December 2014 – To Those Who Would Be Gods
I appeared at a seminar the other day where the subject was videos. The hot topic was whether to allow an officer to watch a video prior to an interrogation. As you might expect, the majority of the panel members were against it. Various reasons were given, and, of course, everyone swore that they would be reasonable if there was a conflict and by the way, you don’t show the video to the suspect before an interview, so why should you show it to a cop?
November 2014 – Three Strikes and the Disciplinary System is Out
Or at least it should be. Then again, maybe a better metaphor would be three strikes and its life imprisonment away from us. A third LAPD captain is suing the Department alleging retaliation for failing to terminate an officer at a Board of Rights. Let’s recap this. There are now three separately filed lawsuits filed against the Department for the same thing. Three separate former Board of Rights members whose jobs under the City Charter are to provide an accused officer with a “full, fair, and impartial hearing before a Board of Rights” have had to sue because they believed they should follow the law and not bow to pressure to rubber stamp the Chief’s disciplinary decisions and as a result, they were retaliated against by the Department. [Full article]
October 2014 – Chief’s Interference with Board of Rights Rebuffed by Appellate Court
“I send people to a Board of Rights for a reason – to be terminated,” Chief Beck told Dominique DiPrima during a KJLH-FM interview. As mentioned in previous columns, two prior Board of Rights members alleged in separate lawsuits that high-ranking Department officials told them pretty much the same thing. Those same Department officials were then retaliated against by the Department when they failed to follow those orders and did not recommend termination. [Full article]
September 2014 – Not Even the Chief Respects the Discipline System
Last week, two administrative appeal rulings from the Chief came across my desk. The hardworking representatives for the officers had won them at the hearing offi cer level, but the Chief of Police rejected both of the hearing o cer’s recommendations. Unfortunately, this is not unusual. [Full article]
August 2014 – The Electronic Leash
Just in case the Digital-In Car Camera system and the upcoming body-worn cameras don’t capture your every move, there is another electronic device headed your way. It is called Telematics. This device will read the information in your vehicle’s electronic system, interpret it and make a record that can be retained and read by the Department. It has GPS capability that will track the location of the police vehicle. It will also record speed, brake action and the sway of the vehicle. In other words, the pursuit report is already mostly written by electronics. Where you were going, how fast you were going, when you turned your red lights on or off, your braking action, and the degree that your car leaned left or right when you went around corners will all be recorded. [Full article]
July 2014 – Are we fighting crime, or fighting crime reporting?
Crime statistic figures, when you think about it, are not made up of crimes, they are made up of crime reports. Unreported crimes are not part of the statistics. If all one cares about is looking good with the statistics, there are two ways of doing it—stopping crime and/or stopping crime reporting. Either way, the numbers come down. [Full article]
June 2014 – Your due process rights trashed?
In America, we have a government built on a series of checks and balances because our founding fathers had a healthy and realistic appreciation of the shortcomings of human nature. Unchecked power corrupts, therefore, the American constitutional preoccupation with the rule of law and the concept of due process. In more practical terms, it boils down to a fair hearing before being deprived of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness. Your paycheck and your job are two of the things that due process protects. [Full article]
May, 2014 – A cautionary tale
It was a nothing beef. An ordinary, routine, everyday vehicle stop resulting in a ticket and an RFC. As so often happens, it resulted in a biased policing and discourtesy complaint. The Department found no biased policing and no discourtesy, and yet an officer was fired and a superior court judge affirmed the Department’s action. How this could happen is worth telling. It is a warning bell for any officer that takes any law enforcement action. [full article]
April, 2014 – The Eulia Love OIS
It was January 3, 1979. “415 Business Dispute; meet the gasman at 11926 S. Orchard; Code 2” was broadcast to Southeast Division. Proving that no good deed goes unpunished, 18 Adam 97 was near the call and agreed to handle. The lives of the two officers and the LAPD would never be the same. [Full Article]
March, 2014 – A Tale of Two Cities
February 7, 2013, two officers are seated in their black and white. They are pulled off patrol and after a briefing are assigned to protect an LAPD officer at his house in Corona, who the Department believed may be a target of double murderer Christopher Dorner, at his house in Corona. They have been flagged down by a civilian. He tells them that he has just seen the suspect’s vehicle at the very gas station at which they are now parked. [Full Article]
February, 2014 – Failing to anticipate the unexpected is misconduct
“Patrol morale is way down” I was told when I queried officers on how they felt about a recent Board of Rights over charges brought against an officer because of a traffic collision. This was a hearing that meant a lot to the officers working the street. [Full Article]
January, 2014 – Thanks for the abuse
The League recently won a lawsuit appeal in the appellate court. The appellate court ruled that classifying a personnel complaint as “not resolved” was a punitive action by the Department. Because it was punitive, it gave the officer the right to challenge the classification in an appeal under the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. This is not a happy ruling for the Department, but how did this come about? [Full Article]