Sheriff May Hire Civilian to Head Internal Affairs

Shaken by the corruption scandal still unfolding inside the Los Angeles Police Department, county Sheriff Lee Baca is considering hiring a civilian to head his internal affairs section and retaining retired judges to review disciplinary investigations.

In an interview, Baca said both the public and deputies themselves need confidence in how police are policed. The proposals the sheriff is weighing reflect a significant break with the way law enforcement agencies have traditionally conducted their internal investigations.

Several officials, attorneys and others who are closely monitoring the LAPD’s Rampart Division crisis praised Baca’s efforts and even suggested that his comments could help spur city officials to reexamine their positions.

The Rampart scandal, in which officers assigned to an anti-gang unit are alleged to have shot and framed suspects and perjured themselves, already has led Baca to speed up audits of several sections of the Sheriff’s Department.

“I thought . . . I could very well be in the same situation [as Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks]. What can I do to learn from the Rampart experience?” Baca asked.

Prompted by such thoughts, he said, he and his command staff are weighing changes in the internal affairs section, the unit that investigates deputies. The sheriff said his preference is to hire a civilian to head the division who is “pro-civil rights” but understands “the sensitivities” of law enforcement.

In addition, Baca said he is considering having retired judges review serious internal investigations to determine whether they were adequate.

He proposes adding other civilians to the internal affairs section to ensure that investigations are conducted “not from a cultural perspective but [to better determine] what is right and what is wrong.”

Baca could implement the proposals himself but also has the option of consulting the Board of Supervisors.

The sheriff’s proposals came the week the LAPD released its 362-page self-critique about the Rampart crisis, concluding that a host of managerial, administrative and other human errors allowed a culture of corruption to take root in that division and possibly elsewhere. Despite calls for an outside investigation into the corruption case, Parks, Mayor Richard Riordan and several other city officials have remained steadfastly opposed to any such probe.

“I would hope Sheriff Baca’s comments put pressure on Chief Parks, Mayor Riordan and City Council members to rethink the wisdom of the old way of doing things,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor of law and political science at USC who has agreed to review the LAPD report for the Police Protective League, the union that represents rank and file officers.

Baca’s suggestions contrast sharply with those made by Riordan and Parks in recent days, Chemerinsky noted.

The mayor and chief “want to leave everything internal to the department,” he said. “Leave Rampart internal and leave solutions internal. Of the 108 recommendations in the [LAPD Board of Inquiry] report, 100 are for internal changes” without any civilian involvement.

LAPD officials say, however, that they already have the five-member civilian Police Commission to oversee the department, as well as an inspector general reviewing internal discipline.

“I think there are structures in place that provide an extensive amount of civilian oversight and allow for appropriate monitoring of the disciplinary process,” said Cmdr. Dave Kalish, LAPD spokesman.

But county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, one of the first local leaders to call for an outside investigation into Rampart, said he hopes Baca’s ideas generate debate in law enforcement circles over the “inbred” nature of the system. Most police agencies, Yaroslavsky said, resent outsiders, who they believe can’t possibly know enough to scrutinize their departments.

Baca’s proposals “run contrary to what most police, law enforcement executives think,” Yaroslavsky said. “They think only police can police the police, which I think is preposterous.”

Allowing outsiders, particularly those with some knowledge of law enforcement and the criminal justice system, to review Rampart, among other investigations, “really in the long run is for the good of law enforcement and for the good of society,” Yaroslavsky said.

Without commenting specifically on Baca’s recommendations, Merrick Bobb, an attorney who advises the Board of Supervisors on the Sheriff’s Department, said he believes they are “vitally important in the wake of Rampart.”

“To Baca’s credit, what he’s thinking about here is: How do we enhance the quality and credibility of our internal investigations?” Bobb said. “I think that it is very important that department internal affairs decisions be transparent and subject to both internal and external accountability.”

The Sheriff’s Department has civilian oversight of some internal investigations, but that process is triggered only by citizens’ complaints. The department has an ombudsman, a position created after recommendations from the Kolts Commission, a special panel convened to examine serious problems in the department eight years ago.

That job is designed to help citizens with complaints against deputies receive a fuller examination of their cases. The department also has a special panel of retired judges who can be called upon to review internal affairs investigations at the request of citizens, but that process is rarely used.

Katherine Mader, a former defense lawyer and district attorney who served as the LAPD’s first inspector general, said she agrees that law enforcement agencies should have more civilian involvement, particularly in internal investigations.

Calling Baca’s ideas “refreshing,” she said he appears to be willing to allow outsiders into the department, a proposal that probably would not get very far in the LAPD.

“I think that has been one of the problems for years with the hierarchy of [the] LAPD; that is, at the highest levels they sincerely do not believe that the public has much of value to bring to the table with respect to the disciplinary system,” Mader said.

While praising Parks’ handling of the current crisis, Baca said he believes that it presents a prime opportunity for his department, and others, to review procedures and policies.

Among the audits the Sheriff’s Department conducted was an examination of the anti-gang unit called the Safe Streets Bureau to determine whether supervision was adequate--a major concern in the Rampart scandal.

Another audit reviewed how deputies were handling themselves in court, which led to a more thorough look at reports written by deputies.

Overall, Baca said that he was pleased with the results of the audits but that he believes they illuminated areas that could be examined further.

“I think some experimentation can occur now,” he said. “The time is right.”