Management Blamed for LAPD Exodus

Re “LAPD Exodus Is Outpacing Recruitment,” Aug. 19. Chief Bernard Parks and LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank blame the exodus of LAPD officers on a strict discipline system. While we do agree that the unfair discipline system is certainly one of the contributing factors, we disagree with their claims that people quit the force rather than risk being fired.

This is an insult to the men and women of the LAPD and is totally at odds with the results of information that the chief has in his possession. If people are leaving to avoid discipline, then why, as the article states, are Southern California agencies getting more transfers than usual from the LAPD? If these officers have discipline problems, how do they pass the background checks and get hired elsewhere?

When an officer is investigated for hanging up the phone too loudly in response to a resident’s call (a real example), it is quite possible that he or she will face a board of rights, and it is of course overwhelmingly likely that the officer will be found innocent of the charges and return to work. To automatically assume that this officer would be fired is fantasy.

Chief Parks’ and Lt. Frank’s comments unwittingly expose the real causes for officers’ untimely departures: misguided management obsessed with a bizarre and alienating disciplinary system, all the while oblivious to the real reasons officers are leaving--for flexible work schedules, better pay and benefits and more supportive management.

Bob Baker

Vice President

L.A. Police Protective League