Old Time Rep passes
On January 1, 2022, Sergeant Thomas A. Dawson passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was 80 years old and after serving as an LAPD officer for 47 years, he only made it for a little over 2 years after retirement. Tom was one of the old time Defense Representatives in the days when officers were represented at Boards of Rights by fellow officers. He was among the most active reps garnering enough overtime (no cash in those days) to eventually take a year off in specials to attend law school. Tom was totally dedicated to officer rights. Reminiscences of Tom flood back memories of how it was in the “old days” and how we got to where we are now in officer representation. Those were bumpy times for Defense Representatives, and Tom bumped back as often as he was bumped. Let’s walk down memory lane.
Tom did not walk with the rest of the ducks, as they say. Not only was he a sergeant, but he was also a doctor. I believe his doctorate was in theology. He liked being called Doctor Dawson. Completing his core makeup were the facts that he was a Marine (there are no ex-Marines) and a fervent Catholic. He blessed you whenever he ended a conversation, and his manners were Victorian. It was rumored that he once kissed the back of a female officer’s hand as if he were Sir Walter Raleigh in Elizabethan England. No one knew how to handle that.
Tom was serious about officer’s rights. He constantly challenged the Department whenever he perceived an inequity. The Department responded by trying to restrict him whenever possible. At one time, I had five arbitrations going where Tom was constantly challenging actions the Department took against him. Tom never backed off.
This might be a good time for a thumbnail history of officer representation on LAPD. The concept that gave officers like Tom the ability to stand and fight originated in 1935 when then Lieutenant Parker wrote the LA City Charter section that gave accused officers the right to a Board of Rights and, further, the right to have any other officer of the rank of lieutenant or below to represent him or her as a Defense Representative. The officer that the officer selected to represent him was given the primary duty to defend the accused officer. Charter 202 stated “The Chief of Police must immediately assign the officer so selected and named to act as such representative, and it is hereby made the duty of such officer to use every legal means available and exercise the best efforts of which he or she is capable to defend the accused at such hearing.”
Over the course of time, certain officers became known as experienced Defense Representatives and garnered reputations as effective practitioners in Boards of Rights. The fact that they were selected caused an immediate conflict with their chain of command. Suddenly, they had a new assignment that interfered with their normal assignment at the division. A patrol officer, or supervisor, or detective by virtue of the selection disappeared from the roster to spend their time preparing for and handling the Board. As an extra irritation, the rep nearly always required overtime to meet the Department’s timeline in getting the Board under way. That overtime came out of the division’s allotment of OT and out of the captain’s control. Not a good formula for inspiring commanding officers to love Defense Reps.
As a result, officers were often discouraged to function as reps. Let someone else do it was the captain’s attitude all too often. We need you at the division! Nevertheless, dedicated officers rose above those pressures and responded to the accused officer’s request even though there was a probable career penalty to be paid as reps too often were tagged with a disloyalty odor for supporting an officer the Department had deemed subject to discipline or termination.
All of this resulted in difficulty for the accused officer to obtain representation. The League kept a list of officers who had functioned as Defense Reps, but “did it” was not necessarily synonymous with “will do it again.” An officer being sent to a Board of Rights would often call down for a list from the League and then repeatedly call people on the list receiving “too busy” or “don’t do it anymore” or “retired” until finally finding someone who was willing and available.
Under League pressure, Chief Darryl Gates eventually put out a Memorandum in 1980 describing the duties of a representative and ending with this admonishment. “Defense representatives are free to pursue any proper defense available to the accused, and to determine the tactics to be used at the Board of Rights Hearing. It is the posture of the Chief of Police that those who participate in the defense representative program are to be given positive recognition for their key role in the disciplinary system, rather than being dissuaded or penalized in any way for their participation.” There have been reps who made captain, but you can count them on one hand.
The League sponsored outside training for reps by sending them to various schools and seminars. This was a huge step in the professionalization of Defense Reps.
And finally, in response to commanding officer’s concerns that their overtime banks were in jeopardy by the reps, a specialized unit was formed to house Defense Reps selected by officers to represent them at Boards of Rights to be run by a lieutenant.
Chief Parks sent over five names of possible candidates to the League. The League said that they could live with four out of the five. Chief Parks promptly named the one the League could not live with to run the unit. Needless to say, when the unit was formed it did not take long until there was trouble. In the League’s view, the management continually interfered with the reps in the handling of their Boards. As an example, the Department attempted to limit each rep to one Board at a time. Most reps had several Boards in progress. Under Parks, there was no shortage of Boards.
League attorney Pat Thistle was retained to file an Unfair Labor Practice against the Department. Eventually the League and the Department arrived at a settlement. As a result, the Officer Representation Section (ORS) was born in 1991. The criteria for being selected to work ORS was simple. If an officer selected you to do a Board of Rights, you could transfer to ORS for the duration of the Board. Of course, most officers ended up with multiple Boards and never left ORS. At one time, there were over 30 officers assigned to ORS. The 8th floor of PAB was where the unit was housed. The squad bay was crowded with desks and there was a room for interviews called the “cone of silence.”
In 1995, I retired and went to work for the League. One of my duties was to be special counsel for ORS. I conducted monthly training on various legal subjects and assisted wherever possible with their cases as I continued doing Boards myself and writs, appeals, and roll outs. In 1999, I filed an arbitration challenging the conditions that the Department was requiring the reps to work under. Eventually, we won on the issue that the Department was not providing office conditions that allowed the reps to function with the confidentiality that was required. Ultimately, the section was given better office conditions and the ability to work at divisions or at home.
And then came the new City Charter in 2000 and everything changed. LAPD officers were no longer entitled to an on-duty officer to represent them at Boards of Rights. Chief Parks took the position that ORS was no longer needed. A core of about a half dozen reps survived. It soon became apparent that ORS was needed, if for no other reason than to facilitate the extensive protocol on officer involved shootings. ORS represented the non-shooters while a League attorney represented the shooting officer. Many times, a dozen officers needed to be interviewed and they were all entitled to representation. ORS survived.
The 2000 Charter changed caused the League to form the Legal Plan to supply officers with representation at Boards of Rights. Members of the Legal Plan, currently approaching 100% participation, were entitled to attorney representation, but officers also utilize ORS officers. ORS handles Administrative Appeals, assist on roll outs, and assist officers on Skellys, RMEC hearings and other defense duties.
Today, one gets into ORS by going through the interview process. A League representative is involved in the selection. The League trains the ORS reps and sends them to various seminars for training. The result is the most professional and well-trained group of Employee Reps in memory.
Another big difference from the early days of representation is the fact that the Department finally accepts the fact that officers are entitled to representation. Chief Moore supports ORS and professional interaction between the reps and Internal Affairs is the norm. What was often a stormy sea in years past has become much calmer. Differences still exist and will always exist, but the contest will usually be handled on a more reasonable level, with exceptions, of course.
We can all thank the old timers such as Doctor Sergeant Thomas A. Dawson and his like for braving those initial battles and paving the way. Along the way he also served as a League Director and a Pension Commissioner. May he rest in peace.
Be legally careful out there.
