Use of Force Down in LAPD, Chief Reports

Preempting a forthcoming report by the Los Angeles Police Commission’s inspector general, Chief Bernard C. Parks on Tuesday released his own findings on officer use-of-force issues.

Both the chief and the inspector general have found that use-of-force incidents at the LAPD--from shootings to physical encounters--have dropped over the last five years despite a significant increase in the number of officers.

Inspector General Katherine Mader’s report has been circulating among police commissioners for several months, but has not yet been made public. Officials familiar with the document, however, say that Parks’ findings and recommendations closely mirror those in her study.

According to the chief’s report, officer-involved shootings dropped 22% from 1993 to 1997. Over that same time, the number of police officers patrolling the streets has increased 26%.

Parks said department records show that most categories of officer-involved shootings, from accidental discharges to shootings by off-duty officers, have decreased.

About the only area in which force is being used more often is against dogs. In 1993, only 8.8% of all shootings involved dogs, compared with 44% of all shootings so far this year.

“They have an affinity for our uniform,” said Deputy Chief Robert Gil.

The chief’s review of use-of-force incidents found that the 77th Street police station in South Los Angeles leads the other 17 divisions in officer-involved shootings. That station, however, has seen a 38% reduction in shootings over the last five years, from 21 incidents in 1993 to 13 in 1997.

Although shooting incidents have dropped departmentwide, so have “nonlethal” use-of-force encounters, such as physical force and restraint holds. For every 103 arrests, there is one nonlethal use-of-force incident, according to department statistics.

Nonlethal use of force incidents involving police officers decreased 15.7% over the past five years, dropping from 2,445 in 1993 to 2,062 last year.

The number of officers injured in such incidents during that period increased from 449 to 538, up 19.8%. In 1997, half of all suspects involved in such incidents were injured, up from 43% in 1993.

Since the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King and the subsequent Christopher Commission report, which exposed excessive force problems at the LAPD, department officials and police commissioners have paid close attention to use-of-force issues.

At the time of its review, the Christopher Commission found that of the 2,152 citizen allegations of excessive force from 1986 to 1990, only 42 were sustained.

The chief and Mader also looked at whether police officers are being disciplined for excessive force.

Parks’ review of excessive force complaints found that 76 officers were disciplined for unauthorized or excessive use of force from 1990 to 1997. Only one officer was fired for using excessive force during that period. Mader’s findings were not available.

The chief, according to an oral report by two of his top deputies, plans to improve the way the LAPD tracks and monitors some use-of-force incidents to give command officers and commissioners a broader view of all force encounters.

The timing of the chief’s report caused several LAPD observers to question whether the chief was trying to preempt the inspector general. According to several sources close to the chief, the relationship between Parks and Mader is strained.

“Do I think the inspector general’s report had an influence on [department officials]? Yes,” said Commissioner Dean Hansell. But, he added, he didn’t have a problem with it.

“I don’t think it’s so terrible,” he said. “I just look at the end result, which is the department has become very interested in a lot of different dimensions of risk management.”

Commissioner T. Warren Jackson agreed, saying it appears that the chief and inspector general “are on the same page. . . . I think the public should be heartened by this.”

LAPD officials denied that the chief was trying to beat the inspector general to the punch.

“It’s her job to review these matters, but that does not mean we’re going to abdicate our management responsibilities,” said Cmdr. Dave Kalish, the chief’s spokesman.

“Clearly, the public’s confidence in the department is enhanced when effective oversight is applied in the area of use of force,” Kalish added. “The chief remains diligently attentive to all use of force incidents.”

In a related matter, the Police Commission approved the chief’s findings that officers acted appropriately and within department policy during the North Hollywood shootout with two bank robbers last year.