After more than a year-long court battle, a Los Angeles Police Department rule takes effect this week that forces new officers in the gang and narcotics units to turn over detailed personal financial information.
The police union, which unsuccessfully sued to block the new rule, has predicted it would lead to mass resignations and transfers out of those units.
But the rule will not affect current members of those units until 2011, meaning its true impact may not be known for years. "Potentially, I think the department is going to be faced with a situation where they're not going to be able to staff their gangs and narcotics units," said Paul Weber, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
"At least one of (the aspiring gang officers) told me they are going to withdraw their application."
The rule is the last requirement of a federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD following the Rampart corruption scandal in the late 1990s, when officers were found to have beaten and framed suspects. The decree placed the department under federal scrutiny and control.
The PPL, which represents officers ranked lieutenant and lower, has fought the financial disclosure requirements, saying they put officers' lives and important information at risk.
Weber said the LAPD and related agencies have a poor track record of protecting confidential information. He pointed to the fact his union is currently in the middle of a lawsuit against the Los Angeles Police Commission after the board released names and information of officers investigated and cleared of wrongdoing in racial-profiling cases.
New hires to the gang and narcotics units will have to immediately disclose their financial information, including properties, stocks and bonds, bank accounts and other assets.
Many officers have threatened to quit or transfer out of the affected units, leading some to predict less experienced officers with less of a financial history will flock to the investigative teams and leave them greener.
Deputy Chief Michel Moore, who oversees operations in the San Fernando Valley, said there has been no movement in any of the Valley divisions so far because anyone recruited to those units before this week has two years before making the disclosures.
"It's too soon to tell," Moore said.
Even those who enacted the rule seemed less than enthusiastic about it.
Chief William Bratton and several members of the Police Commission have said it would not do much to help find corrupt cops. However, U.S. District Judge Gary Fees, who oversees the consent decree and will decide whether to lift it in June, ruled the department must comply before it gets out from under the decree.
