LAPD Oversight Remains Shaky, Inspector Says

The Los Angeles Police Department remains a secretive, closed-off fraternity, resistant to outsiders and capable of seducing its civilian bosses into taking its side rather than upholding their oversight duties, the department’s chief watchdog told a group of attorneys Thursday.

In fact, LAPD Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash said, he often is not entirely sure if he has the support of the five-member police commission to which he must answer.

“I have no fixed term of office, no Civil Service protection and I have to count votes every morning,” said Eglash.

He added: “If I take on unpopular tasks, I have to worry about my job protection,” which is not conducive to effective scrutiny of a department currently enmeshed in the worst corruption scandal in its history.

Eglash made his remarks during a panel discussion on civilian police oversight held downtown at the Hotel Inter-Continental and sponsored by the Los Angeles chapter of the Federal Bar Assn.

In some of the most forthcoming and provocative comments he has made since being appointed inspector general nine months ago, he said civilian police commissioners are prone to becoming victims of a condition called the “Stockholm syndrome,” in which hostages or kidnapping victims come to sympathize with their captors and adopt the captors’ ideological views.

“The commission at times is capable of being captured or co-opted, seduced by the Police Department in a way that makes it hard to provide oversight,” said Eglash.

He related disturbing incidents in which the department’s Internal Affairs division seemed more interested in discovering the names of officers who had come forward with complaints than in investigating the substance of those allegations. Police officers have a duty to report misconduct, noted Eglash, but the department’s actions had the effect of scaring them off.

“I have seen cases where an officer was alleged to engage in misconduct and was exonerated,” said Eglash. “But then the officer who brought the allegations was charged with failing to bring the matter to the attention of supervisors in a timely manner.”

A spokesman for the department said he had not heard Eglash’s remarks and would not comment. Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff could not be reached for comment.

The other participants on the panel made up a Who’s Who of the nation’s most prominent law enforcement authorities and included Raymond C. Fisher, a federal appeals court judge and former president of the Los Angeles Police Commission; Merrick Bobb, special counsel for Los Angeles County in charge of monitoring the Sheriff’s Department; and Michael Bromwich, former inspector general for the U.S. Justice Department.

The panel was prompted by the burgeoning Rampart Division police corruption scandal in which officers from that division are accused of framing, beating and even shooting innocent victims.

The bar association’s executive director noted that Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks had both been invited but declined to attend. But the Police Protective League and mayoral candidates sent representatives and former Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner and former LAPD Inspector General Katherine Mader showed up.

Much of the interest centered on Eglash, who, in a frank and wide-ranging discussion, ran through a laundry list of weaknesses--and some strengths--of the current civilian oversight, which includes the Police Commission and the inspector general, who is charged with investigating the LAPD for the commission.

The good news, said Eglash, is that there is a system. He said the police commissioners were by and large dedicated, that the commission enjoyed broad support from the public through civilian advisory boards and was generally supported by the rank and file of the Police Department.

Eglash also said he was optimistic that a panel recently appointed by the Police Commission--the Rampart Independent Review Panel, made up of several former prosecutors and other prominent figures--would successfully investigate the Police Department from top to bottom and make suggestions for change.