Watchdog Gives LAPD Positive Marks

A decade after the Rodney King beating, the Los Angeles Police Department has become “by and large successful� in curbing misbehavior by following up on complaints, Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash has concluded.

The Eglash report, released just two days after the forced retirement of former Chief Bernard C. Parks, gives a generally positive appraisal of many of the changes in LAPD discipline during his term and identifies areas in which improvement is needed.

Investigations of officers accused of misconduct take too long and are sometimes flawed, according to the report.

Nonetheless, overall, LAPD’s internal investigations are balanced and objective, the report said.

In fact, LAPD’s disciplinary proceedings are slightly more likely to produce findings against officers accused of misconduct than is typically the case in police agencies, the report found.

“With respect to the discipline system, I think we are doing well,� Eglash said.

“But we need to go to the next level.�

Eglash is the Police Department’s civilian watchdog, a position created in 1995 following heightened public concern over officer wrongdoing in the aftermath of the beating of Rodney King, the riots and the Christopher Commission’s report on police misconduct.

The annual report, released Monday, is the first of its kind to be completed since the office was created. It is scheduled for consideration by the Los Angeles Police Commission today.

Its release comes just weeks after the police commission decided against a second term for Parks, who had come under fire over a variety of issues, including his efforts to toughen officer discipline.

The commission is expected to name an interim chief today.

Parks cherished his reputation as a disciplinarian, and his tenure marked far-reaching changes in the LAPD’s system of taking and investigating complaints against officers.

In 1998, Parks ordered all complaints to be recorded and investigated, no matter how petty they seemed--a dramatic shift from past policy.

Previously, supervisors at the precinct level had broad discretion to dismiss complaints they deemed too frivolous to be worthy of further action.

The result was that the number of investigations against LAPD officers nearly tripled, creating a workload that nearly overwhelmed the department’s internal bureaucracy.

Many of those investigations involved allegations of relatively minor misconduct against officers, such as discourtesy.

Administrative logjams meant many were resolved at glacial speed.

Eventually, the new complaint system proved so controversial that Parks was pressured to scale back some of his initial reforms.

At its height, “the department went as far as any agency I’m aware of in terms of recording or tracking complaints,� Eglash said.

Although Parks considered the complaint system one of his most significant accomplishments, Eglash said the timing of the report’s release was unrelated to the decision to oust him.

“All I can tell you is that this is something that we started work on quite a while ago,� Eglash said.

The findings neither vindicate nor fault Parks, he said. “I don’t think it’s really about him. It is a lot of statistical information,� Eglash said.

Allegations of discourtesy, nearly 22% of all public complaints, were the most numerous.

Complaints involving neglect of duty, unbecoming conduct and use of force also were common.

The most frequent allegation made by the department against its own officers involved preventable traffic accidents.

Fewer than one-third of all allegations against LAPD officers were sustained from 1998 to 2001, the report found.

The percentage of complaints made by the public that were sustained is much lower, about 14%.

Yet LAPD’s internal investigations are still more likely to be resolved in favor of the complainant than those at the San Jose, San Francisco or San Diego County police departments, the report concluded.

The report also explores one of the most controversial allegations frequently made against Parks, namely that his discipline system favored some commanders over rank-and-file officers.

The report identifies six questionable disciplinary cases--including some in which it appeared high-ranking officers received lighter penalties than lower-ranking officers for similar offenses. It also noted mitigating circumstances in each case.

“We found ... specific cases that raised concerns about disparity, but we did not draw conclusions beyond that,� Eglash said.

In conclusion, the report recommended that the LAPD develop greater flexibility in responding to citizens’ complaints.

The department should adopt a “customer service mentality,� and allow supervisors more discretion to respond informally to complaints, Eglash said.

Similarly, he said, complaints should prompt “introspection� by department brass, not just disciplinary proceedings, so that they can be used as the basis for better policies, he said.

Capt. Pete Trilling of the LAPD’s Internal Affairs Group agreed with the recommendations, saying the department, together with a working group led by Police Commissioner Rose Ochi, is already at work implementing similar ones.

Although Police Commission President Rick Caruso said he had not yet had a chance to read the report, he concurred with some of its general findings about the disciplinary system.

“We do a very good job in taking in complaints. We have that down to perfection,� he said.

“Now we need to have the same focus on disposing of them in timely manner.�

In a separate report, Eglash also found that shootings by LAPD officers have decreased, although the police are more likely to use force to injure people in other ways.

The number of officer-involved shootings has decreased from 97 in 1999 to 66 last year.

The number of people injured by officers grew, but it was unclear whether this trend reflects changes in police conduct, or improved reporting policies.