Complaints Against L.A. Police Up 70% in ’91 : Law enforcement: Number rose sharply after the beating of motorist Rodney G. King. Officials attribute the increase to unprecedented scrutiny of LAPD.

Personnel complaints against Los Angeles police have risen nearly 70% so far this year, making 1991 a record year for complaints against the department with 2 1/2 months to go.

LAPD statistics, which include complaints from citizens as well as those generated internally by the department, show that 2,425 complaints were filed through last week, compared to 1,430 for the same period last year. Complaints filed in 1990 totaled 1,826.

Annual statistics on complaints received prior to 1990 were not available, but a roughly comparable tally--complaints processed by the LAPD annually over the last decade--has ranged from a low of 972 in 1980 to a high of 1,832 in 1988.

“We are up significantly,” said Lt. David Smith of the Internal Affairs Division, which has been swamped by an influx of complaints that must be investigated. “We have been just trying to keep everything going here.”

About half of the complaints this year came during the months of July, August and September, the period immediately after release of a highly critical report of the department by the Christopher Commission.

By contrast, fewer than 360 complaints were filed before the police beating of motorist Rodney G. King, the highly-charged incident last March that led to the Christopher Commission investigation and a series of recommended reforms of department operations, including its handling of complaints.

LAPD officials attribute the sharp increase to unprecedented scrutiny of the department after the King beating, but they said it is too early to know with certainty what types of complaints have increased and whether the rise has been fueled primarily by citizen- or department-initiated allegations.

Complaints against the department can range from an officer not appearing in court to allegations of excessive force and brutality. They can result from internal LAPD investigations and disciplinary proceedings or from residents reporting allegations over the telephone, at police stations or at Parker Center, the downtown headquarters.

Quarterly reports for the first half of this year reveal that 58% of the 1,147 complaints were initiated by the LAPD itself, but a similar breakdown for the 1,278 complaints filed since June was not available.

“There are a whole number of issues that we are dealing with as a result of the Christopher Commission, but there are a lot of unknowns right now,” Smith said.

Stanley Sheinbaum, president of the Police Commission, which oversees LAPD operations, said the record number of complaints does not necessarily signify an increase in police abuse, but rather a greater willingness by the Police Department and the public to take allegations seriously.

“It is a healthy sign,” Sheinbaum said.

Attorney Hugh Manes, a frequent critic of the LAPD, disagreed.

“I think there is an acceleration of police abuse, and that is probably the most important reason why we are seeing more complaints,” said Manes, a board member of the Police Misconduct Lawyers Referral Service. “But I don’t place any significance in the fact there is an increase in complaints . . . unless there is also a willingness to prosecute police officers for misconduct.”

Department spokesman Fred Nixon said the surge in complaints has resulted in part from an internal inquiry this summer into abuses by police officers of MDT computer messages, which the Christopher Commission found to include a variety of sexual, racial and ethnic slurs. A large number of complaints, he said, have also resulted from an ongoing review of previous allegations that the department now believes warrant further investigation.

“We are going back and looking at documents created by supervisors in the past and pulling out complaints from some of those documents,” Nixon said. “We are finding things that probably required judgment calls as to whether personnel complaints should have been generated, and we are finding some where we believe a case can be made for generating a personnel complaint.”

Sgt. Bill McDaniel, who helps track complaints for the Internal Affairs Division, said the increase also reflects several administrative changes since the King beating. The division, for example, now reviews all damage claims against the city that relate to the Police Department to determine if officer misconduct was involved.

In addition, he said, the Internal Affairs Division now checks to determine whether police stations that receive civilian complaints are filing reports.

The Christopher Commission report identified the department’s handling of citizen complaints as the greatest source of public criticism of the LAPD to surface during a series of hearings last spring. The report characterized the level of public frustration as understandable, noting that of the 3,419 allegations of excessive force or improper tactics raised by the public from 1986 to 1990, only 103 were sustained by the department.

Nixon said statistics were not available relating to the number of complaints sustained this year.

John W. Spiegel, general counsel to the Christopher Commission, said it was too early to draw conclusions about the 1991 statistics, since the LAPD has yet to disclose the nature of the complaints or their origin. Spiegel said, however, that continued media coverage of the department has undoubtedly contributed to the increase.

“It is amazing to see the extent to which police news is still with us almost every day,” Spiegel said. “That may cause people to feel their complaints will be taken more seriously.”

Complaints on the Rise

The LAPD reports a surge in personnel complaints this year, making 1991 a record year. Through mid-October, 2,425 complaints were filed against police by both citizens and department personnel.

About half of the complaints came after the release in early July of a highly critical report of the LAPD by the Christopher Commmission. By contrast, fewer than 360 of the complaints were filed prior to the police beating of motorist Rodney G. King in March. Following are the numbers since 1979:

‘79: 1,065

‘80: 972

‘81: 1,125

‘82: 1,309

‘83: 1,289

‘84: 1,289

‘85: 1,276

‘86: 1,813

‘87: 1,793

‘88: 1,832

‘89: 1,800

‘90: 1,826

‘91*: 2,425

* Figures for 1991 are through mid-October

NOTE: Figures listed for 1979-1989 are number of complaints processed and deemed “closed” by the department. Because of continuing investigations of some complaints, however, the figures exclude a small percentage of the total complaints received.

1991

1st Quarter, Jan-March: 479

2nd Quarter Apr.-June: 668

3rd Quarter July-Sept.: 1,170

Source: LAPD