December 2021 – Warning Bells article
Field Interview Cards and Thin Ice
Field Interview Cards (FIs) have been around for decades. FI card abuse has also been around for decades, usually tied into recap pressure, itself around for decades. One story from the distant past tells of an officer who, in response to the Department’s constant pressure for FI recap went to the phone book. Using names and addresses therein he started writing FIs. He turned in a group of them at each end of watch. He was on the road to being an FI recap hero when the watch commander noticed something. It appeared that this officer was stopping suspects in alphabetical order. The officer ended up getting suspension days. Today, he would have been prosecuted.
[Full article]
November 2021 – Warning Bells article
Is SB2 Good for You?
Not hardly. This act changes the law to allow POST to decertify you as a peace officer for various acts of misconduct. It can neutralize the penalty decision of a Board of Rights or the Chief of Police, and not in a good way. It was signed by the governor and is on the books. The full act can be read here. This gives the state greater power over local law enforcement.
[Full article]
October 2021 – Warning Bells article
It was a great ride!
This is my last
Warning Bells article as a League attorney, not necessarily my last article (see below). At the age of 74, it is time (maybe past time) to hang it up and get around to those hobbies, travel, and grandchildren that I have always wished I had more time for.
[Full article]
September 2021 – Warning Bells article
AB 1506 and What it Means to You
On September 30, 2020, your legislators passed Assembly Bill 1506. It required that all law enforcement shootings that resulted in the death of an unarmed civilian be investigated by the Attorney General (AG) of the State of California to determine if an officer committed a crime and, if so, to prosecute the officer. This law came about in response to the national anti-police rhetoric that not enough police officers were going to jail for excessive force and especially those officers that were gunning down unarmed black civilians. It should be pointed out here that in 2019 LAPD officers shot and killed 2 black citizens neither of which were unarmed. One had a machete in the process of bringing it down on an officer and the other was wanted for murder and fled from officers while armed with a gun which he pointed at the pursuing officers. Facts do not matter.
[Full article]
August 2021 – Warning Bells article
Eliminating the All-Civilian Board of Rights
The groundwork is being laid to eliminate the option of officers to have an all-civilian Board of Rights panel as passed by the voters in 2017. The Chief does not like them, the Police Commission has their doubts, and the ACLU and
Los Angeles Times are doing what ever they can to eradicate them.
[Full article]
July 2021 – Warning Bells article
THE 2020 USE OF FORCE REPORT IS OUT
Statistics being sometimes useful and sometimes fitting Mark Twain’s remark that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics:. they are out and will be used both for you and against you depending on the speaker’s politics. So, what does the scorecard say about you this year?
[Full article]
June 2021 – Warning Bells article
“YOU’RE NEXT!”
That is what Lebron James tweeted in reference to an officer-involved shooting during which an officer in Ohio shot a 16-year-old black girl in the process of stabbing another teenage black girl, arguably saving that victim’s life.
[Full article]
May 2021 – Warning Bells article
MAKING IT PERSONAL
Police Commissioner Steve Soboroff was concerned and brought an
NYPD tactical report to the Chief’s attention at a recent Police Commission meeting. If anything can be said about Commissioner Soboroff and his eight years on the Police Commission, it is that he has always exhibited a concern for the welfare of LAPD officers.
[Full article]
April 2021 – Warning Bells article
Patrol VS. PATROL
I electronically sit in Use of Force Boards every week, serving as the League’s observer. I also have handled hundreds of Categorical Use of Force rollouts as a League attorney starting in 1995 and currently coordinate the League’s rollout program. There is a
direct connection between what happens at the scene of a Categorical Use of Force and what I see at each Use of Force Board. Your Categorical Use of Force will eventually get there. How do they decide whether you get a “tactical de-brief” or an “administrative disapproval” for tactics?
[Full article]
March 2021 – Warning Bells article
PUBLIC SAFETY STATEMENT—DO IT RIGHT!
There seems to be a lot of confusion out there on the street about the Public Safety Statement (PSS). The Department revised the statement at the end of last year, so it might be time to go through the basics again.
[Full article]
February 2021 – Warning Bells article
BEWARE THE PROSECUTORS
There are two major changes coming at you in 2021 significantly increasing the scrutiny you will undergo when it comes to being charged with a criminal offense. First is that a new Los Angeles District Attorney has been elected who is known for his progressive view of the criminal justice system. A significant part of his campaign was to ensure that
police officers who have committed acts of excessive force or other crimes are criminally prosecuted. In fact, he has promised to review five previous use of force cases, including one former LAPD officer, to determine if criminal charges can be filed.
[Full article]
January 2021 – Warning Bells article
NEW CALIFORNIA STATUTES TAKING EFFECT—BEWARE
It has been a bad year for law enforcement in Sacramento. The actions of an officer 2,000 miles away set an agenda for California politicians, always willing to bend with the wind, to pass “reform” statutes to correct problems that in many cases, especially in Los Angeles, did not exist.
[Full article]
