Police Press Demand for Role in Talks

Flanked by more than two dozen police union representatives from cities across the country, Los Angeles Police Protective League President Ted Hunt repeated his demand Thursday that the union be included in negotiations between city and federal officials over reform of the LAPD.

“City Hall insiders are not representative of the rank and file officers who will have to approve any settlement, whether it be a memorandum of understanding, consent decree or lawsuit,” Hunt said at a San Pedro news conference.

He vowed that the league, the union for the department’s 9,500 officers, “will not sit idly by while our careers, reputations and working conditions are negotiated away by people unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of real police work.”

He said police union representatives, who are in San Pedro for a three-day meeting, have been “brainstorming” over what actions the league might take if it is excluded from negotiations, but he declined to describe what those steps might be.

Police union representatives from Chicago, Baltimore, Dallas, Philadelphia, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix and Seattle were among those attending the so-called Big 50 Associations Conference.

The U.S. Department of Justice contends that the LAPD has been involved in a pattern or practice of corruption and civil rights violations.

The Justice Department considers major change in the department imperative, arguing that the LAPD has failed to properly respond to citizens’ complaints about officer misconduct, to train and supervise officers adequately and to track the performance of problem officers. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has said it is prepared to sue the city to obtain reform.

Hunt said Wednesday that the threat of a federal lawsuit is a repudiation of LAPD management and the city’s political leadership.

He said the union has long advocated reform in the department, calling for, among other things, in-service psychological retesting throughout an officer’s career, civilian review of discipline and a restoration of community policing and senior lead officers.

City Council President John Ferraro named the four-member city negotiating team, consisting of City Atty. James Hahn, Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton, Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff and Mayor Richard Riordan’s chief of staff, Kelly Martin.

“There isn’t a single representative of the police officers’ point of view, nor is there an independent citizen on that team,” Hunt said.