December 2016 – The League and Lawsuits
“Sue the Bastards” is a phrase attributed to Environmental Law Attorney Victor Yannacone in the ‘60s that seems to have heartily survived to the present day. It could qualify as a League bumper sticker judging by the number of lawsuits filed by the League in the past year. So how do you as a League member get involved in League litigation? Several ways, in fact. [Full Article]
November 2016 – Use of Force and the Police Commission
They are supposed to be our leaders. Th ey are the head of the Department. Everything they do is a reflection on Mayor Garcetti because he appoints them. So how can they come up with decisions like this? [Full Article]
October 2016 – When the crime report becomes the crime
It is a noticeable trend. Criminal cases are being filed on officers that not so long ago were only Boards of Rights. It is one thing to have your job placed in jeopardy, but it is completely another to have your freedom placed in jeopardy. And if you lose your freedom, you will surely lose your job. [Full article]
September 2016 – Administrative Disapproval
Doesn’t sound like anything you want, does it? What is it? How do you get one? What can you do about it? You might think from the media hysteria arising out of the Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Trayvon Martin and other uses of force across the nation that this media attention to uses of force is something new. Not so. [Full Article]
August 2016 – The system is rigged
At the risk of sounding like a presidential candidate, this is what the League has been saying about the discipline system and what the League has been trying to fix. The City Charter gives an officer the right to a trial by a three-member panel known as a Board of Rights when accused of misconduct. The Board is made up of one civilian and two LAPD captains or above. The Charter states that an officer shall not “be suspended, demoted in rank, suspended and demoted in rank, removed, or otherwise separated from the service of the department (other than by resignation), except for good and sufficient cause shown upon a finding of guilty of the specific charge or charges assigned as cause or causes after a full, fair, and impartial hearing before a Board of Rights.” (emphasis mine) [Full Article]
July 2016 – De-escalation or Disengagement?
There is a simple way to reduce the biased policing complaints and lots of other complaints, for that matter. Stop making investigative stops. This would also reduce uses of force. How many foot pursuits, vehicle pursuits and officer-involved shootings start with an investigative stop? Sixteen of the 48 shootings in 2015 (33 percent) began with an observation investigative stop. So, if we can reduce officer-involved shootings by a third, biased policing complaints probably by 90 percent, and a large share of other personnel complaints with one fell swoop by simply not making investigative stops, why don’t we? This should make a pleased Police Commission. [Full article]
June 2016 – Use of Force Policy change–anyone ask you?
On Nov. 10, 2015, short months after his appointment to the Police Commission, Entertainment Lawyer Matthew Johnson issued his “vision and goals for the LAPD.” Of interest here is his concern over the number of uses of force that he felt had doubled in comparison to the previous year. (Actually, over a four-year period, they were slightly above average, as 2014 was a low year.) His goal was to “vastly” reduce use of force incidents through extensive training and modification of tactics. [Full article]
May 2016 – An inconvenient truth
Use of force policies must be short, simple and trained into the DNA of officers. Consider this.
Sergeant Babysitter has been terrific at talking about everything under the sun but your shooting. Unfortunately, you can think of nothing else. The friendly chatter is actually distracting. You know that in too short of a time you will be talking to an investigator and into a digital recorder in great detail about what happened. The problem is, in all honesty, you don’t know for sure exactly what did happen. [Full Article]
April 2016 – Another damn reason not to cuss!
Potty mouth used to be cured with a bar of soap clenched in the offender’s teeth for a period of time calculated to impress on the youngster the joys of cleanliness both in body and speech. Nowadays that punishment would result in potential criminal charges and a visit from Child Protective Services. Maybe that is why the f-bomb is far more commonly used in today’s speech patterns than in the 1950s. [Full Article]
March 2016 – Four years of hell
On April 15, 2012, Officer Jonathan Lai and his partner made an observation stop that would be life-changing. A 13-second use of force would take nearly four years to adjudicate. First, he was restricted from field duty, then ordered home, and finally, relieved of duty without pay. It started out as a simple drinking in public arrest and ended up with Lai going through a criminal prosecution and a Board of Rights. The jury took only an hour and a half to return a not guilty verdict. The Department then insisted that Lai face a Board of Rights. The Board also found him not guilty. How could this happen? More important, can you be assured that it won’t happen to you? [Full Article]
February 2016 – Counting the days
Doing nothing can have severe consequences. One of the many inquiries we get at the League concerns the various appeals available to officers’ when the Department takes some kind of adverse action against them. All too often, by the time the question is asked, it is too late to do anything about it. So what are the time limits on your appeal rights? [Full Article]
January 2016 – Disarming the good guys
What would have happened if there had been a couple of fully-armed retired police officers attending the holiday party in the conference room at the San Bernardino Inland Regional Center? Would there still be 14 dead and 21 wounded? The terrorists came in, started spraying the room with bullets and then walked over to those who had hit the ground and executed them. Wouldn’t the retired officers have returned fire? Of course they would. But alas, there was no
one there who was armed. Everyone had to await the arrival of on duty officers and, in the meantime, the terrorists had their way. Murder after murder. [Full Article]