Long Beach Chief Nets 3 Officers in Phone Sting

Saying he was disappointed, Long Beach Police Chief Lawrence Binkley has revealed that an internal sting operation he ordered shows that three members of his beleaguered department did not properly record citizen complaints of police misconduct.

Two police sergeants and one detective will face disciplinary action as a result of the in-house sting, designed to test how police treat citizens during telephone calls, Binkley said.

The three are accused of failing to report calls from officers posing as citizens to complain of police misconduct, and one of the sergeants allegedly was rude to a caller.

Angry, Dismayed

Binkley, who has consistently defended his department before the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People and others, said in an interview that the results of the sting left him angry and dismayed.

He had decided to test his staff--a move that has angered many in his department--after a nationally televised case in which an officer appeared to smash a man’s head through a glass window earlier this year.

“They disappointed me,” Binkley said. “You know, the NAACP and several citizen groups have been telling me for two years that it’s not true that my guys take complaints. I said, ‘They do.’

“It’s a policy--they have to take complaints,” Binkley said. “They have to do that. I’ve talked to them. I’ve trained them. I bring it up in management meetings.

“I assured those community folks that that was happening. But it’s not. So whether they like it or not, they let me down. And now I have to go back to (the community) and say, ‘You’re right. Some of our supervisors are not taking complaints.’ ”

Activist Don Jackson, whose own self-styled sting Jan. 14 exposed alleged Long Beach police misconduct in a secretly videotaped incident, praised Binkley’s action as “an innovative step.”

“He has carried the ball another 10 yards,” Jackson said Tuesday. “With the chief breaking the code of silence, the officers will feel more free to come forward when they see wrongdoing.”

During March and April, at least two officers acting out different roles--from an irate citizen to an apparently drunk caller--phoned in complaints about misconduct and inappropriate language to each police division. Twenty-four officers received the calls, some of them taking several over the two-month period, according to Cmdr. Billy Thomas, who oversaw the phone audit.

Formal Reports

Sergeants and those with higher rank are expected to file formal reports when they receive complaints, and officers are supposed to turn complaints over to a supervisor so they can be investigated, Sgt. Gary Halliday said Tuesday.

In addition to the three who allegedly did not follow formal procedure, a fourth officer also came close to violating policy. He indicated to the caller that he was not planning to turn the information over to a supervisor until one suddenly walked in the room, according to Thomas. That officer does not face disciplinary action but was “retrained” in a refresher course, the chief said.

Binkley would not say what punishment he plans to mete out to the three accused of neglect of duty.

The in-house sting was also meant to test whether officers were courteous, Thomas said. Most were polite, he said. “(But) sometimes their mannerism was a concern. How they talked to people and what they stated and how they reacted,” Thomas said.

Not Surprised

Frank Berry, president of the NAACP Long Beach chapter, said he was pleased to hear that Binkley had ordered the internal probe, but he was not surprised at the results.

“We’ve known for years that many don’t take complaints,” said Berry, who has criticized the Long Beach police department as racist. “I think it’s commendable on the part of the chief.”

Referring to Jackson’s sting, which caught an officer on camera as he appeared to shove Jackson’s head through a store window, Berry said, “I think Binkley has gotten something of an education in the last few months. Jackson heightened (awareness) in the community.”

“What he found was not so difficult to find,” Jackson said. “This is the reason I brought up . . . for coming to Long Beach.”

Jackson, a Hawthorne police sergeant on leave from his job, had invited a news cameraman to follow him as he drove through Long Beach in an attempt to uncover police misconduct. The incident occurred after he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.

Two officers face misdemeanor charges, ranging from falsifying a police report to assault, in connection with the incident. That case is pending.

‘Chilling Effect’

Mike Tracy, president of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn., said the police chief’s phone sting has “had a chilling effect on morale. We have enough real problems and now management is creating imaginary dragons for us to slay.”

Tracy declined to discuss the specifics of the case, saying “there are possible criminal implications” against those who conducted the sting. Tracy, Binkley and others also declined to name the officers involved, citing the confidentiality of personnel matters.

The Police Officers Assn. was preparing to notify its members of the phone sting by mail, but word of Binkley’s action had already reached most through word-of-mouth by Tuesday.

Tracy said he was advising officers that if they receive a phone call, “no matter how outrageous or phony it seems to be, (to) file some kind of paper work to cover themselves.”

Increase in Complaints

Binkley acknowledged that the sting angered many in his department. “But I think another result is that we’re taking more complaints,” he said.

In the first four months of this year, Long Beach police have recorded 293 complaints--more than half the total number taken for all of 1988. The complaints, which come from both the public and internally, cover everything from police misconduct to excessive force or misuse of city property.

Police statistics show that the complaints have steadily increased since 1982, partly because the department has emphasized that they be accurately reported. From 1982 to 1983, the total increased from 82 to 238, nearly 200%. Last year, the number of annual complaints reached 510, police statistics show.

Halliday attributed the increase to better reporting procedures and Binkley’s emphasis that complaints be passed along since he became chief two years ago. Also, there is now “greater awareness on the part of the public that a complaint procedure exists,” Halliday said.

‘Shouldn’t Be Any’

Binkley said he found little solace in the fact that most of the officers audited followed proper procedures. “That’s so serious and we’ve talked about it so much, there shouldn’t be any” not taking complaints.

Said Thomas, “We have a very good department, but it takes only one individual to mar that department’s image.”

Thomas said suspects that since police officers are now aware of the audit, they will be more conscientious about being courteous and ensuring that proper procedures on complaints are followed.

“The thought,” Thomas said, “is being planted: ‘Be careful. You never know who is on the other end of the line.’ ”

Times staff writer Judy Pasternak contributed to this article.

COMPLAINTS FILED AGAINST LONG BEACH POLICE

USE OF FORCE MISCONDUCT OTHER TOTAL 1980 45 30 34 109 1981 24 33 10 67 1982 23 43 16 82 1983 76 130 32 238 1984 86 175 81 342 1985 85 192 71 348 1986 60 184 50 294 1987 73 189 88 350 1988 116 275 119 510 1989 (up to 4/25) 46 164 83 293

Note: Figures show complaints filed both by members of the public and police department supervisors. The catagory marked “other” includes misuse of city-owned equipment and abuse of sick time.

Source: Long Beach Police Department