LAPD Blog

We will see an immediate impact, however, how long will we continue suppresing gang activity when the Personnel Complaints start coming in Chief Bratton and Mayor Villa.

No Officer would like to jeopodize their career with any frivolous Personnel Complaint especially since they can hang over their head for over a year.

And when the community starts complaining to the City Council and your Office Mayor Villa that the Police are picking on my baby or my "mijo," and that you need to control your cops. I hope your response is like Chief Bratton's was, when qouted by the Communist Times...opps... I mean LA Times when told the same statement, "Control your Children."

What is the Mayor and the Chief going to do when good cops are getting bogus complaints while being aggressive against street gangs? You see street cops are getting stupid bogus complaints anytime they lock up a gangster. Those complaints go against the cop, even if the Chief and his brass don't want to admit it. They go on the cops record package, they do.
If the city wants to be serious against street gangs,uncuff your officers. Get rid of taking stupid, bogus, unfounded complaints. Throw them out the window. Sure, investigate the righteous complaints. Any cop knows that once they start locking up gangsters they will start making complaints. Then the officers will get benched or moved to another division. It is rediculous. The city is asking us to go out and be tuff on gangs with the same old complaint system. Get real. Some cops will be aggressive but this complaint system will eventually have its toll. With some officers it has already and they are not being serious against street gangs. So you can see, that when the Mayor and the Chief come out and say," we are going to start cracking down on gang violence!" We the line, hard working street copper just laugh. How are they going to do that without an aggressive police force. We get bogus complaints for putting righteous gang members in jail committing serious crimes. The city officials need to be real. Stop blowing smoke.

Chief Bratton and Mayor Villaraigosa: The other posters on this blog offer good points on whether or not the City will be supportive of the police officers who will be enforcing this new gang policy. I hope the both of you will be supportive of the police officers and put a stop to the bogus complaints on the officers who are trying to do good. I believe that officers must follow the rules and regulations that are set forth. LAPD officers will have to use aggressive police tactics and they should NOT be punished for trying to cure LA with this serious crime issue.

The gang problem is far beyond just "getting tough" on gangs. It involves better leadership of the people who will be doing the work so that unintended consequences (false complaints, further reduction in patrol resources, possible increase in racial and socio-economic tensions, etc. are planned for in advance. The previous responses raise valid questions based upon a historical perspective. To further complicate the issue, the Dept. per the Federal Consent Decree, is about to require gang officers to disclose their finances or face possible reassignment. That alone will kill this endeavor before it begins. Chief and Mr. Mayor, I sincerely hope you have really planned this long term strategy for those who fail to plan, plan to fail.

let's see how serious the chieft and mayor really are about this gang stuff... I think if they were really serious about it, they would start by changing the complaint process first.

Gee, a new south bureau homicide unit....hmmm. Is this de ja vu or what!! The only notable stats out of this endeavor will be the complaints against the street cops. And wow the FBI will help us too. Gee wiz I guess their civil rights unit will be there too monitoring our activities..Chief, Mayor give us a break !! How many flights to DC and $500 dollar dinners did it take for this idiotic proposal..

Hey Ron,
I think you need to get real. We are not whineing. I bet that if some gang member pimp slapped you or robbed you or even put a bullet in your behind, you would be whineing about the police going out and catching the scumb bag that did it to you. You would probably be complaining a few hours later about why we have not caught the suspect yet. You have no idea what we go through to protect and serve you. Scumb bag suspects after they are arrested will make false complaints against officers so those same officers wont arrest them again in the future. They also do it out of spite just to get back at the officers who arrest them. But I guess you thjink it is ok to lie and make false complaints against Officers who are just doing their job, protecting you from the scum of the earth. I bet that if an officer made a false arrest against you, you would sure as hell bet you would be screraming,"unfair, false arrest!!" Why don't you just shut up, or better yet say ,"thank you!" Your ungrateful. Yes the police should investigate righteous complaints. But they should toss the bogus stupid, off the wall complaints in the trash! You see we good citizens, if we think something is unfair we will fight and work hard to make changes to make thing right. You I'll bet don't even have the guts to stand up and fight for what is right to make changes for what you think is unfair. You want us to do it!

First of all I will not shut up. If the complaint is found to be untrue then it should be tossed out. Plain and simple. I would not put myself in a position to be arrested I am 58 years old and have lived in L.A. ALL MY LIFE. I do have an idea what it is like, IN OPINION IT TAKES A CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON THAT IS WILLING TO STRAP ON A GUN AND PUT ON BULLIT PROFF VEST THAT MIGHT NOT WORK AND WHEN THER IS GUNFIRE THEY RUN TO IT WHILE OTHERS RUN AWAY. It just angers me to hear all of the complaints and when and I as a person who lives in the city and pays taxes gets tired hearing stuff like this. I was taught that sometimes you have to grin and bear. I will do this I will metion it to my city council person for whatever good it will do. To me ungrateful is a slap in in face and is insulting. Don't worry I won't stop supporting you even if you insult me for a differance of opinon.

Ron, sounds like you're making a lot of friends on here. You are either making comments to intentionally piss off cops or you truely are a jackass. I'm not sure what experiences have caused you to feel the way you do, but you need help.

Ron, as an officer myself I will be the first to admit that we (officers) do a lot of complaining. Some of it is extranious, but many of our complaints are valid. You made comments about grinning and bearing it. In our profession we are asked to do that all of the time, and we do so. However, when it comes to issues such as communications and the complaint system to name a few. We as officers cannot afford to standby. When we complain about our communication equipment we have a valid reason. We use our radios and our computers as a life line, and far too often we are let down by these devices. The city has a history of going with the cheapest/inadequate equipment that they can get. This is a concern for all officers as it is a life and death issue for us. We are not complaining about a stapler that wont staple or a hole punch that does not make holes, it is life and death. And when it comes to the complaint process, we are up against a guilty unitl proven innocent system. It is uterly ridiculous. There are valid complaints that are made against officers, however the overwhelming amount of complaints that are received are found to be unfounded or exonerated. Our department will take a complaint for almost anything including taking a complaint on a matter of our policy.

For example lets say I go to your house for a domestic violence call. Ulitmatley there is found to be no crime, however we have to take an incident report. We determine that you are the owner of several guns, all of which are confiscated by law and policy. You are obviously not pleased by us taking your property so you call the station and talk to the watch commander. You aledge that the officers took you property without cause. The watch commander attempts to tell you why we took your guns, but you aren't buying it. You say the C word, and there it is a complaint filed against the officers for something that was legal and within policy. Will the complaint be exonerated? Sure it will. Will the complaint stay in my package forever? Sure it will. Will this pending beef hold up a promotion or transfer to a specialized unit? Sure it will, and this nothing complaint will stay active for no less than 5 months. Will this exonerated complaint keep me from promoting in the future? It sure could, if I rack up enough of these BS complaints I could be deemed a risk management flag.

Ron, I wish no ill will against you. I am just trying to explain where we as officers are coming from. We have valid concerns, and it may seem like bitching sometimes, but atleast with this blog you get to hear/see our concerns. By the way, this gang initiative will not work, unless you let us work. Without revamping the complaint process, it is just another dog and pony show.

Dev p2
We as citizens need to do more to get the complaint system changed. The way you explain it,it sounds stupid. I still say why can't they just toss out the ones that are B.S. No one should have something hanging over ones head that is bullshit. I now agree that the complaint system should be changed. But how???? You know as well as I do the brass will not give in to change.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

The LAPD will not have a gang unit when the consent decree demands financial disclosure in the next couple of months. Stay out of my personal business. If you think a cop is dirty, show probable cause and get a search warrant for the financial records. Just like we have to do when gangsters commit crimes and we want to search their house or records.

Dont forget when Risk Management started. Good cop hard working, a risk management issue!

Now it could be, Heavy mortgage, private schools, risk management issue

Or good investor, to much money, must be dirty. Risk management issue. O' your spouse makes alot of money, we need to see his/her W-2

Watch out and dont cave in. Together we are strong.

Good luck fighting gangs without gang cops.

Another issue, fighting gangs is something new? Give me a break. Give them the resources but have a plan. And teach theses new gang cops how to debrief, debrief, debrief.... Then act on the info..

Mr. Ciizen
Gates was part of the problem. He also was one of the racist on earth. Remember he said, black people veins or somehting don;t open up like normal people! Under his leadership no one could complain you where told shut the hell up and get the hell out of here.