forcing the City to pay out millions in damages from jury verdicts?  [Full Article]

March 2012 – New Digital In Car Video System Order

By the time you read this, the new South Bureau order on the Digital In-Car Video System (DICVS) will have been out for a few weeks. The first thing you should understand is that turning on the video camera when you are required to is a big deal to management. The second thing you should understand is that there’s a philosophical war in progress among those in command of the Department over the true purpose of the DICVS.  [Full Article]

February 2012 – Courts Recognize Issues

The Department didn’t, but this time, at least, the judge had the last word and two officers who had been terminated were reinstated by the court with full back pay and interest. It went down like this, according to public court records. About two-and-a-half years ago (yes, the process is lengthy), our two officers were working the Violent Crime Task Force. Apparently, one of their contacts became unhappy with them, or maybe someone else; it was hard to tell. [Full Article] 

January 2012 – What We Wish Would be the Chief’s New Year’s Resolution

Starting a new year always inspires everyone to look back at the old year and try to evaluate what went right, what  went wrong and what can be done to improve our lives in the coming year. Improvements usually take the form of New  Year’s resolutions. Looking back at last year on the officers’ rights front reveals one disaster after another coming from the Department,  chiefly Internal Affairs (mostly management decisions, the overwhelming majority of IA investigators in the trenches do a  good job).  [Full Article]