Chief’s Nephew Left LAPD Academy Under Pressure

Three days before his graduation from the Los Angeles Police Academy, the nephew of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks was summoned from class and told that he could either drop out or be dismissed.

In an interview this week, Winston Parks, who voluntarily resigned, said that he was disqualified before last week’s ceremony for failing to disclose information about a juvenile arrest.

Parks, 25, believes the incident in question occurred when he was 12 years old and 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.

LAPD sources confirmed that Parks left the academy because the department’s background investigators discovered that 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 specifics of the case, citing confidentiality laws.

Pomeroy was acting chief at the time Winston Parks’ fate was being determined while his uncle, Chief Parks, was on vacation. Pomeroy said Chief Parks 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, who is still on vacation and could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But, without elaborating, 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.”

Parks said he was first 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 not had any reason to lie about the incident. He said 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, says 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.

Pomeroy said Tuesday that he was prepared to deal with 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’s an issue of credibility that’s usually considered the kiss of death for a recruit,” said one top LAPD official.

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 pasts. Though recruits are officially hired on the day they enter the academy, their background review can continue for up to 18 months.

After handing in his gun and badge Dec. 16, Parks resigned last Friday, the day his uncle would have handed him his diploma.

Among those at the ceremony, expecting him to receive his diploma, was his grandfather Earl Parks, a retired sergeant in the Los Angeles port police and the father of Chief Parks.

Earl Parks rose to his feet, ready to applaud his grandson, but “they got to his name [and] they just skipped right over it,” said Earl Parks this week. “I said maybe they made a mistake.”

During an exit interview Monday, Winston 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.”