December 2020 – Warning Bells article
Happy holidays from the Police Commission
Happy holiday wishes from the Police Commission. Under your tree are new rules to make your job harder if you think that you are supposed to engage in proactive policing. New rules will be imposed on all consent searches, so-called pretextual stops will be extremely limited, and (here we go again) new standards for convicting you of biased policing are being discussed. [Full article]
November 2020 – Warning Bells article
The new U of F Policy incorporates 835a PC
This is a companion article to last month’s Warning Bells article on the new Use of Force Policy approved by the Police Commission and issued by the Department on Aug. 26, 2020. That policy referred directly to the newly-changed state law (AB392) as 835a PC. “The Department will analyze an officer’s use of deadly force by evaluating the totality of the circumstances of each case consistent with California Penal Code Section 835a as well as the factors articulated in Graham v. Connor.” [emphasis added] Therefore, to understand how the policy will be implemented, you must understand the new law. It is a substantial revision of the previous 835a PC, and it went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. [Full article]
October 2020 – Warning Bells article
Another use of force policy issued
Here we go again. Another law is going into effect on Jan. 1, 2021, requiring that all law enforcement agencies have certain specific policies related to uses of force. It is SB 230. For the most part, LAPD is already in compliance with SB 230 and has been for years. The policies that put us in compliance, however, are somewhat scattered throughout the manual, tactical bulletins and other places. The new use of force policy gathers those policies together into one document, plus some additions based on language in SB 230 and other places. [Full article]
September 2020 – Warning Bells article
Why are there civilian Board of Rights members?
Short answer? To keep Department politics out of Boards of Rights and to prevent LAPD management from fixing the Boards they had a special interest in. Yes. They were doing that. But the story is longer than that, of course. [Full article]
August 2020 – Warning Bells article
Is it a pendulum or a wheel?
What is happening?
There are a couple of theories that describe the cycle that historical events seem to go through with the passage of time. In a very simplistic description of complex theories, two are the pendulum and the wheel. The pendulum theory sees politics swinging like a pendulum, up to a high point on the liberal left and then being dragged back by gravity through a balancing point to a high point on the conservative right, and then being pulled back through the balancing point again to a high point on the liberal left, and back to the conservative right, over and over again. [Full article]
July 2020 – Warning Bells article
The statistics are in
With apologies to Mark Twain’s famous statement about the levels of lies (lies, damned lies and statistics), this is a quick review of the Department’s 386-page publication looking at all uses of force in 2019. For those of you not inclined to dig into this mass of information, even though it is loaded with eye-catching charts and diagrams, I thought I would highlight a few of the more interesting findings. [Full article]
June 2020 – Warning Bells article
It is officially here
After several years of negotiations, the Telematics orders have been officially agreed upon. As mentioned in other Warning Bells articles, Telematics is the electronic vehicle monitoring system that tracks your vehicle’s location, speed, seat belt use, light bar activity, braking and much more. The purpose of this article is to highlight the protections that have been built into the orders for you. What Telematics does and the inherent dangers it may present to your career have been discussed in previous articles. On the flip side, it may also save lives. At least that is the Department’s hope, as well as the League’s. [Full article]
May 2020 – Warning Bells article
It’s a matter of evidence
A big question if you have contracted COVID-19 is, will it be IOD? The bottom line is the determination that the injury was work-related. There are a wall of books discussing the ins and outs of this question, but “work-related” is still the bottom line. And work-related boils down to evidence. Evidence that your injury (infection with COVID-19) was related to work. [Full article]
April 2020 – Warning Bells article
“I’m in the yes business.”
There are times when the phrase commonly used by a person defines that person. In the case of attorney Ira Salzman, this is certainly the case. Ira was my friend, but more importantly, he was a friend to all LAPD officers. On February 29, 2020, Ira went end of watch. In the 29 years he spent representing officers, thousands of you came to know him. It is appropriate that a little time be set aside to pause in memory of this unique and honorable man. [Full article]
March 2020 – Warning Bells article
Use of Force Policy changed
again on Feb. 4, 2020
A new state law on using force went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020. Basically, LAPD policy was elevated to the status of state law, but some policy changes are still needed apparently. Although you have been subjected to the state law since Jan. 1, 2020, policy changes apparently move slower than the California legislature, which is not a high bar for speed. [Full article]
February 2020 – Warning Bells article
Is POBRA next?
The anti-police forces have succeeded in changing California’s use of force law. The League and other labor organizations protected you from the more radical changes demanded by the ACLU and its ilk, but their stated motivations for the attack on law enforcement have not gone away. Namely, not enough officers are going to jail, in their opinion, for excessive use of force. The idea for making it easier to jail officers makes a weakening of your rights the next obvious target in their crusade. [Full article]
January 2020 Warning Bells article
If you overdrive, they know it!
There has been a pilot program going on now for quite some time evaluating the Telematics system. At the risk of sounding like a Los Angeles Times reporter, a “source” close to the program reports that management is shocked by the number of officers who are going double the speed limit. And, in many cases, they’re not wearing their seat belts when the pedal is to the metal. And these are officers who know that their vehicles are equipped with Telematics and know they are being monitored. [Full article]