60 Officers Join Lawsuit Against LAPD

More than 60 current and former officers are joining a class-action lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Department that alleges retaliation against whistle-blowers, bringing the total number of plaintiffs to more than 100, an attorney said Monday.

The original lawsuit, filed Aug. 24 in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of 41 former and current employees, most of them officers, claims that the LAPD has a culture that enforces a “code of silence” that leads to a pattern of discrimination, harassment and retaliation against those who report misconduct by other officers.

“The LAPD is really an expert . . . at retaliation,” attorney Bradley Gage said at a Woodland Hills news conference, flanked by a former lieutenant, a former detective and a former sergeant he represents. Most of the 109 plaintiffs identified so far worked in the West Valley, 77th or Southwest divisions, Gage said. About 20 are still working for the LAPD in such divisions as Internal Affairs, which investigates misconduct, he added.

An LAPD spokesman declined to comment Monday because of the pending lawsuit.

Among the new plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which seeks $100 million in damages, is Shelby Braverman, a former narcotics detective in the Harbor Division. Braverman, who was relieved of duty and then retired, said he tried to report a supervisor he suspected of stealing heroin seized as evidence. Braverman said he met resistance from top brass, who told him he should take the matter with him to his grave.

Braverman said that when he continued speaking out, the department retaliated by reopening what he said had been a closed investigation of him, involving a violation of a court order, leading to his arrest and a 30-day jail sentence after he was forced out of his 20-year career.

Lita Abella, a former lieutenant in the Central Division, said she resigned in February. She said she was retaliated against for what she characterized as her “activist” role as a union delegate and a vice president of the Los Angeles Women Police Officers Assn. who over the years had reported or investigated numerous incidents of alleged misconduct.

She said the department eventually launched a “major personnel complaint” against her that had been manufactured to get her fired. She quit, she said, rather than fight the charges because the situation was making her physically ill.

Since filing the lawsuit, Gage said, he has received hundreds of calls. “We have rejected dozens of individuals . . . because we wanted to make sure we have meritorious cases,” Gage said. “Everybody named in the lawsuit [had] reported some sort of misconduct and they were retaliated against.”