27 MTA Police Officers Fail LAPD Background Checks

At least 27 Metropolitan Transportation Authority police officers failed background checks by the Los Angeles Police Department, and an additional 20 may also do so, casting new doubts on the months-long negotiations to merge the two law enforcement agencies, officials said Wednesday.

In separate evaluations, three MTA officers flunked the LAPD’s psychological exam, and 23 did not pass the medical review, although most of the physical problems are temporary or can be resolved, according to Philip Henning, assistant general manager of the city’s Personnel Department.

Officials would not say whether there was overlap among the officers who do not meet the LAPD’s psychological, medical and background criteria, so it remains unclear how many MTA officers would be eligible for transfer if the merger is approved.

But those close to the process estimate that only 150 or 155 officers would qualify for the LAPD--far short of the 208 transit police positions the city would have to fill under the proposed contract.

“I had lots of misgivings about this from the very beginning. What I’ve been hearing as this has been going along makes me less inclined [to approve it],” said City Councilwoman Laura Chick, head of the Public Safety Committee. The numbers of disqualified officers, she added, “just really causes me to step back and ask, once again, ‘Why are we doing this?’ ”

In addition to the apparent dearth of qualified MTA officers, Chick and other council members are concerned about the city’s liability in taking on responsibility for transit policing. The city attorney’s office believes that the city government would probably be added as a defendant in all existing lawsuits against the MTA police.

Issues of liability and a final analysis of the MTA officers’ qualifications for transfer to the LAPD will be forthcoming next week, officials said. The City Council will probably discuss the merger, which was supposed to be in place by Tuesday of this week, in mid-July.

In a preliminary report to the Public Safety Committee, Henning of the Personnel Department testified that only 137 of 184 applicants from the MTA have met all of the LAPD’s background check standards. Besides the 27 that were disqualified, he said, there are 20 candidates that officials want to review further. Ten of those have been offered polygraph tests.

LAPD Cmdr. Art Lopez said most of the rejected officers had histories of drug use or dishonesty. The LAPD has stricter standards in those areas than the MTA.

Henning said 161 of the MTA candidates meet all of the LAPD’s medical standards. Seven others have temporary conditions that should be resolved in the next two months, six have vision problems that can be corrected with contact lenses and 10 are not qualified for field duty but may be suitable for other posts.

MTA Police Chief Sharon Papa said the numbers are far higher than she had expected. “We’re going to have to walk through and see what we’ve got,” she said. “I know who my problem children are--everyone does, in every organization. But [27] seems too high.”

Lopez said that, in the short term, the LAPD can make up the gap between the number of MTA officers transferred and the 208 required in the contract by using overtime funds. Acting LAPD Chief Bayan Lewis also said the city could easily beef up its Police Academy classes to help fill the ranks in the coming years; under the contract, the MTA would pay for that training.

“We didn’t know what the heck we were going to get,” Lopez acknowledged. “The thing we promised the commission, and this council, is that we wouldn’t pin a badge on someone who doesn’t meet LAPD standards. We’re going to be true to that pledge.”

But Chick said the merger doesn’t pencil out. LAPD officers would require special training before being sent to transit duty, she said. Would the city be liable for decreased transit policing during the period after the merger before the remaining slots could be filled? Since new recruits would probably serve in LAPD patrol divisions before being sent to transit duty, would the city suffer from taking more experienced cops off the streets and putting them on MTA buses and trains?

“I’m not optimistic that this is a good thing for the city of Los Angeles, and now I’m not optimistic that it’s a good thing for transit users,” she added. “How is this providing a better level of policing to the public? It just really, really leaves a lot of questions.”