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LAPD Officers - Disclosure of personal financesâ€
From: Tommy Carter ([email protected])
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 12:10:35 AM
Reply-to: Tommy Carter ([email protected])
To: ;
On Thursday, August 21, 2008 U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess issued
a ruling requiring that LAPD officers working in designated
specialized units submit reports fully disclosing their personal
finances along with the financial holdings of any family member living
in the household, whether law enforcement or not. Officers in gang
and narcotics units are particularly targeted. This seems to be more
of a territorial dominance stance by the federal court, backed by some
civil rights lawyers with vindictive agendas, rather than a rational
decision. The Los Angeles City Council seems impotent in the case,
while the civilian Police Commission for some inane reason is backing
the implementation of the decree. Furthermore, the ultimate irony is
that this ruling comes from a court. We have courts to decide guilt
or innocence, with the basic precept that all ARE INNOCENT until
proven guilty. Judge Freess seems to have turned that idea on its
head. His ruling appears to be founded on the premise that all are
guilty from the outset.
This ruling comes on the heels of the Rampart incident and is
supposedly designed to prevent a reoccurrence of the infamous Perez
scandal. The rationale is that if officers reveal their finances,
internal investigators can more easily track corrupt officers.
However, it has been shown by many investigations and investigators
that none of the Perez capers would have shown up on his financial
records even if he had been required to submit them at the time.
Another obvious point that seems to have been missed in this
convoluted process is that if officers have mandatory disclosure
records and decide to cross the line, they certainly would not place
the ill-gotten proceeds in accounts that could be discoverable and
traceable.
Besides the fact that this ruling is not likely to prevent any of the
alleged violations as the court anticipates, the decision could cause
catastrophic damage in the national gang violence arena. Officers
from LAPD gang and narcotic units have indicated that they will not
comply with the consent decree; it is an unnecessary invasion of the
privacy rights of the officers and their families! . They have further
indicated that they will accept transfer from these highly specialized
units. Such mass transfer of experienced officers would leave a great
void in the management of street gang violence.
These officers have a tremendous amount of experience, notwithstanding
the vast amount of time and money that has been invested in their
training. This training and experience cannot be replaced overnight.
It is not simply something that a chief of police, police commission,
or a federal judge can wave a magic wand over, make a decree, and
after a group hug make the problem disappear. These officers cannot
suddenly be replaced with qualified men and women. Who is going to
want to subject themselves to this added layer of paperwork and
heightened vulnerability? It takes a long while and much investment
; to get the quality of officers needed to do these jobs. This ruling
undermines that investment by automatically questioning the integrity
of every officer in these units.
Where will the collected information be stored? Who has access? No
matter the promises now, new administrations, slackened controls, not
to mention simple human error could cause exposure of this sensitive
material. There are no guarantees that information will not be
released or leaked to defense counsel during court proceedings. Like
other U.S. citizens, officers already file income tax returns in which
full financial disclosure is required. Judge Freess apparently
believes that 600 highly trained LAPD personnel must also file what
seems to be another return and submit this to their supervisors.
One must remember gang and narcotic officers deal on a daily basis
with the most dangerous elements of our society---gangsters who have
no soul, gangsters who simply kill any problem that they encounter,
gangsters with a thug mentality that on a regular basis kill children,
women, witnesses, and innocent bystanders. Los Angeles County has
been declared the Gang Capital of the World, although in the last year
there has been a reported decline in the overall gang violence in the
county and specifically Los Angeles City, this decline did not happen
by itself; it happened because of the dedicated men and women in the
Los Angeles Police Department's Gang Impact Teams. They are the ones
on the front lines bringing the gangsters to justice.
While any rational gang cop supports prevention and intervention as a
core tool in the fight against gangs, those elements cannot and do not
work until the hard core gangsters are incarcerated or fear going to
jail. Once their savage element is removed from the street equation,
prevention and intervention programs have a chance of success.
In the military there is a term MLR, Main Line of Resistance. In the
gang world there are two such lines: The first one is the family of
the gangster, which has obviously fallen victim long ago, hence the
horde of gangsters on the street. The second line, which is the only
one standing between the street thugs and total anarchy on the street,
Is that one maintained by the street cops, who are the first, and in
some cases the only persons in the gangsters' lives to say NO, you
cannot do this. Now if this decision i! s carried out and the officers
follow up with their threat to transfer, that MLR is breached. It was
breached a few years back when LAPD set the CRASH units down for
months. Gang crime ran rampant. Gang violence stats spiked not only
in the City of Los Angeles, but gang violence spread like wild fire
across the country, the state, and the country. It is a proven fact
that how Los Angeles goes in the gang world, so goes the nation.
It took several years of hard police work to bring balance back to the
local gang scene and actually achieve a reduction in gang crime. How
many died due to this ill-conceived idea of shutting down the gang
units? We will never really know. The stats are hidden in the
overall murder statistics of the county. Many gang killi! ngs are
miscalculated as some other type of homicide, thus preventing the
general public from knowing the real horrendous picture of what is
happening on the streets, much of it driven by gangs and narcotics.
If this decision goes forward without refinement and some negotiated
workable agreement, this city, county, state and nation are in for a
wave of gang crime that we have never experienced before, all in the
name of showmanship. The federal judiciary and the local LAPD
baiters can step back and say "We showed you", while the rest of us
run for our lives.
Wes McBride (Sgt. LASD Ret.)
Executive Director
California Gang Investigators Association
PMB 331
5942 Edinger St., Ste. #113
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
888 229 2442
Fax 714 908 7100
From: Tommy Carter ([email protected])
Sent: Thursday, August 28, 2008 12:10:35 AM
Reply-to: Tommy Carter ([email protected])
To: ;
On Thursday, August 21, 2008 U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess issued
a ruling requiring that LAPD officers working in designated
specialized units submit reports fully disclosing their personal
finances along with the financial holdings of any family member living
in the household, whether law enforcement or not. Officers in gang
and narcotics units are particularly targeted. This seems to be more
of a territorial dominance stance by the federal court, backed by some
civil rights lawyers with vindictive agendas, rather than a rational
decision. The Los Angeles City Council seems impotent in the case,
while the civilian Police Commission for some inane reason is backing
the implementation of the decree. Furthermore, the ultimate irony is
that this ruling comes from a court. We have courts to decide guilt
or innocence, with the basic precept that all ARE INNOCENT until
proven guilty. Judge Freess seems to have turned that idea on its
head. His ruling appears to be founded on the premise that all are
guilty from the outset.
This ruling comes on the heels of the Rampart incident and is
supposedly designed to prevent a reoccurrence of the infamous Perez
scandal. The rationale is that if officers reveal their finances,
internal investigators can more easily track corrupt officers.
However, it has been shown by many investigations and investigators
that none of the Perez capers would have shown up on his financial
records even if he had been required to submit them at the time.
Another obvious point that seems to have been missed in this
convoluted process is that if officers have mandatory disclosure
records and decide to cross the line, they certainly would not place
the ill-gotten proceeds in accounts that could be discoverable and
traceable.
Besides the fact that this ruling is not likely to prevent any of the
alleged violations as the court anticipates, the decision could cause
catastrophic damage in the national gang violence arena. Officers
from LAPD gang and narcotic units have indicated that they will not
comply with the consent decree; it is an unnecessary invasion of the
privacy rights of the officers and their families! . They have further
indicated that they will accept transfer from these highly specialized
units. Such mass transfer of experienced officers would leave a great
void in the management of street gang violence.
These officers have a tremendous amount of experience, notwithstanding
the vast amount of time and money that has been invested in their
training. This training and experience cannot be replaced overnight.
It is not simply something that a chief of police, police commission,
or a federal judge can wave a magic wand over, make a decree, and
after a group hug make the problem disappear. These officers cannot
suddenly be replaced with qualified men and women. Who is going to
want to subject themselves to this added layer of paperwork and
heightened vulnerability? It takes a long while and much investment
; to get the quality of officers needed to do these jobs. This ruling
undermines that investment by automatically questioning the integrity
of every officer in these units.
Where will the collected information be stored? Who has access? No
matter the promises now, new administrations, slackened controls, not
to mention simple human error could cause exposure of this sensitive
material. There are no guarantees that information will not be
released or leaked to defense counsel during court proceedings. Like
other U.S. citizens, officers already file income tax returns in which
full financial disclosure is required. Judge Freess apparently
believes that 600 highly trained LAPD personnel must also file what
seems to be another return and submit this to their supervisors.
One must remember gang and narcotic officers deal on a daily basis
with the most dangerous elements of our society---gangsters who have
no soul, gangsters who simply kill any problem that they encounter,
gangsters with a thug mentality that on a regular basis kill children,
women, witnesses, and innocent bystanders. Los Angeles County has
been declared the Gang Capital of the World, although in the last year
there has been a reported decline in the overall gang violence in the
county and specifically Los Angeles City, this decline did not happen
by itself; it happened because of the dedicated men and women in the
Los Angeles Police Department's Gang Impact Teams. They are the ones
on the front lines bringing the gangsters to justice.
While any rational gang cop supports prevention and intervention as a
core tool in the fight against gangs, those elements cannot and do not
work until the hard core gangsters are incarcerated or fear going to
jail. Once their savage element is removed from the street equation,
prevention and intervention programs have a chance of success.
In the military there is a term MLR, Main Line of Resistance. In the
gang world there are two such lines: The first one is the family of
the gangster, which has obviously fallen victim long ago, hence the
horde of gangsters on the street. The second line, which is the only
one standing between the street thugs and total anarchy on the street,
Is that one maintained by the street cops, who are the first, and in
some cases the only persons in the gangsters' lives to say NO, you
cannot do this. Now if this decision i! s carried out and the officers
follow up with their threat to transfer, that MLR is breached. It was
breached a few years back when LAPD set the CRASH units down for
months. Gang crime ran rampant. Gang violence stats spiked not only
in the City of Los Angeles, but gang violence spread like wild fire
across the country, the state, and the country. It is a proven fact
that how Los Angeles goes in the gang world, so goes the nation.
It took several years of hard police work to bring balance back to the
local gang scene and actually achieve a reduction in gang crime. How
many died due to this ill-conceived idea of shutting down the gang
units? We will never really know. The stats are hidden in the
overall murder statistics of the county. Many gang killi! ngs are
miscalculated as some other type of homicide, thus preventing the
general public from knowing the real horrendous picture of what is
happening on the streets, much of it driven by gangs and narcotics.
If this decision goes forward without refinement and some negotiated
workable agreement, this city, county, state and nation are in for a
wave of gang crime that we have never experienced before, all in the
name of showmanship. The federal judiciary and the local LAPD
baiters can step back and say "We showed you", while the rest of us
run for our lives.
Wes McBride (Sgt. LASD Ret.)
Executive Director
California Gang Investigators Association
PMB 331
5942 Edinger St., Ste. #113
Huntington Beach, CA 92649
888 229 2442
Fax 714 908 7100
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