EDITORIAL
From the Los Angeles TimesToo-real reality TV Instead of attracting recruits, a show about the L.A. County Sheriff's Department may make them think twice.
May 25, 2007
THE LOS ANGELES County Sheriff's Department has long existed as a kind of quiet cousin to the Los Angeles Police Department. Its deputies patrol adjacent and demographically comparable terrain. It runs jails and contracts with many of Southern California's smaller cities to provide security. What it doesn't have is star power. The LAPD had "Dragnet" and "Adam-12" and larger-than-life chiefs in William Parker, Ed Davis and, now, Bill Bratton; the Sheriff's Department has low-key, likable Lee Baca, whose critics and even some friends call "Moonbeam." The LAPD's uniforms — dark, intimidating blue — convey a gravity that seems missing from the olive and khaki worn by sheriff's deputies. Even the LAPD's scandals are juicier: Its officers beat Rodney King and opened fire on demonstrators in MacArthur Park. The sheriff, thankfully, generally goes about his business with a lighter touch. Still, it gets old playing the understudy, and the Sheriff's Department has decided that it's time for the spotlight. It started last night with the premiere of "The Academy." And that reality show is just the first act of this PR initiative.
Upcoming are "The Assignment," "The Real CSI" and "Sheriff's Stories." "I think it's good marketing," Baca told The Times. Perhaps. If any publicity is in fact good publicity, Baca has a point. He's determined to expand his agency by adding hundreds of deputies in the coming years, and some free TV time is bound to engage a few would-be cops. But the first episode of "The Academy" captures the deliberate belittling that recruits are forced to endure as their resolve is tested. Instructors — including one memorably known as "the Ramrod" — bark orders and demand obedience from hollow-eyed young people dressed in business suits. One recruit is mocked for shifting around in his seat sleepily. Another drips with sweat as he struggles to recall the department's core values. A couple dissolve into tears. One quits after the first day. The key to the success of "Adam-12" in building the LAPD's reputation was that it was fiction; "The Academy" may have the recruiting defect of being all too true. "Raw. Arresting. Real," the new show's promotional material boasts. That's not "Dragnet."
-- http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-reality25may25,1,4319953.story
-- http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-me-reality24may24,1,6518251.storyFrom the Los Angeles Times
Baca latches onto small screen big time From the network that brought you 'Extreme Dating' and 'Sexy Cam' comes 'The Academy.'
By Stuart Pfeifer Times Staff Writer
May 24, 2007
Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca already oversees the largest department of its kind in the United States. If he gets his way, it could soon be the most watched as well. The sheriff has approved five proposed reality television programs about his nearly 9,000-deputy department, allowing video cameras inside the training academy, homicide unit, patrol cars and crime lab. Two of the programs have been sold, with the first, "The Academy," scheduled to premiere today at 5 and 9 p.m. on the Fox Reality network — alongside such fare as "Extreme Dating," "World's Scariest Explosions" and "Sexy Cam."
The real-life sheriff's drama tracks a class of 111 recruits through 18 weeks of in-your-face instruction and gut-busting physical training that proves too tough for some. Baca said the county agency would eventually be paid for its cooperation with Hollywood. But the real attraction is selling the Sheriff's Department to the public and potential recruits, just as the Los Angeles Police Department did by providing a backdrop for TV's "Dragnet" and "Adam 12" in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Baca plans to hire 1,300 new deputies this year and is looking for creative ways to attract applicants. "I think it's good marketing, because the viewers will have more respect for the profession," he said. "That's all I'm trying to do, let the public judge for themselves who the people are that wear the Los Angeles County sheriff's badge."
The department severed its relationship with the trend-setting reality program "Cops" many years ago because of logistical problems that come with allowing cameras in patrol cars. Baca saw "The Academy" as different, however. And his positive experience with its producers convinced him that the department should give other reality television ideas a look. The new access has created something of a stampede on the Sheriff's Department media office, which has a deputy assigned to handle inquiries from production companies. County lawyers have been busy banging out contracts ensuring that the county gets percentages of license fees and profits. The contract for "The Academy" guarantees the department 5% of license fees. One industry source said the department's share would probably be about $150,000.
"The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is an area that's been closed for years. They've opened that door," said reality television producer Rasha Drachkovitch, who sold a pilot about Sheriff's Department patrol deputies, "The Assignment," to A&E. "I think in a sense it's almost a race. There are only so many opportunities for this. We feel a little pressure to get this out because of that." In addition to "The Academy" and "The Assignment," the sheriff has authorized "L.A. Homicide," which would document detectives investigating murder cases. Then there would be "The Real CSI," a look into the scientific analysis of evidence, and "Sheriff's Stories," which would track cases from crime scene to arrest. The latter three shows are still in creative development and have not been sold.
The Los Angeles Police Department participates in "LA Forensics," a Court TV reality program that depicts the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division. The department also occasionally lets officers appear in programs that feature police departments around the country. Fox Reality shows reruns of "LAPD: Life on the Beat," which stopped shooting in the 1990s. But an LAPD spokesman said the department rejects most television requests it receives. "It is a resource issue," said Mary Grady, public information director. "With all the requests I get from production companies, I could keep this department very busy doing reality television shows. But in reality we are in the business of policing and reducing crime and making the city safer. So I have to very carefully balance those requests with the priorities of the taxpayers."
Sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy, head of the department's homicide unit, plans to retire at the end of the month and begin working with his former colleagues on "L.A. Homicide." The program would depict retired and current homicide detectives as they investigated unsolved murders. Court TV is among the networks interested in the program, Peavy said. "It's a win-win situation," he said. "It's going to provide entertainment for the guy at home. It's going to allow the public to see how we work. And it's going to allow us as investigators to get tips about cases."
All of this videotaping concerns Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, who fears that the television cameras will give defense attorneys more opportunities to question the sheriff's investigative methods and motives. After The Times contacted him about the programs, Cooley assigned prosecutors last week to examine potential legal pitfalls and to meet with sheriff's officials to discuss concerns. Under their contracts with the county, production companies are required to provide any video requested under subpoena. They also agree not to air footage until cases have been prosecuted. But even video that does not make it onto television could become evidence that defense lawyers would be entitled to see. The district attorney suggested that the Sheriff's Department retain video in a searchable database. "They'll have to figure out some way to retain all this and deliver it to the defense," Cooley said. "This is an extra burden the Sheriff's Department is going to have to take if they want these programs to exist. They may have to spend some of their profits preserving evidence."
And any recording of detectives discussing theories about cases or potential suspects would be evidence that could be used by the defense, Cooley said. The district attorney said he expects some of the programs to provide ammunition for defense lawyers. "Will anyone modify what they would do as a peace officer because they're a character in a reality TV show? Defense lawyers are going to argue any angle they can," Cooley said.
Baca said he has informed production companies that they will need to be prepared to provide video recordings for use as evidence in criminal prosecutions. "There's no question about it. Mr. Cooley is correct. Anything we gather is evidence. It has to be shared," Baca said.
"Our mission is to prosecute offenders who have committed crimes. Anything we can establish to make that point will be provided to the district attorney and the defense attorney as well."
Television producer Scott Sternberg said he believes that Baca is the first sheriff in the nation to allow reality television cameras inside a training academy. That access makes "The Academy" compelling television, he said. All of the recruits and deputies in the program had to give their permission to be filmed. "I didn't know what to expect. When they lined them up, started yelling and screaming at them, I was stunned," said Sternberg, whose production credits include "The Gong Show" and "The All-New Dating Game."
In the first episode, a recruit appears to doze off in class, drawing this tirade from an instructor: "You are weak. You don't even want to be here. It's quite obvious." Another recruit struggles to perform push-ups: "You gotta be kidding me. You didn't prepare yourself for this academy, did you? How do you expect to protect those that live in L.A. County?" Some of the strongest words were reserved for a recruit who wept when criticized by an instructor. "This is not the job for you," an instructor tells the recruit, who continues to cry. "If you cannot deal with it now in a scenario setting, how are you going to deal with it in real life?"
Baca said he negotiated final editing authority over the programs. He also extracted written guarantees that the programs "shall not derogatorily depict the county or the LASD." "Everything that is eventually aired we approve," the sheriff said. "It's under my control. And I'm not giving it up…. I'm not going to accept Hollywood nonsense."
Sternberg said he was asked to edit out some jokes that department officials found inappropriate.
"The Assignment" was the idea of producer and actor Shane Conrad, a reserve Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy. The 35-year-old Conrad said he hopes A&E agrees to buy a full season of the program, which would present deputies as recurring characters working some of the department's highest-crime neighborhoods. The show will be different from "Cops," because it will use the same roster of deputies, episode after episode. In addition to showing the deputies working the streets, Conrad said, he wants to film them in their personal lives, surfing in Malibu or riding motorcycles in the Santa Clarita Valley. He said the department will benefit from the exposure.
"If law enforcement does something great, you won't hear about it. When an officer makes a mistake, it's worldwide news," Conrad said.
"I don't think that's fair. This is one of the toughest jobs there is."
He cited LAPD officers' use of force against immigrant rights marchers and journalists at a MacArthur Park rally this month as "a perfect example. For every piece of footage you see of MacArthur Park, there are 20 things the officer did that day that benefited the community."
email: stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-sheriff17may17,1,589878.story From the Los Angeles TimesStudy faults some deputy probes L.A. County sheriff's response to complaints is found to be improved but inconsistent overall.
By Stuart Pfeifer Times Staff Writer
May 17, 2007
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has improved the way it investigates allegations of deputy misconduct, but it often reduces discipline without explanation, according to a report released Wednesday. Merrick Bobb, an attorney hired by the Board of Supervisors to review the Sheriff's Department, studied hundreds of misconduct investigations initiated in 2005. He found that the department has made "great strides" since the early 1990s in investigating public complaints about deputies' behavior. In most cases, the department investigates complaints thoroughly and objectively, Bobb found. He said investigations were inadequate in about one in five cases, faulting sheriff's managers in those cases for failing to interview all pertinent witnesses, writing biased or incomplete reports or improperly documenting investigations. "The LASD's commitment to the fair investigation of citizens' complaints has strengthened considerably," wrote Bobb, who was hired in 1993 to monitor the department's reform efforts following allegations of excessive force and concern about the citizen complaint process. The department handles complaints about deputies differently from the Los Angeles Police Department. Pursuant to a consent decree, the LAPD must formally investigate all complaints through its internal affairs unit.
The Sheriff's Department handles complaints from the public informally at the station to which the deputy is assigned. Sheriff's station supervisors can request formal internal affairs investigations of citizens' complaints. Bobb found that just 3% of complaints lead to formal investigations. The report also concluded that the department too often agrees to reduce discipline imposed on deputies who violate department policies ranging from the use of force during arrests to unsafe driving of patrol cars and off-duty incidents, such as drunk driving.
In one instance, a deputy received a three-day suspension for making racially insensitive comments in a telephone conversation with a member of the public and for telling the caller, "I don't have time for this," before hanging up. After the deputy complained about his punishment, a captain put the suspension in abeyance, meaning it would be imposed only if the deputy committed a new offense. "In our view, the captain fumbled and the deputy recovered the ball and went on to score a touchdown," Bobb wrote in his report.
Sheriff Lee Baca said he believes holding discipline in abeyance provides incentive for deputies to reform. "Settlement agreements give management a stronger capacity [to prevent] future misconduct," Baca said. "They've agreed not to transgress again." The department reduced discipline in 84% of the cases in which a suspension was imposed, the report said. Most often, the discipline was reduced after deputies complained to their captains that they thought their punishment was excessive, the report said. "The department must stop letting the grievance process be a one-way ticket to a reduced discipline," Bobb wrote. The report said it appears the department "plea bargains" discipline cases as a matter of routine.
Bobb and his staff studied investigations of deputies assigned to six sheriff's stations:
Century,
Compton,
Lakewood,
Palmdale,
Pico Rivera and
Santa Clarita.In one instance, a deputy had accumulated 11 complaints of discourteous conduct in the past three years, including six in which his conduct was faulted by supervisors.
Despite this record, the deputy was not subjected to a broad investigation.
email: stuart.pfeifer@latimes.comNotes:
Merrick Bobb, an attorney hired by the Board of Supervisors to review the Sheriff's Department... hired in 1993 to monitor the department's reform efforts following allegations of excessive force and concern about the citizen complaint process.
Merrick Bobb
is the founding director of the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC), a national resource center on policing and police reform, under the auspices of the Vera Institute of Justice and funded by the Ford Foundation. Over the past 10 years Bobb has served as a legal staff member and then as a Deputy General Counsel of the Christopher Commission investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department; General Counsel of the Kolts investigation of the Los Angeles County Sheriffâs Department; Special Counsel to Los Angeles County to monitor the Sheriffâs department; Special Counsel to the Los Angeles Police Commission to help establish the Office of Inspector General. Bobb conducted an investigation of the LAPD five years after the Rodney King incident and the Christopher Commission Report, resulting in the publication of a report in May 1996. Bobb also has consulted for the United States Department of Justice on law enforcement matters since 1998. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and received his law degree from the University of California, Berkeley.(213) 689-4440
email: mbobb@pacbell.net |
news: http://www.wkconline.org/index.php/seminars/speakerpage/?sid=598
Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC)
a national resource center on policing and police reform
520 South Grand Avenue, Suite 1070, Los Angeles CA 90071
PH: (213) 623-5757 FAX: (213) 623-5959
site: http://Parc.info/home.chtml |
email: information@parc.info |
Vera Institute
-- http://www.vera.org/ |
-- http://www.vera.org/about/about_9.asp?staff_id=12 |Merrick Bobb, President
Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC)
e-mail: merrickbobb@parc.info |
tel: (213) 797-1101
Merrick Bobb is president of the Police Assessment Resource Center, a project Vera developed and launched in Los Angeles. A lawyer, he was the first person to occupy the role of police monitor and has become a nationally recognized expert on police oversight and reform. Merrick Bobb has monitored the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for seven years and has consulted with jurisdictions around the country and with the U.S. Department of Justice.
LA County
Special Counsel Merrick Bobb
-- http://lacounty.info/bobb.htm |This site includes semiannual reports of Special Counsel Merrick Bobb and staff discussing the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD). These reports are prepared at the direction of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors pursuant to its appointment of special counsel to conduct ongoing monitoring and critical review of the LASD's performance. Concerns about police misconduct and its high cost to the County, both in terms of frayed community relationships and the financial burden to taxpayers, led to the Kolts Report and the decision of the supervisors to order full implementation of the Kolts recommendations.
When the Kolts Report was published, there was criticism that the report had not recommended a civilian review board which would take over the LASD's power to investigate and discipline police misconduct. Unwilling to take so far-reaching a step, but wishing to respond to a need for active, ongoing monitoring and oversight, the supervisors, with the concurrence of the sheriff, created a continuing role for special counsel. Rather than disbanding the Kolts staff, the supervisors requested that special counsel retain such staff as was feasible, and the Board set aside an annual budget to defray the expenses of special counsel and staff incurred in monitoring the LASD and preparing the semiannual reports. At the Board's direction, special counsel disseminates data about the LASD and comments on its significance. At the request of the Board and the sheriff, special counsel has also participated in the formulation and implementation of risk and liability management strategies with the LASD.
Twenty-Third Semiannual Report, April 2007 - PDF http://lacounty.gov/AR23.pdf |
Twenty-second Semiannual Report, August 2006
Twenty-first Semiannual Report, March 2006
Twentieth Semiannual Report, August 2005
Nineteenth Semiannual Report, February 2005
Eighteenth Semiannual Report, August 2004
Seventeenth Semiannual Report, November 2003
Sixteenth Semiannual Report, February 2003
Fifteenth Semiannual Report, July 2002
Fourteenth Semiannual Report, October 2001
Special Report Kevin Evans
Thirteenth Semiannual Report, December 2000
Twelfth Semiannual Report, June 2000
Eleventh Semiannual Report, October 1999
Tenth Semiannual Report, February 1999
Ninth Semiannual Report, June 1998
Eighth Semiannual Report, October 1997
Seventh Semiannual Report, April 1997
Sixth Semiannual Report, September 1996
Fifth Semiannual Report, February 1996
Fourth Semiannual Report, June 1995
Third Semiannual Report, February 1996
Second Semiannual Report, April 1994
First Semiannual Report, October 1993
Lift the veil of secrecy on police misconduct Bratton's commitment to LAPD openness is welcome, but state law ties his hands.By Merrick Bobb
May 11, 2007
LOS ANGELES Police Chief William J. Bratton has taken decisive steps following the MacArthur Park May Day melee in which the LAPD seems to have used force indiscriminately and disregarded constitutional rights of speech and assembly. He has already demoted a deputy chief and transferred a commander responsible for the police response at the park. In contrast to former Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, Bratton has been forthcoming, honest and informative as this latest LAPD scandal unfolds. The irony is that California law, in the wake of the California Supreme Court's misguided 2006 Copley Press vs. Superior Court decision, will tie the chief's hands as he attempts to be open and transparent about MacArthur Park and its consequences.
In that case, the court ruled that opening the disciplinary file of a San Diego County sheriff's deputy violated his rights.
The L.A. Police Commission, based on the city attorney's interpretation of the ruling, closed all disciplinary hearings. California law is among the most restrictive in the country concerning the release of information about police misconduct. Florida, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas have had "sunshine" laws for many years without adverse consequences to police officers. These laws require public records to be open. California law, by contrast, keeps the media and the public in the dark.
Under current law, Bratton is prohibited from disclosing to the public the names of the officers involved in the melee and their disciplinary history — for example, whether the officers had prior sustained force complaints. Thus, the public will have no way of knowing whether the Los Angeles Police Department is properly holding officers accountable. The public will never know whether the officers seen on videotape hitting an 11-year-old with a baton, pushing a news camerawoman to the ground, injuring a radio reporter or roughing up a television anchor will be held to account.
The public also will not have access to facts developed in the disciplinary investigation, special reports or witness testimony. The public and media will never know what happened behind those closed doors no matter how much the chief and the Police Commission would like to tell them. Inevitably, public trust in the LAPD will erode, and the chief will not be able to demonstrate how seriously he took the matter and held his staff accountable.
Nonetheless, there is something that can be done. SB 1019, introduced by state Sen. Gloria Romero (D-Los Angeles), would override the Copley decision.
Bratton and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa support such an outcome.
Backers of Romero's legislation include the National Black Police Assn., San Francisco Sheriff Mike Hennessey and other key law enforcement authorities. Bernard C. Parks, former Los Angeles police chief and current city councilman, put it best in a letter to Romero: "Ultimately … the public should have a right to know about how their government works and functions. Secrecy around citizen complaints and police misconduct will only result in greater mistrust of the police, poor police-community relations and ultimately less responsive and accountable police agencies. SB 1019 presents a step in the right direction toward addressing the problems caused by the Copley Press decision."
MERRICK BOBB, a special counsel who monitors the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for the Board of Supervisors, was special counsel for the Los Angeles Police Commission.
LettersA negative view of police hearings
May 15, 2007
Re "A legal lid on May Day inquiries," Opinion, May 11 Merrick Bobb's commentary on the MacArthur Park incident identifies the downside of opening Police Commission hearings to the public: that officers will be judged not on what they did but on what police administrators and the Police Commission believe the public wants to happen. Before the Los Angeles Police Department could completely review the facts and make an informed judgment on the actions of individual officers, it relieved 60 officers of duty for "retraining." The department didn't want to wait for any facts to get in the way of a final judgment of assigning blame, deciding that it was more important to cater to perceived public opinion than to make informed decisions based on facts. It is clear that board of rights hearings would only turn into show trials if the public were allowed in. The purpose of department discipline is to hold officers accountable for what the facts show they did wrong, not what the public believes they did wrong. In Bobb's world, the discipline process only is working if its outcome satisfies community leaders or what he deems to be prevailing public opinion.
ROBERT BAKER
President Los Angeles Police Protective League
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-oneman28apr28,1,3690726.story From the Los Angeles TimesSheriff urged to staff cars with 2 deputies One-person patrols are less effective, advocates say. Baca believes added vehicles thwart crime.
By Stuart Pfeifer Times Staff Writer
April 28, 2007
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy David Rodriguez peered suspiciously at half a dozen suspected gang members loitering at Compton's Kelly Park.
He thought they probably had drugs or weapons.
He slowed his patrol car to a crawl on Pauline Street but drove past the park.
Like most deputies in Compton, Rodriguez works alone. And he learned early on that there are situations to avoid without a partner.
"You have to be a little more selective. Your main concern is to get home to your family," Rodriguez said during a night patrol shift earlier this month. "If I had a partner, we'd talk to them, do a quick pat-down search, run them to see if they had warrants."
Unlike the Los Angeles Police Department, which assigns two officers to more than 95% of its cars, the Sheriff's Department has most of its deputies patrol by themselves, even in such high-crime areas as Compton.
Cities that pay for sheriff's services prefer to put more patrol cars on the streets, and that means having just one deputy per car, department executives said.
Compton's mayor and the union that represents Los Angeles sheriff's deputies have recently suggested that the department would do a better job if it assigned two deputies per car.
In 2005, the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
sponsored legislation that would have allocated state money to study the efficiency issue. The measure failed.
In the last 20 years, four sheriff's deputies have been killed while working patrol assignments, three of them alone.
"One-man cars are less productive, less likely to confront people," said Floyd Hayhurst, vice president of the deputies union. "Proactive law enforcement, not high visibility, reduces crime."
Sheriff Lee Baca said he believes that one-deputy patrol cars are effective, in part because the visibility of additional cars on the streets discourages crime.
"When you have more radio cars out there, there's a high belief they won't get away," Baca said.
Baca is familiar with the pros and cons of working alone. As a deputy, he patrolled East Los Angeles in the 1960s by himself.
Deputies are trained not to handle potentially volatile calls alone; instead, they call for backup to arrive before acting.
According to a department analysis of deputies killed in action in the last 150 years, 27 deputies were killed while working with other deputies, 10 were killed by themselves and 33 were killed in transportation-related incidents.
The numbers are a sign that the job is dangerous in any situation, the sheriff said. "My deputies understand they're going to work one-person cars. They're courageous to accept those conditions, just as I was when I was a deputy," Baca said.
The sheriff declined to say whether he would change to two-deputy cars if money were not a factor. "I don't have a blank check," he said.
Capt. Edward Rogner, who supervises the department's contracts — worth $206 million — to police 40 Los Angeles County cities, said most cities can't afford to pay for two deputies per car. "Two-deputy cars are twice as expensive," Rogner said. "For most cities, the public safety budget is a large item, and they really don't have the additional resources."
Compton Mayor Eric J. Perrodin said he thinks the city made a mistake in 2000 by disbanding its police force and contracting with the Sheriff's Department. A former Compton police officer himself, Perrodin said deputies working alone can't be as proactive.
"When I was working, that was a big issue for me. If my guys had to go out in one-person cars, especially at night, that was unacceptable," said Perrodin, who is now a deputy district attorney."
The sheriff should tell the contract cities, 'You're going to have to pay for two-man units.' If they did that, they wouldn't have as many contract cities." Compton paid the Sheriff's Department $13 million to police the city this fiscal year. It would cost as much as $26 million if the city were to insist that two deputies be assigned to each car, Rogner said.
"Basically, they could either double their current cost, or they could put two-man cars out and have half as many cars on the streets," Rogner said. "In my opinion, neither option is feasible."
Many large police departments nationwide, including the LAPD, assign two officers to patrol cars. LAPD Cmdr. Kirk Albanese said the department believes that two-officer cars are more efficient because they can handle most calls without having to wait for backup.
"If I'm a citizen in the city of Los Angeles, I would like the officers providing service for me to be proactive. I wouldn't want an officer to shy away from a wanted parolee in a park where families are supposed to be because he's alone and intimidated," Albanese said. "There's a level of confidence that goes along with having a partner officer standing next to you."
Deputy Rodriguez, patrolling the streets of Compton last week, acted assertively throughout his shift. He spent the bulk of the night driving through narrow alleys looking for suspicious activity. In the first few hours, he searched for suspects in a purse snatching and in a drive-by shooting that injured two women and for a gang member who had barricaded himself in a backyard.
Throughout the night, the buzz of a Sheriff's Department helicopter could be heard overhead. About 11 p.m. he was sent on a domestic violence call. Because those calls can prove dangerous, deputies are trained not to handle them alone. Rodriguez waited about two minutes for two other one-deputy cars to arrive, and the three deputies went to the home together. The woman was not injured, but it bothered him to have to wait for the others to arrive.
"You don't want to handle a call like that alone. But at the same time, I don't know if she's being killed while I'm waiting," he said. Sheriff's Capt. William M. Ryan, who supervises the Compton station, said he would prefer two-person teams, but the financial reality is that won't happen.
Deputies do a good job of working as teams and responding quickly when a colleague needs help, he said. "It's always better on the law enforcement side if we have more people there, as opposed to a one-on-one scenario," Ryan said. Rodriguez said he understands the contention that flooding the streets with one-deputy cars makes residents feel safe.
But he's concerned that deputies are being placed at risk."
Gang members, they look to see if you have a partner. They test you more if you don't," he said.
"It's really sad. In a city like this, you should have a partner."
email: stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com
NOTES:
Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
Floyd Hayhurst, vice president of the deputies union.
LettersHow many deputies does it take?
May 8, 2007
Re "Sheriff urged to staff cars with 2 deputies,"
April 28
As a retired Ventura County sheriff's sergeant who started his career working in one-man cars and transitioned to two-person cars, I know the importance in having the extra body for officer-safety reasons. That high-visibility excuse used by L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca is just that, an excuse. Because policing in the 21st century is no longer proactive but reactive, high visibility is meaningless. It's all about how fast you respond to handle an incident, with enough people to get the job done safely. There is an easy solution to a part of this problem: Start paying reserve deputies and officers. As mentioned in the article, if reserve officers received half the pay of full-time officers to work evening and weekend shifts, the county could double up patrol vehicle manpower in peak times for less money.
K.D. GARRETT PacoimaSheriff's Deputy David Rodriguez should be cautious about stopping multiple "suspected gang members" with no probable cause, or even reasonable suspicion to detain. The actions he laments not being able to take are in violation of case law and the 4th Amendment. I have gone on ride-alongs as a former district attorney and witnessed firsthand deputies stopping and harassing young men, talking trash and uttering racial slurs. This opened my eyes to the fact that the policing problem is at least as much a result of the actions of the police as the people on the street. Until the deputies begin to treat all citizens with respect, they will be creating their own danger.
DAN FACTOR VeniceI have to worry about public safety if a police officer, whose job it is to protect and to serve (with apologies to the LAPD) has as his main concern "to get home to your family." Rodriguez should be worried primarily about the people he serves, the people who pay his wages. Give him the tools, and manpower, to perform his job.
ALEX FERNANDEZ Lakewood
