Faulty Radio Equipment Tunes In LAPD Problem

“New LAPD Radios Get Negative Reviews” (July 31), on the failing LAPD radio system, illustrates why our Police Department is losing officers at an unprecedented rate. The radio system is substandard and a serious safety concern. More important, the management response to this problem demonstrates the depth of our problems.

When I read the headline I thought that, finally, rank-and-file officers and LAPD management could agree on something. After all, everyone wants working radios, right? Officers who use this system know that we are in danger, based on its poor performance. The president of the Police Commission saw firsthand how the LAPD helicopters were crippled by its failures.

Once again, everyone agrees except the LAPD management, which blames the patrol cop. In an all-too-familiar message, the LAPD brass said that they hoped to eliminate “confusion among officers” and to “train the officers properly.” Not one word about the fact that the cops might just be right and the system might be defective.

I would like to invite the LAPD command staff personnel to begin regularly working shifts in patrol. My Crown Victoria door is always open. Perhaps contact with their subordinates will show them that the problems in this department, radio and otherwise, are not automatically the fault of the hard-working patrol officers.

Steven Lurie

Patrol Officer, LAPD