Bad Boys! Bad Boys! Watcha Gonna Do When They Come for You?

June 2022 Warning Bells article

         The Internal Affairs 2021 Discipline Report is out.  There were Bad Girls too, but proportionally fewer of them.  Only 13% of the complaints were on the ladies and they comprise 18% of the Department so the gents are proportionately badder!

         There were 4044 personnel complaints in 2021.  This is a 4% rise over 2020.  Balance this against 1,324,535 documented public contacts and you get a little perspective.  Only .3% of public contacts result in a complaint.  There were 46,084 arrests, 428777 field detentions, and 135,122 tickets issued so if you use only law enforcement probable negative contacts as the denominator on complaints you still end up with only about .6% complaints.  Viewed that way it’s not that bad.

         Nevertheless, since there were no sustained biased policing complaints none of this matters.  IA just isn’t doing its job!

         There are some interesting observations to be made about the statistics in the report. 

         The source of personnel complaints is for the most part by civilians.  78% of the complaints come from civilians and only 12% from the Department.  This tells you why working the building has its advantages if you want to keep your package clean.  Curiously, 36 complaints came from “judicial partners” which I guess means from prosecutors.  It isn’t explained.

         Since everything now days is broken down by race, the source of public complaints come from 40% Black complainants, 18% from Hispanic complainants; 14% from White complainants; and 2% from Asian complainants.  Sustained complaints hit officers in the following racial groups: 12% on Black officers; 55% on Hispanic officers; 25% on White officers; 8% on Asian officers.  By the way, 37% of the civilians filing complaints were female and 23% of the sustained complaints hit female officers.

         Obviously the most dangerous place to work and end up with a sustained complaint is patrol.  54% of the officers who received a sustained complaint worked patrol.  Administrative assignments came in at a distant second at 22%.  Detectives came in at 5% of the sustained complaints.  Career advice would seem to be to get off the street as fast as possible.  Not good news for the Department’s mission. 

         A personnel complaint can contain several allegations against an officer. So, the 4044 personnel complaints contain 11,388 allegations.  Neglect of duty comprised 23% of the allegations closely followed by unbecoming conduct at 21%.  Discourtesy came in at 12%.  Unauthorized force and tactics comprised 10% of the allegations and 9% were for improper searches or detentions. 

         Body worn video (BWV) and Digital In-car Video (DICVS) would appear to be an officer’s best friend.  1,867 of the personnel complaints were adjudicated with the assistance of BWV or DICVS.  66% of these complaints were adjudicated as unfounded which means the allegations did not happen.  24% were adjudicated as demonstrably false which means that the video standing alone disproves the allegation and further investigation is unnecessary.  5% were adjudicated as exonerated meaning that the act happened, but it was justified.  Only 5% of the complaints were adjudicated as sustained.  What that means is that 95% of the time when BWV or DICVS are involved in an incident that results in a personnel complaint, the officer is cleared.  Turn on those cameras!  BUT review the video before writing a report or testifying to make sure you are being accurate.

         To the great consternation of the Police Commission, LA Times, and anti-police groups, there have been no sustained biased policing complaints.  81% of the 1,073 allegations for biased policing were determined to not have happened and classified as unfounded.  An additional 5% were demonstrably false meaning that a full 86% of the allegations were provably false.  9% were settled by mediation where the complainant and the officer met and discussed their differences.  Be aware that the Police Commission is not satisfied with no sustained complaints and pressure on the Department to find an officer guilty of biased policing will continue.  Thank goodness for due process. 

         The ten days of the George Floyd civil unrest resulted in 712 allegations of misconduct that were mostly investigated by a special task force.  Ten allegations were sustained resulting in largely paper penalties and a couple of 3-day suspensions which both involved BWV/DICVS violations. 

         The Department finished 43 Boards of Rights in 2021.  Boards come in two flavors, opted and directed.  An opted Board is where an officer has been directed by the Chief to a penalty of 22 suspension days or less and the officer wants to appeal the Chief’s decision.  A directed Board of Rights is where the Chief is recommending termination.  This Board is not optional.

         There are also two types of panels available to the officer.  The officer can choose between a traditional Board panel consisting of two command officers and one civilian member, or three civilian members.

         Of the 43 Boards completed, 26 of the Boards were directed by the chief with a recommendation of termination.  Officers chose all civilian panels for 22 of the 26 Boards.  Of the 26 Boards, 9 followed the Chief’s recommendation for terminating the officers (35%).  Only 3 of the Boards found the officer not guilty, the rest assigned penalties from an admonishment to 65 suspension days.  Only one of the four traditional Boards followed the Chief’s recommendation to terminate the officer.  The other eight terminations were rendered by all civilian Boards. 

         There were 17 opted Boards completed in 2021.  All but one of the Boards were chosen by the officer to be an all-civilian panel.  The one traditional Board found the officer not guilty.  Of the 17 Boards only one affirmed the original penalty proposed by the Chief.  A total of 4 of the officers were found not guilty and the rest had their penalties reduced from the Chief’s proposed penalty.  This may sound worse than it actually is in terms of the Chief’s recommendations being followed, but remember that the vast majority of suspension days proposed by the Chief are accepted by the officer and the suspension days are served.  The opted Boards appealing the Chief’s recommendation are the outlier cases where an officer has good reason to believe that the Chief’s decision is in error.  Usually, officers in that situation are correct.  The system has failed in one way or another and the Board corrects the Department’s course after hearing actual evidence in person.

         So, “watcha gonna do when they come for you?” Call the League for representation is my advice!

         Be legally careful out there.