Bratton Reveals Shifts at LAPD

Just hours before a scathing federal report was released Monday, Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton announced a shake-up of the unit that reviews how his officers use deadly force.

The chief found that some of those reviews were sloppy, incomplete and brought “into question the quality of the overall investigation,” according to a memo he wrote last month pertaining to the issues.

Bratton’s overhaul Monday of the Critical Incident Investigation Division, including a shift to new leadership, came as part of a wider management shuffle in which Bratton moved two assistant chiefs, named a new chief of staff and gave his counter-terrorism unit new duties. They were the most extensive changes since Bratton took office as chief a year ago.

The unit, which investigates fatal officer-involved shootings and other serious uses of force, was shifted from detectives to internal affairs, a move Bratton said in the memo was needed to eliminate “the appearance of bias.”

Bratton made it clear that he agreed with the conclusions -- that the shootings were justified -- but found fault with the review process.

The chief’s announcement came just hours before a federally named monitor stated that he was “extremely concerned with deficiencies uncovered” in the Critical Incident unit. That criticism came in the quarterly report of Michael Cherkasky, the official who oversees the LAPD’s compliance with changes promised after the Justice Department threatened to sue for reforms.

Cherkasky questioned the motivations of some officers assigned to review shooting cases. He said that evidence suggested that sometimes only the statements that would support shootings were used, and that potentially negative statements had been omitted in some cases.

In a memo to Michael Berkow, deputy chief in charge of the Professional Standards Bureau, the chief expressed concern about the “quality of investigations.”

“There is no question that we must ensure the highest-quality investigation possible in these critical events,” Bratton wrote. “These investigations must withstand the strictest possible scrutiny from multiple sources.”

The chief said use of force by officers had been at the heart of the problems that led the U.S. Department of Justice to require the city and the LAPD to enter into a consent decree in 2001 that sets standards in policing.

Bratton said Cherkasky had identified three cases in which taped interviews were not referenced in the shooting report, one in which conflicts in witnesses’ statements were not addressed, and several possible instances of misconduct, such as racial slurs, that were not followed up.

Cherkasky noted that his team found “multiple occasions” in which critical incident detectives failed to report “inconsistent statements and preserve essential evidence.”

In at least four of the 19 shooting probes in the first six months of this year, investigators failed to tape at least one witness interview, and in other shooting probes, they allowed group interviews.

In nearly a third of those cases, the LAPD failed to meet a requirement that officers and witnesses involved in shootings be separated during interviews, Cherkasky said.

Bratton, in his memo, noted additional issues, including reviewers’ asking “leading questions in certain cases” and their failure to ask follow-up questions. Bratton describes one case as “extremely problematic.”

Bratton called his shuffle of command staff a “functional realignment” designed to “do more with less”; he said the city has no money to hire more than the department’s current 9,300 officers. Bratton said the management shifts will continue to help reduce crime and to further reforms.

Berkow becomes Bratton’s chief of staff. Bratton named Assistant Chief Jim McDonnell his second-in-command, responsible for running the department when he is away.

McDonnell, the head of LAPD operations, will shift from the day-to-day power position to oversee personnel and training groups, the police academy, risk management and the ombudsman’s office. He will also work with the City Council and community groups.

Taking the helm at LAPD operations, which includes patrol, gang enforcement and detectives, will be Assistant Chief George Gascon, the department’s highest-ranking Latino, who is often considered a reformer. Until now, Gascon has run personnel and training. Gascon, according to Bratton, will concentrate resources on the 10% of criminals who commit more than half of the city’s major crimes.

Assistant Chief Sharon Papa will expand her oversight to include the department’s support services, including technology, facilities, the jail and replacing Parker Center.

Bratton said the department’s counter-terrorism bureau will be renamed the Critical Incident Management Bureau.

The Special Investigation Section, with its surveillance skills, will move from the detective bureau to the enlarged counter-terrorism operation. Bratton said an administrative and tactical review of the 20-member unit -- responsible for at least 37 fatal shootings since 1965, including three this summer -- will decide its future.