Report faults LAPD on diversity

The Los Angeles Police Department has made progress in increasing ethnic diversity in promotions, but is still not meeting some goals, and many minority officers continue to feel at a disadvantage, according to the heads of Latino and African American advocacy groups.

The mixed record was also detailed in the LAPD’s annual report on a consent decree approved by the courts in 1992 to force the department to improve promotion of minority and women officers. The Police Commission held a hearing on the report Tuesday.

The department needs to adopt a sense of urgency to meet remaining goals, said Sgt. Ronnie Cato, president of the Oscar Joel Bryant Police Foundation, which represents African American officers.

“When we talk about ... coveted assignments, if you talk to most African Americans they really don’t feel it is equal,” Cato told the panel. “Most African Americans on this department will tell you our white counterparts promote two or three times faster than we do.”

Det. Art Placencia, president of the Latin American Law Enforcement Assn., complained that with the recent departure of George Gascon, there are no Latino assistant police chiefs.

The department also fell short of meeting goals for Latinos promoted to sergeant I, detective III and police officer III.

“We have noted in the command level, Hispanics are under-represented,” Placencia told the board. However, he said the hiring of many Latinos is changing the face of the department.

He said Latinos in the department went from 3,011, or 33.6% of the police force in 2001, to 3,459 officers, or 37.2% currently.

“We believe if recruitment continues as is, Hispanics will be the largest group, surpassing the Caucasian group, which has currently 3,900,” Placencia said.

The annual report said the department fell short of meeting goals for the number of African Americans in the posts of lieutenant, detective I, sergeant II, and coveted positions, such as detectives and sergeants who work in the office of the chief of police. The department has 1,170 black officers.

Goals also were not met for Asians and Filipinos as lieutenants and detective I, while not enough females were detective II.

Commissioners agreed that change has not occurred as fast as it could, but noted there are increasing efforts to provide mentoring and other help to minority and female officers competing for promotion.

Police Commission Vice President Alan Skobin said he took the criticism as constructive. “I think that’s a call to action,” Skobin said.

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patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

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LAPD breakdown

The Los Angeles Police Department’s ethnic and gender breakdown out of 9,302 sworn personnel as of June 24, 2006:

*--* No. of % of Category officers personnel Caucasian 3,900 41.9 Latino 3,459 37.2 Black 1,170 12.6 Asian 565 6.1 Filipino 166 1.8 American Indian 42 0.5 Men 7,570 81.4 Women 1,732 18.6

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