In recent weeks, the Los Angeles Police Protective League has been calling on city leaders to revisit policy decisions that are forcing Police Chief Charlie Beck to staff critical administrative jobs with sworn police officers and, in two months, will have him put nearly 90 of them to work as jailers.
These men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, trained and employed at taxpayers' expense, should be patrolling the streets and maintaining the hard-won gains in crime reduction. That's why we're urging a temporary suspension of police hiring beyond attrition. Instituting this pause would free up funds for civilian employment in the most crucial administrative posts and allow academy-trained officers to carry out real police work.
Disappointingly, our appeals for common sense in staffing decisions have been summarily dismissed by decision makers. But before the city cuts away desperately needed LAPD civilian employees, it needs to examine some of its own practices that are causing multimillion-dollar losses of taxpayer money.
The most recent payout involved 18-year veteran Officer Richard Romney, who was fired in retaliation for truthful testimony against the department in another officer's labor dispute. In November, a Los Angeles jury awarded him nearly $4 million.
The case stems from Romney's sworn statements in a lawsuit accusing the LAPD of violating a federal law on overtime compensation. Romney revealed that there were so many calls for help during a typical patrol shift in South L.A. that there was often no time for him to take his 45-minute meal break. He said that despite the extra time worked, he didn't ask to be paid for it because of an unwritten department policy that forbade officers from requesting overtime pay for anything less than an hour. After his testimony, the department investigated Romney, outrageously claiming he violated the overtime policy. Then-Chief William J. Bratton brushed aside a recommendation that Romney be given a one-day suspension and instead prevailed on a disciplinary panel to fire him, despite our insistence that such an action would be unwarranted and in direct violation of federal law. Nevertheless, Romney's termination was upheld and his only recourse was to sue.
The city had plenty of time to correctly address the Romney matter before it escalated into a full- fledged lawsuit with a multimillion- dollar payout.
City leaders should be tracking and questioning these losses. Here's a partial three-year tally, not including Romney:
Sgt. Blaine Blackstone - $2 million (including legal fees); Officer Paul Waymire - $125,000; Officer Malcolm Thomas - $700,000; Officer Melissa Borck - $2.3million; Officer Patricia Fuller - $2.5 million; Officer Donald Bender - $3.5 million; Officer Robert Hill - $3.1 million; Sgt. Ya-May Christle - $1 million; and Officer Richard Joaquin - $2 million.
This list doesn't include an additional $20 million paid to Officer Paul Harper and Sgts. Edward Ortiz and Brian Liddy, whose earlier verdicts were upheld by an appellate court in 2008.
These figures are staggering and will likely climb even higher. More suits with facts nearly identical to Romney's are working their way through the pipeline.
The people of L.A. cannot afford any wasteful spending, but especially not such a massive hemorrhaging of their tax money as a result of systemic abuse within the department. Before the city puts any more LAPD administrative positions on the chopping block, it needs to stop these abuses and stem the loss of millions in taxpayer dollars.
John Mumma is a director with the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the opinion above is the view of the board of directors.
