Council Stays Out of Dispute Over Firings

The Los Angeles City Council refused Wednesday to step between Police Chief Bernard Parks and civil service officials who overturned his firing of two employees for theft.

“We have two employees who were found guilty of theft,” said a disappointed Parks. “I don’t think they should remain city employees, and at a minimum they should not remain in the Police Department.”

Council members, who voted 7 to 4 against intervening, said they did not want to second-guess the Civil Service Commission and jump into a quagmire of conflicting claims involving what they saw as relatively benign misconduct.

“The commission found them guilty of lesser charges and very strongly felt they were not guilty of theft, and I agree with that,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick.

Said Council President John Ferraro: “The Civil Service Commission heard it.”

In both cases, the employees appealed the firings. A city hearing examiner and the Civil Service Commission sustained lower charges, but not theft, and recommended suspensions instead of firings.

Councilman Joel Wachs said Parks rightly believes the two employees should be fired after the chief concluded that they stole, because the Police Department, charged with enforcing the law, cannot sanction theft by its own.

The council’s refusal to take jurisdiction of the cases, Wachs said, sends the wrong message about what conduct is tolerated in the Police Department.

“To not want to hear it is irresponsible,” Wachs told his colleagues. “The chief of police believes that theft should [result in] discharge. That is a core value of the Police Department. I happen to agree with him.”

Parks fired Senior Detention Officer Jorge Swayne of the Foothill Division and equipment mechanic David Betancourt last year after sustaining theft charges against both men.

Betancourt was charged with taking discarded automobile parts, including transmissions and starters, from LAPD scrap-metal bins and selling them to a private salvage yard for $67. A hearing examiner concluded that Betancourt believed he could take the items from salvage bins because he was unaware of any city policy prohibiting it, and that he used the money to buy tools for his city work. The examiner sustained only allegations that Betancourt failed to notify his superiors that he did not have a driver’s license. He recommended a 20-day suspension.

Swayne was accused of taking some bedsheet covers from the jail dispensary and, although he said he planned to return them, the department argued that he “showed no intent to return these items as he surreptitiously concealed them,” according to documents. The hearing examiner concluded that Swayne did not intend to permanently keep the items, but was only borrowing them to pad furniture during a move. The examiner recommended a 20-day suspension.

The Civil Service Commission agreed with the hearing examiners and urged Parks to reduce the penalties for both men. Parks refused, saying he would not tolerate theft. Under civil service rules, the commission cannot reduce the penalty, but only approve or set aside a penalty imposed by the chief.

As a result, Swayne and Betancourt ended up with no punishment.

Civil Service Commissioner Sharon Schuster welcomed the council action as affirming that the panel had acted properly on what she said involved “relatively minor” charges.

“We asked the chief to consider a penalty appropriate [for] the charges, but when he refused, we had no choice,” Schuster said. “That was the best we could do. We would have preferred some penalty.”

The council vote was a relief to Swayne, a Lancaster resident who has been off the job without pay for six months.

“This is great,” he said. “I wasn’t stealing. They said I should have asked for permission, but my supervisors were not around.”

Parks said he was “very, very disappointed” in the council vote and now will have to find other jobs for the two men that don’t put them in contact with valuable property.

“We think the Civil Service Commission made a mistake, and it’s compounded by not having the [council] review,” Parks said.