Chief’s Nephew Forced to Resign as LAPD Recruit

Dressed in his best suit, Earl Parks rose to his feet, ready to applaud his grandson at the Los Angeles Police Department graduation.

Winston Parks was to become the third generation of Parks men to serve as a police officer. Earl Parks was a sergeant in the Los Angeles port police. His son, Bernard, is the LAPD chief and Winston’s uncle.

But during Friday’s graduation ceremony, “They got to his name [and] they just skipped right over it,” said Earl Parks, 76. “I said maybe they made a mistake.”

There was no mistake.

Last week, three days before graduation, Winston Parks was summoned from class at the Police Academy and told that he could either drop out or be dismissed, he said.

Parks believes he was disqualified for failing to disclose that at age 12, he and two friends were hauled into a local police station and accused of stealing a dollar. Parks said he was never charged and did not mention it in his application because he’d simply forgotten.

All cadets are required to disclose any arrest when they join the academy.

Parks said he was confronted with the omission in October but was told not to worry by an instructor at the academy. Two months later, however, he was told to leave.

“To wait until three days before graduation, and let me get all excited--that’s what’s really heartbreaking,” Parks said in an interview Monday. “If you’re going to do a person like that, why not just do it from the start.”

Parks added that he had no reason to lie: He told LAPD officials about two other juvenile infractions--one at age 12 for vandalism and a second, when he was 13, for violating curfew. That was his last brush with the law, said the U.S. Army veteran who enlisted at 18 and received his honorable discharge a year ago to join the LAPD.

“I’m 25 now. I’ve been married twice and been around the world,” Parks said. “I wasn’t even thinking about it at the time” he filled out the application.

LAPD sources confirmed that Winston Parks left the academy because the department’s background investigators discovered he failed to disclose information on his juvenile record.

“Mr. Parks was treated just the same as any recruit would have been treated,” said Deputy Chief Martin H. Pomeroy, who declined to discuss the specifics of the case.

Pomeroy was acting chief at the time Winston Parks’ fate was being determined, while Chief Parks was on vacation. Pomeroy said the chief was aware of the case but “did not exert pressure one way or the other on how to handle this case.”

Winston Parks said he has never discussed the problem with his uncle. But, without elaborating further, he added, “I think it’s because I’m related to the chief” that he was forced to quit the academy.

“I really didn’t want to talk to him about it,” he said. “Ever since he became chief it has made me really uneasy. It’s like everybody expects me to be Mr. Chief, too.”

Pomeroy and other LAPD officials declined to discuss details of Winston Parks’ resignation, citing confidentiality laws.

But Pomeroy said he was prepared to sign the young recruit’s termination papers if he did not voluntarily resign. Because he resigned, Winston Parks is eligible to reapply, department officials said.

LAPD officials said that most recruits are dropped from the academy if they fail to disclose an arrest.

“When it is an issue of credibility, that’s usually considered the kiss of death for a recruit,” said one top LAPD official.

Chief Parks was still on vacation and unavailable for comment.

According to department officials, an average of 9% of the recruits fail to graduate from each class because of failing written or physical tests, or because of their past. Even though recruits are officially hired on the day they enter the academy, their background review can continue for as long as 18 months. Generally, recruit histories are checked while they are still in training, officials said.

After handing in his gun and badge last Tuesday, Parks resigned on Friday, the day his uncle was to hand him his diploma.

During an exit interview on Monday, Parks said he received the confusing news that he could reapply for admission.

“Then why are they making me leave after all this training?” Parks asked. “It makes no sense. I put my life on hold for that job. I got out of the military to join the LAPD.”

Earl Parks, who served in the port police for 27 years, said he too was discouraged by the LAPD’s last-minute decision--so abrupt that Winston Parks’ name appeared in the graduation program.

“It hit me hard,” he said.