Discipline Measures Rankle LAPD Officers

“A New Way of Policing the LAPD,” Feb. 3: I am wholeheartedly in Chief Bernard Parks’ corner for implementing a system for the LAPD that makes officers accountable for their actions. These officers should be beyond reproach in their duties as officers and pillars of our community. They should be looked up to as examples of law and order. From the 1960s to the Rampart Division fiasco, nothing has changed. It is time for change and accountability.

Ron Bianchi

Castaic

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The LAPD doesn’t like being punished for breaking the rules. The enforcers don’t like the enforcement. The solution: Change the boss, get someone soft.

I thought law enforcement liked those who were tough on crime. The next time I get a traffic ticket, I’ll tell the judge the police officer was too tough and that if I should be convicted, my morale would suffer, so please let me slide.

I’ll tell the complaining police officers what they would tell any of us: If you don’t like the punishment, don’t do the crime.

Norwood Price

Burbank

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Parks fails to inspire officers to do better by creating an esprit de corps and a sense of mission. He only punishes; he does not reward. Six thousand disciplinary procedures per year shows how draconian his methods are. Parks’ approach is reminiscent of something an American military officer said during the war in Southeast Asia, that “it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”

Neal Berke

Valley Glen

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The facts that the Police Protective League wants Parks out, that police officers with disciplinary actions pending are complaining to the ACLU and that complaints against officers are getting real attention are the most ringing endorsements for the retention of Parks. Individual officers on the street have an extreme amount of discretion and little real oversight without an effective complaint system, which Parks has sought to establish. He deserves another term.

Mark Boykin

Tarzana

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Parks disqualified himself from any consideration for the position when he dismissed the Rampart scandal as a failure of management. If he is unable or unwilling to read his job description, then he should be dismissed without further discussions.

Andrew Wortman

Santa Monica