Redefining 'low-level, non-violent’ for the sake of public safety

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 10/20/2011 @ 10:16 AM

He had a long criminal history that included assaults, firearms possession and making criminal threats; but under the state’s new prison realignment law and parole programs, Lloyd Anthony Holbrook was classified as a ‘low-level, non-violent’ offender not requiring parole supervision. Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Andrew Blankstein documented Holbrook’s most recent encounter with law enforcement, an arrest by U.S. marshals who took him in for making terrorist threats after a half-day standoff with LAPD’s SWAT.

Many were surprised that with a rap sheet like his, Holbrook wasn’t being supervised. Parole officers weren’t tracking his movements or making sure he complied with his parole conditions. Information from federal sources reveals that after his arrest, he admitted to being off his medications for several days and instead, ‘self-medicating’ with alcohol, despite a prior DUI arrest.

Holbrook is only the latest addition to the growing list of ‘low-level, non-violent’ offenders who, once paroled, turned out to be highly dangerous and harmful to society. Part of the reason this is happening all too often involves the list of 500 criminal code sections responsible for classifying an offender as ‘low-level, non-violent.’

According to the California District Attorneys Association’s website, more than 20 offenses that most people would consider serious or violent fall into the low-level, non-violent category. Among them are killing or injuring a police officer while resisting arrest; involuntary manslaughter; vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated; participating in a lynching; possession of weapons of mass destruction; possessing explosives; threatening a witness or juror; and using arson or explosives to terrorize a health facility or church.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley summed up the incomprehensible in a recent Associated Press story: “Realignment casts too wide a net in defining ‘low level offenses.’”

Sound judgment and common sense are clearly lacking. Virtually all law-abiding Californians would consider these types of crimes anything but trivial. They’d expect individuals convicted of these crimes to serve their full terms in prison, not in a county jail. And most people would want parolees’ movements tracked upon their release and the assurance that authorities are enforcing parolees’ compliance with their parole conditions.

The criminal justice realignment governing incarceration and parole is a bold experiment that has many of us in the law enforcement more than concerned about the potential consequences – unintended or otherwise – on public safety. Adjustments will undoubtedly need to be made as we learn from experience, but a good start would be eliminating from the list of criminal code sections those crimes that by no stretch of the imagination can be considered ‘low level, non-violent.’ And because this is a clear matter of the public’s safety, we also suggest this be done as soon as possible.

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Would-be ‘good governance’ watchdog’s troubled history with the truth

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 10/12/2011 @ 11:07 AM

David Crane

Self-described pension expert and venture capitalist David Crane is apparently eager to keep his name in the public light. Crane is back, this time attaching himself to two other wealthy people seeking to influence California politics.

According to a Sacramento Bee story, Crane has announced he will fund the campaigns of legislators who have the “courage” to tackle the major issues facing California. Unsurprisingly, Crane and his wealthy associates have their own idea of what constitutes political courage when confronting our state’s problems.

Crane worked for Governor Schwarzenegger, who commissioned a study by graduate students at Stanford University to examine public pension system's unfunded liabilities. The students used an absurdly low discount rate to measure the unfunded liabilities of the systems, resulting in a high unfunded-liability number that grabbed headlines. Although that discount rate has been rejected by the Government Accounting Standards Boards, a prominent rating agency, and public plan actuaries, Crane raced out and touted that number in repeated op-ed pieces.

The issue of public pensions is a prime example. That David Crane and company are now calling for “honest budgets” and an end to “deceptive accounting” is amusing because it’s hard to think of any report or study that engaged in more creative accounting in the recent past than the Stanford study.

It was Crane who made the fuzzy math claim that the State of California’s public pension costs soared 2,000% since 1999. The deception lay in Crane’s cherry-picked starting point for the comparison, using 2009 when the state’s contribution to the pension fund was the lowest in decades because it took a ‘pension holiday,’ meaning it used assets in the fund to substitute for its contribution. Picking any other year as a starting point would have destroyed this claim.

Crane may be trying to recast himself as a “good governance” watchdog, but his actions and troubled history with the truth speak much louder than his words.

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No “compassionate release” for a cop killer

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 10/06/2011 @ 05:35 PM

Los Angeles Police Officer Ian Campbell was killed by Powell in 1963

Convicted of the murder of on-duty Los Angeles police officer Ian Campbell, whom he kidnapped and later executed, “Onion Field” killer Gregory Powell was sentenced to death. That sentence was then reduced to life in prison with possibility of parole when the Courts struck down California’s death penalty in 1972.

For those who may have forgotten the horrific crime, on March 9, 1963, Ian and his partner, Karl Hettinger, were assigned to Hollywood Division. Ian and Karl stopped a car with two suspicious people, Gregory Powell and Jimmy Smith. Ian and Karl did not know that Powell and Smith were both armed and looking for a liquor store to rob. As Ian approached the car, Powell took Ian as a hostage. Karl surrendered his gun under the threat that if he did not, Ian would be killed. Both officers were kidnapped. Ian was forced to drive at gunpoint with Karl in the back seat. They were taken to a deserted onion field near Bakersfield where Powell executed Ian. As Ian lay on the ground, Smith shot him four times. Karl managed to escape. Both Powell and Smith were arrested within twenty-four hours of the murder. Joseph Wambaugh wrote the book, “The Onion Field” about Ian’s murder.

Now, however, Powell wants another chance at getting out of prison. He has cancer, and believes that fact should justify a “compassionate release” from prison. Never mind that he showed Ian Campbell absolutely no mercy and tried to murder Campbell’s partner Karl Hettinger that same night in that same onion field.

Apparently, Powell and his attorney fail to comprehend the meaning of the phrase “life in prison.” Put simply, it means that unless granted parole, you will stay in prison for the remainder of your natural life, and die in that prison, whether by cancer, a heart attack, or old age. Powell is not a suitable candidate for parole, as demonstrated by the 11 separate denials for parole since 1972.

Given that, Powell’s life sentence is not a sentence of “imprisonment until a terminal illness develops.” It should be expected that the inmate will stay and die in prison. It defeats the purpose of a life sentence if, at the end of life, cold-blooded murderers like Powell are let out so their last days can be spent in comfort. Part of the deserved punishment for his brutal crime is that he spend his last waking moments deprived of freedom.

Read the statement from Valerie Campbell Moniz, daughter of Officer Ian Campbell, given during Gregory Powell's parole hearing last year .

LAPPL President Paul Weber is interviewed on CBS 2 News about the Onion Field Killer, asking for an early release from prison because he is dying of cancer.

Many have asked where they can send letters to voice their opinion regarding Powell's release. You can send letters to:

California Board of Prison Terms
c/o California Men’s Colony
P.O. Box 8101
San Luis Obispo, CA 93409-8101

Re: Gregory Powell, CDC# A-57622

NOTE: Although the letters may not be received in time to all be read by the parole board, if a large number are received, it will send a clear message to them that we do not want him released!.

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A project we all need to support

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 10/04/2011 @ 10:47 AM

The news out of City Hall is bleak. Budget officials there are now reporting that Los Angeles' financial prospects are worse than expected, with a projected shortfall growing to $200 million next year.

In this difficult economic environment, in addition to ensuring adequate funding for public safety, the League’s advocacy efforts are focused on helping to accelerate economic recovery. We strongly support companies that create jobs and green growth. Over the last several years, we’ve advocated for projects that keep our economy strong so the City can have the resources to pay for desperately needed public safety services. We consistently back initiatives promoting public safety and business growth, and those that ensure economic prosperity and improved quality of life for everyone who lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

The LAPPL is enthusiastically supporting BNSF Railway’s proposed Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) project, designed to be the greenest intermodal facility in the United States.

BNSF’s $500 million of private investment will allow containers to be loaded onto rail just four miles from the docks, rather than traveling 24 miles on local roads and the 710 freeway to downtown rail facilities. SCIG will allow 1.5 million more containers to move by more efficient and environmentally preferred rail through the Alameda Corridor each year, greatly reducing truck traffic congestion in Southern California.

At the same time, the project will create thousands of good local jobs and remove more than 1.5 million truck trips from the 710 freeway every year, yielding significant benefits for local and regional air quality and relieving traffic congestion. In building SCIG, BNSF will clean up an existing industrial site and replace it with a state of the art facility featuring wide-span all-electric cranes, ultra-low-emission switching locomotives and low-emission rail yard equipment.

According to IHS Global Insight forecasts, the facility will create 22,000 new direct and indirect jobs in Southern California by 2036, including 14,000 jobs in Los Angeles. Approximately 1,500 jobs annually (direct and secondary) could be added to the regional economy during the construction phase. BNSF is in the process of finalizing a Project Labor Agreement with the Building and Construction Trades Council for construction of SCIG. The company has also committed to creating a local jobs training program and offering priority hiring for new jobs to qualified local job applicants.

Today’s tough economic climate demands that City Hall prioritize and fast track good projects like SCIG that will help our region build a "green" economy, create new jobs and promote public safety.

We encourage everyone to take a close look at the project by viewing BNSF’s informational video or visiting BNSFConnects.com. As part of the environmental review process, we hope you will join us in submitting comments for the official record to the Port of Los Angeles by December 22, 2011, to Christopher Cannon, Director of Environmental Management. Your comments will be included in the Final Environmental Impact Report.

We invite you to share your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

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Disregarding state law proves deadly – again

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 09/27/2011 @ 03:35 PM

Armando Jimenez, 13, and his sister, Ashley Jimenez, 7, stop to look at the memorial site for 4-year-old Christopher "Buddy" Rowe. (Christopher Chung / PD)

In April we warned of the danger of disregarding the State Vehicle Code requirement to impound the vehicles of unlicensed drivers. We still believe now, as we did then, that police department policies that flout the code threaten drivers’ safety and pose significant liability risks to cash-strapped cities.

Our fears about this practice were recently realized in Santa Rosa, California, but it could just as easily happen in Los Angeles. According to a story in Santa Rosa’s Press Democrat, the police department in that city put an officer in the difficult position of having to decide whether or not to impound unlicensed driver Marcos Lopez Garcia’s car. The car was not impounded, and as the story reports, it is suspected that five days later, the 22-year-old Lopez Garcia was behind the wheel of the vehicle when he was involved in a hit-and-run crash that killed a young boy.

Lopez Garcia was first cited for driving without a license on June 25, 2010, when he was stopped at a police checkpoint. His vehicle was impounded for 30 days, according to police and court records. He was then pulled over for speeding on August 13, 2011, and found again to be driving without a license – a misdemeanor offense. The officer, acting within department policy, did not impound the vehicle and instead allowed a licensed person to retrieve it. Lopez Garcia was cited and ordered not to drive a vehicle. This policy had deadly consequences on Aug. 18 when, as it is suspected, Lopez Garcia plowed through a crosswalk and struck 4-year-old Christopher “Buddy” Rowe.

4-year-old Christopher "Buddy" Rowe

This decision was within department policy, just as it would be at LAPD. A federal court ruled in an Oregon case that law enforcement agencies may not impound a vehicle if the only offense is unlicensed driving. One exception, which we encourage officers to consider, is the “community caretaker” doctrine, which permits law enforcement to impound a car when it poses a threat to public safety, is parked illegally or would be vandalized imminently if left in place.

The value and wisdom of impounding vehicles driven by unlicensed drivers is twofold. First, an unlicensed driver willing to ignore the law is, at least temporarily, less likely to further violate this law because he or she does not have access to the impounded vehicle. Second, the cost and inconvenience of recovering an impounded vehicle discourages people without licenses from driving.

The Santa Rosa tragedy shows that unlicensed drivers are dangerous drivers. Law enforcement agencies throughout California need to think long and hard about the ramifications of policies that allow unlicensed drivers access to vehicles that state law says they may not operate on California streets and highways.

We agree with the comments on the dangers of unlicensed drivers that Chief Charlie Beck made during a discussion about a recent DMV operation that resulted in the arrest of five people suspected of producing and selling fake driver licenses and identification cards. The Chief said that the operation was “a threat to not only public safety, but national security,” and added that the shuttered illegal operation “was putting dangerous drivers on the road and endangering the public.”

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Police increasingly under assault: Join the discussion

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 09/16/2011 @ 01:36 PM

For several months we’ve been calling attention to the shocking disconnect between declining crime statistics and increasing assaults on police officers. The problem is growing more acute. The most recent statistics released show that violent attacks on LAPD officers are up by 29 percent over the same period last year. A recent Wall Street Journal story numbers this year’s assaults with deadly weapons on LAPD officers at 130.

On the afternoon of August 25, two LAPD officers investigating suspicious activity were fired on without warning, resulting in injury to one of the officers. Later that day, a man wielding a sharpened stick struck an officer who had responded to calls of a disturbance at a Wilmington-area apartment just after 11 p.m. Police shot and killed the suspect. The wounded officer is recovering.

Those attacks were among several since August 19 in which LAPD officers have come under gunfire. In another incident, officers from Rampart Division responding to a report of a disturbance on the night of August 27 were fired on in their unmarked patrol car before the suspect fled on foot. And days before, undercover officers were shot at in Encino on August 21 while confronting double-murder suspect Brent Zubek. Gang officers were shot at in South L.A. on August 19.

Chief Beck, speaking on KPCC, said the rise in violent assaults against the LAPD is of great concern. He said he cannot pinpoint exactly why the crimes are on the rise, but thinks it may have to do with new technology that has helped officers get to crime scenes earlier. "We don't spread police resources like paint, we put them where the crime is," he said.

"One of the things that's happened in Los Angeles is that police, because we've been able to reduce crime and because our information systems are better and our analysis of those are better, we make contact with a lot of people who are intent on committing violent crime and the means to do that," said Beck. "When you engage people at the enforcement level at a greater frequency, then you increase the number of forceful contacts that you have."

Another perspective on this troublesome phenomenon came in a recent USA Today story that reported nearly 40 percent of police officers fatally shot this year have been slain in ambush-style attacks or when they were surprised by suspects with firearms. The killings, many stunning in their brutality, have some law enforcement and Justice Department officials scrambling to provide additional protection or training for their forces, the newspaper reported.

USA Today reported that police officials and analysts say motivations for the killings stem from a wide range of social problems, from mental illness to increased desperation caused by domestic or economic pressures. Former Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian, now director of the Justice Department's Community Oriented Policing Services office, said the "collision of stressors" often places officers "in the wrong place at the wrong time."

What is causing the rising number of assaults on police officers in Los Angeles and across the nation? We want to hear what you think is going on and what can be done to lessen the dangers police face every day.

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Getting a handle on liability

By John R. Mumma on 09/08/2011 @ 04:36 PM

The City has a serious liability problem and urgently needs better risk management. In the last fiscal year alone, it has paid out $45 million in liability claims and a total of $140 million in Workers’ Compensation claims. About half of these claims involved LAPD and LAFD personnel.

In an effort to do its part to reduce liability and improve risk management, the LAPD has proposed creating a position within the Department to be in charge of all risk management and liability issues. There is merit to this idea, but there are a few things to keep in mind.

The City has already implemented variations of this approach with no success. Under the City’s current head of risk management, claims have actually skyrocketed. To avoid repeating this failure, the new position must be different.

The position must encompass oversight of liability cases, training, and advising the Chief of Police. More importantly, the position must have teeth. It can be effective only if it is given power and authority to institute changes and hold individuals accountable. If, as under the present system, this person cannot actually implement changes and prevent abuses, the Department will simply have added yet another expensive layer to an already bloated and inefficient bureaucracy.

The League has made a number or recommendations to Councilmember Dennis Zine, chair of the Council’s Audits & Governmental Efficiency Committee.

Our recommendations are that the Risk Management Specialist:

• Have a substantial background in business or finance with a Bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Have substantial training and experience assessing, identifying and mitigating risk.
• Have the ability to work with a variety of stakeholders, including the city attorney, a newly created task force and the League.
• Act as an unbiased intermediary between the Department, the city attorney’s office, and City Council.
• Report to City Council.

League President Paul M. Weber wrote in a letter to Zine:

The LAPD is a multibillion dollar entity and should be treated as a corporation with comparable payroll and assets. As such, it is suggested that we undertake a nationwide candidate search to ensure that the role is filled by the most qualified candidate available.

We urge the Department and City Council to expedite creation of the recommended position as part of a comprehensive approach to addressing this troublesome and costly issue. The concept is to be applauded. The devil is in the details.

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A new day in California for convicted killers

By LAPPL Board of Directors on 09/07/2011 @ 04:19 PM

For law-abiding citizens, these are tough economic times. But for convicted killers serving time in California prisons, it’s a time for optimism.

Ian Lovett of the New York Times reported from Los Angeles that the state has upheld 207 of the parole board’s 254 decisions to release convicted killers. To date, more releases dates granted to murderers have been allowed to stand in 2011 than in any other year since California chief executives got the power to reverse them.

Previously, inmates serving life sentences for murder were virtually never set free, noted Lovett. Even on the rare occasions when the parole board granted a release, California’s governors almost invariably overturned it.

So why is it a new day in California for convicted killers who are more likely than ever to be paroled? At least part of the answer, according to the Times story, lies in the U.S. Supreme Court mandate to reduce overcrowding in the state’s prisons.

But that is not an acceptable reason for turning murderers loose on society. State government must find less dangerous ways to address prison overcrowding. Like our city government, the state simply must put public safety first.

At the rate the state is going, more than 1,000 convicted killers who should be serving time will be set free, putting residents at increased risk. We urge the governor to use his predecessors as role models when reviewing parole board decisions.

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