Dozens of Officers Could Lose Weapons Under New Domestic Violence Law

Los Angeles law enforcement officials said Friday that dozens of officers may fall under a new federal law that prohibits people with misdemeanor domestic violence convictions from carrying guns.

But identifying the officers and implementing the law may be difficult, according to Sheriff Sherman Block and the director of operations for the Los Angeles Police Department.

Block and Assistant Police Chief Bayan Lewis said in separate comments that they feel some modification of the law is needed.

The law applies to anyone with a misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, but it has particular impact for law enforcement and military professionals, who often cannot hold their jobs without the ability to carry a firearm. The law was adopted as an amendment to a broad budget bill that covered many other matters, and it received little notice or debate at the time.

One sheriff’s official said reports within the department are that as many as 40 active-duty deputies--out of 8,300 on the force--may have such convictions. Lewis said that, within the 9,400-officer LAPD, there could be “30 or 40 officers that fall within this category.”

“It’s not going to be large numbers,” Lewis said. “It’s going to be enough that it will cause us problems. . . . We don’t have enough light-duty positions to allow 30 or 40 officers to be relegated to such duties.”

Officials at both agencies said the new law will effectively mean firing most of those banned from carrying guns, unless they are willing to be demoted to civilian positions.

The law also affects retired officers with spousal abuse convictions, who until now have frequently been allowed to carry firearms.

Establishing which officers and retired officers have such records will be extremely difficult, officials said.

Block--who had earlier called for deputies to come forward with their own misdemeanor domestic violence records--said Friday that he would ask the state Criminal Identification and Information Bureau to search its records as well.

But Lewis questioned whether the state agency or the FBI would be able to generate comprehensive misdemeanor records.

Felony convictions of any kind already lead to dismissal from law enforcement positions. The new law covers misdemeanors, and Lewis acknowledged that in some cases officers have plea bargained felonies down to misdemeanors in the belief this would protect them from losing their jobs.

On Thursday, the Assn. of Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, acting on behalf of the first three deputies stripped of their weapons, filed suit in federal court to try to block enforcement of the law on constitutional grounds.

Block said at the news conference that he realizes it is his duty to comply with the law, but, he asked: “How in the world do we do all this checking?”

He and Lewis said they preferred a California law, now superseded by the federal law, that set time limits on the applicability of past convictions, and allowed law enforcement agencies to petition in the courts for dispensations of violators.