Parks Seeks New LAPD Complaint Process

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks--in a move aimed at bolstering public confidence in the LAPD’s willingness to discipline its own employees--is seeking to eliminate the controversial practice of resolving complaints without a formal personnel investigation.

Parks is planning to abolish so-called miscellaneous memos and other little-known practices of disposing of some complaints as part of a sweeping overhaul of the LAPD’s citizen and internal complaint process.

The changes, due for discussion by the Police Commission today, are intended to help resolve and track allegations of police misconduct and would fulfill several key recommendations of the Christopher Commission, which proposed wide-ranging police reforms after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King.

“The ability to track, refer to and retrieve all complaints will enhance the public’s confidence in the department’s handling of complaints,” Parks wrote in a draft proposal.

Reform advocates have long been critical of the department’s use of miscellaneous memos, blaming the practice for undermining the credibility of the LAPD’s complaint process.

The provision for disposing of disciplinary cases has served as a tool for high-ranking officers to dismiss a complaint when officials decide that the alleged offense does not constitute a violation of LAPD policy. When investigations are ended by miscellaneous memos, the accusations do not go into officers’ personnel packages.

Miscellaneous memos are also filed in cases in which the accused officer cannot be identified.

Several independent studies of the LAPD’s complaint procedures, including a report by Police Commission Special Counsel Merrick J. Bobb and a study by Inspector General Katherine Mader, have been critical of the practice.

Those studies found that it led to inaccurate complaint statistics and uneven resolutions of complaints. In some cases, miscellaneous memos have been used to end investigations of high-ranking police officers, some accused of sexual improprieties, according to the report by Bobb.

“It was a way of sweeping things under the rug,” said one Police Commission official, who declined to be identified.

Under the new process, all complaints--whether they amount to misconduct or not--would be logged into a department tracking system.

Deputy Chief Gregory Berg, who now oversees the LAPD’s Internal Affairs, said the changes would take “some of the discretion” out of the process and ensure that “every complaint is officially recorded and investigated in the same manner throughout the department.”

“It takes some of the wiggle room out,” Berg added. “That’s one of the goals of this program.”

If approved by the Police Commission, the new complaint process would be in place by Jan. 1. Some elements of the proposal, however, may require approval of the police union, which is reviewing the changes.

“We have some philosophical differences right now,” said Dave Hepburn, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. He declined to elaborate, saying that union representatives are in negotiations with department officials on the matter.

Parks also wants to eliminate other alternative methods of resolving complaints rather than through the formal personnel complaint process, Berg said. Those methods include “fact sheets” and “attached correspondences,” which are considered less formal ways to dispose of complaints.

If Parks’ plan is approved, the LAPD’s new complaint forms would incorporate problems with officers who fail to meet marksmanship standards, fail to appear in court when summoned to testify or are involved in “preventable traffic collisions.”

Officers can also be subject to a complaint if they delay service for reasons other than heavy workloads.

Under Parks’ plan, all complaints will be officially documented, regardless of whether the department receives them in person, over the telephone, in writing or anonymously.

Moreover, Parks is seeking to increase the number of ways a complaint can be resolved. Now, complaints can be sustained, not resolved, exonerated or unfounded.

Among the seven new categories would be: sustained but no penalty, no misconduct, within policy or procedure, incomplete investigation, and no department employee involved.

Berg said the new complaint process is similar to procedures used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He added that the new categories are more comprehensive and would help the LAPD track complaint issues as recommended by the Christopher Commission.

“It’s important for management to know what kind of complaints and how many are being made,” he said.

So far this year, 1,794 complaints have been made against department employees, up from 1,706 last year.

Bobb, the special counsel to the Police Commission who helped create the sheriff’s complaint process, said the proposed changes would be a significant departure from the past.

“If and when it is approved by the Police Commission, the reforms embodied in this order will bring to fruition a number of the Christopher Commission recommendations,” he said.