Controller, LAPD Investigate Police Relief Program

The Los Angeles Police Department and the city controller have launched separate investigations into allegations of financial mismanagement and favoritism in the agency that administers health benefits for about 17,000 active and retired police officers.

The inquiries into the Los Angeles Police Relief Assn. stem from allegations made by a former LAPD civilian manager after she was fired. Ramona Voge, who left the LAPD to become executive director of the nonprofit association, said she will file a wrongful-termination lawsuit that says she was fired for challenging the agency’s practices.

A lawyer for the group discounted Voge’s allegations. “I believe you have a disgruntled former employee who is very unhappy and is attempting to do whatever possible to lash out against the organization,” attorney Richard Simmons said.

Voge’s allegations include charges that:

* The agency sought and received city money for health benefits for officers who were dead.

* For years, some retired LAPD officers’ pensions were charged for health benefits that should have been free.

* The agency regularly overcharged the city for health benefits for retired officers.

* In hundreds of cases, the association failed to pay a $500 death benefit to survivors of deceased officers.

Voge, 49, was fired Jan. 10. She had served as the executive director of the association, which has assets of more than $70 million. She said board members falsely accused her of recruiting candidates to oppose them in association elections.

Voge said she was notified in writing that she had been terminated, but said the reason was not specified.

A week after she was fired, Voge presented her allegations to LAPD Deputy Chief David J. Gascon. Gascon said in an interview that the department launched its investigation after his meeting with Voge.

“There are a number of people involved in looking at things, and that includes Internal Affairs,” Gascon said.

LAPD Capt. Charles Beck, the association president, would not discuss details of Voge’s termination. Simmons, meanwhile, praised the association’s leadership.

“They are an extremely dedicated group of people and their sole interest is advancing and protecting the rights of their members,” Simmons said. “I will tell you LAPRA has been vindicated in every case when someone who was unhappy chose to attack the board members.”

LAPD Cmdr. Sharon Papa, who oversees press relations, said she would not comment on the Voge matter until after the lawsuit is filed. A spokesman for City Controller Laura Chick refused to comment other than to confirm that an audit was underway. Ralph Bazilio, a partner of the Washington accounting firm hired by the city, called the audit sensitive, but would not elaborate. The police union also withheld comment.

“We’ve heard the rumors, but before we make any comment we want to see the results of the audit,” said Bob Baker, the vice president of the Police Protective League, which is located in the same building as the association.

The association, which administers benefits for about 9,500 LAPD officers and 7,500 retirees, receives more than $50 million annually from the city for health and other benefits. With the money, the association pays for members’ insurance plans.

The association also dips into its own funds to help members cover medical expenses that exceed Blue Cross limits.

“For the last number of years LAPRA had to come out of pocket in the millions of dollars to pay for benefits,” said Beck, the association president.

Voge, an LAPD civilian worker for 26 years, became the association’s executive director in August 1999. She said she noticed what appeared to be mismanagement of money and other irregularities shortly after she was hired by the association.

“The more I told [board members] about misusing the money, the more they disliked me,” said Voge, whose husband is LAPD Capt. Jim Voge of the Narcotics Division.

Voge said some of the relief association’s biggest problems stem from a computer database that is a shambles.

The city is mistakenly paying health benefit subsidies on behalf of “probably hundreds of dead officers,” Voge said. “The database shows the officers as active even though they’ve been deceased.”

In an April 27 interview with city auditors, then-Systems Operations Manager Irma Perez estimated that 25% of the more than 17,000 personnel files in the association’s database are miscoded, according to a summary of the interview prepared by the city controller’s office.

Many retirees in the files are listed as active, the summary says. That costs the city more in benefits payments, because it contributes more for active employees than it does for retirees.

A Feb. 14 letter to acting relief association Executive Director Tim McBride from the Department of Fire and Police Pensions stated that the city had identified 20 retirees who were paying a combined $1,086.39 a month for health benefits, all because of coding errors. The letter said the benefits should have been free.

“They know there are problems there and they are being looked at,” said Michael Perez, senior management analyst of the pensions department. “I just want them to find out what the problems are and fix them.”

In a message sent to members earlier this month, Beck said the association’s business “is like police work in that it is much too complicated to be error-free. When mistakes are made, they are corrected immediately with the members’ best interests at heart.”

Jeffrey Eglash, inspector general for the Los Angeles Police Commission, said the panel is closely monitoring the inquiry into Voge’s complaints.