THE TROUBLED L.A. COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT : Excerpts from the Report

A selection of excerpts from the 359-page report on the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, issued Monday by Special Counsel James G. Kolts:

COMMUNITY PERCEPTIONS

“We see our task principally as one of urging Sheriff (Sherman) Block . . . to hear and respond to the message of pain and hurt that is coming from the Hispanic and African-American communities in particular . . . “

“The perception exists within various communities that racism, discourtesy, excessive force and outright violence by the LASD not only happens, but is commonplace. We do not necessarily agree. Our investigation leads us to believe that nearly all deputies treat nearly all individuals, most of the time, with at least minimally acceptable levels of courtesy and dignity. The exceptions, when they occur, are outrageous enough and frequent enough to poison the well in some communities. The perception becomes the reality . . . “

“On routine traffic stops, the disrespect may be manifested by approaching with drawn guns where there are adult ethnic males in the car or requiring male individuals to sit on the curb while warrant checks are made . . . “

CITIZEN COMPLAINTS

“A perception that the department ‘takes care of its own’ is supported by statistics . . . although citizens generated roughly 77% of the excessive force allegations over the last two and a half years, only 6% were sustained.”

“Civilians attempting to lodge complaints at the charged officer’s station are ignored, subjected to verbal abuse, and in some instances arrested.”

“Civilians repeatedly asking for a complaint form were informed that they may be arrested for interfering with the duties of a peace officer if they did not leave the station at once.”

“We found many cases where reviewing officers refused to sustain allegations even if supported by numerous independent witnesses. In one recent shooting, department officials accepted the word of the involved deputy over that of nearly 20 witnesses, several of whom were tourists with no stake in the outcome of the investigation.”

DISCIPLINE AND THE USE OF FORCE

“Most citizen complaints of excessive force sustained the last three years result in suspension of five days or less. Given that the standard punishment for denting a patrol car bumper is a two-day suspension, it is clear that the LASD does not adequately punish its officers who use excessive force.”

“The LASD responds by arguing that it has recently increased the amount of punishment handed out for excessive force. It points out, for example, that between 1989 and April, 1992, it has discharged a total of 15 officers for excessive force. This number is small, however, when compared to the total number of discharges for misconduct which is unrelated to excessive force. Moreover . . . the LASD continues to punish officers lightly even for egregious beatings.”

“We acknowledge that suspects are often violent and well-armed. Nonetheless, we reviewed enough cases of officer-involved shootings of unarmed suspects--particularly of persons shot in the back--to raise concerns that LASD officers may be involved in shootings because of poor training, impatience and panic.”

CRITICISM OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY

“The D.A.’s office must take substantial blame for its failure to prosecute more than one questionable shooting incident in the last decade out of 382 referrals of possible prosecutions to it. . . . We found incomprehensible a recent D.A. reject of a fatal shooting where there was ample documented evidence that the deputy was combing the streets outside his patrol area, against direct orders not to interfere, looking for a fight on New Year’s Eve. The D.A.’s reject letter explained in soothing tones to the LASD that the case was notprosecutable because of inconsistencies in the statements of two eyewitnesses. Contrary to the deputy’s version of the facts, the eyewitnesses and the coroner’s report indicated the victim was shot in the back and side. There was slim, if any, evidence that the deputy was in danger or could have believed himself to be. The D.A. should have filed a case.”

TRACKING ‘PROBLEM OFFICERS’

“We believe that the vast majority of the 8,000 or more LASD sworn personnel do their job well. Nonetheless . . . the LASD has failed to identify and deal with officers who appear to use excessive force and get away with it time and again--even when their actions end up costing the county hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“We were able to identify an illustrative group of deputies who were repeatedly the subjects of formal administrative investigations for shootings or excessive force. Despite a history of questionable conduct, nearly all of these officers continue to patrol the streets of Los Angeles County. Worse, many act as field training officers imparting their ‘street wisdom’ to patrol deputies.”

“LASD plans to design and maintain a computerized tracking system to regularly ‘flag’ officers with an increasing number of citizen complaints or a trend toward increasing force incidents . . . In 1991, the LASD purchased several million dollars worth of new computers for this department-wide tracking and early warning system. When we last looked, the only programs they could run were various computer games and the like.”

LANGUAGE BARRIERS AND INSENSITIVITY

“The Firestone station, which has the highest concentration of monolingual Spanish-speaking residents, has only 19 Spanish-speaking deputies out of a total of 116. . . . In April, 1991, deputies in the Firestone area stopped a man for speeding. According to witnesses, when the deputies asked him to exit the car, he answered--in Spanish--’I’m handicapped.’ He must wear leg braces in order to walk or even to drive . . . The man then reached down to pull his left leg out of the car. One of the deputies, apparently believing that he was reaching for a weapon, struck him on the head with the butt of his gun . . . His complaint of excessive force was determined to be ‘unsubstantiated.’ ”

“A number of officers we rode with did, however, know the Spanish for ‘How many beers have you had?’ ‘Empty your pockets.’ ‘Put your hands on the hood’ and ‘Place your hands behind your back. Now!’ ”

“The Department’s own survey of 3,764 sworn and civilian employees revealed very troubling statistics with regard to ethnic tolerance. A full 26% of respondents reported that their ethnic tolerance had decreased since joining the department.”

“Interviews with a number of departmental personnel as well as the frequency of sexual harassment complaints indicate that major problems exist in this area as well.”

CODE OF SILENCE

“Deputies (assigned to work in jails) are taught to adhere to a code of silence. We found evidence that deputies who refuse to submit to peer pressure not to report misconduct of their peers are on occasion ‘hard celled,’ that is handcuffed, doused with water and placed in isolation cells for hours at a time.”

COMMUNITY-ORIENTED POLICING

“The department should do far more to teach and reinforce the message that all people are to be treated at all times with dignity and respect under a community-oriented policing strategy. The need to impose discipline will diminish as persons are trained and encouraged to deal in a respectful way with all persons. So then will jury verdicts and judgments against the LASD.”