City Council supports giving chief the power to fire LAPD officers

By JOSE HERRERA

The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to advance reform options for police accountability, in what council members hope will be a major step in the latest effort to improve the Los Angeles Police Department‘s discipline practices.

Council members voted 14-0 to request that the city attorney prepare an ordinance that would repeal provisions under the City Charter’s Section 1070 that outline procedures to discipline a sworn officer.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez was absent during the vote.

City leaders instructed the chief legislative analyst, LAPD and other relative departments to report back on recommendations to give the chief of police the power to terminate officers, plans to update the Board of Rights’ structure, and incorporate binding arbitration as a component of the discipline process in termination cases.

Any changes to the City Charter would require the approval of voters. Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez said he hopes this can be done in time for the November election.

Under current procedures, almost all disciplinary actions taken against members of the LAPD — including suspension, demotion and removal — are recommended by the chief of police, and ultimately decided by the Board of Rights. The three-member board, a quasi-judicial body, hears evidence related to each charge of misconduct and determines punishment. The chief may then levy a punishment equal or lesser to the board’s recommendation.

Council members want to allow local clergy, civil rights groups and the Office of Inspection General to be able to nominate candidates for the Board of Rights. They also want candidates of diverse experiences and perspectives, and they want to remove a requirement for candidates to have a certain number of years in mediation, arbitration or similar work, and to prohibit candidates who are current or former employees of local law enforcement agencies from serving as civilian hearing examiners.

Additionally, the council will look to incorporate some type of training to educate new Board of Rights members regarding excessive force and domestic violence — issues the board routinely takes up.

These proposed reforms were initiated through a motion introduced by Soto-Martinez, Councilman Tim McOsker and Council President Paul Krekorian in February 2023.

McOsker highlighted the historical context behind the decision to introduce changes to the LAPD’s disciplinary process, touching on the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and subsequent establishment of the Christopher Commission. The councilman said it “began a process that has sped up, at that time, police reform.”

“It gave us a reason to strengthen civilian oversight at LAPD that gave real power to the civilian overseers,” McOsker said.

The process also took the council out of the politics of hiring and firing a police chief, created the position of an inspector general and led to changes to the Board of Rights — requiring the body no longer have three command officers hearing the cases, with the addition of one civilian.

But McOsker said former LAPD Chief Michel Moore and prior chiefs recognized that their lack of ability to fire officers was a problem.

The councilman then jumped to the Rampart scandal during the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which widespread criminal activity within the Rampart Division was discovered. More than 70 police officers were initially implicated in police misconduct, such as unprovoked shootings and beatings, planting false evidence, stealing and selling drugs, perjury and cover-ups.

“They violated the Constitution, broke their oath, broke the law and they hurt people,” McOsker said. “We couldn’t fire any of those guys.”

In 2017, voters approved Charter Amendment C, authorizing the council to establish an all-civilian Board of Rights panel. In 2019, that model was implemented and hailed as an alternative model for police accountability.

Discipline cases could be heard by a Board of Rights composed of two sworn officers and a civilian, or all civilians.

The office of the Inspector General found the all-civilian Board of Rights to be less effective. Between 2019 and 2021, the chief of police recommended 55 officers for removal. Of those, 37 chose an all-civilian Board of Rights to determine their punishment.

According to the Inspector General, in more than two-thirds of those cases, the board found the accused officers not guilty or decided upon a lesser punishment than recommended by the chief of police.

The councilman emphasized that the city is at a historic crossroad to reform the LAPD’s disciplinary process.

“This is our opportunity and it’s an opportunity that we’re giving to the voters,” McOsker said. “It doesn’t come easily. Not everyone’s going to be happy with this. In fact, a lot of people are going to be unhappy with this.”

California Senate Bill 2 would serve as the road map for firing officers, McOsker said. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB2, also known as Creating Police Decertification Process and Expanding Civil Liability Exposure, in 2021.

The law defines “serious misconduct” as perjury or dishonesty, abuse of power, physical abuse, sexual assault, or participation in a “law enforcement gang,” among other things.

Soto-Martinez said the council’s plans also call for a report back to determine best practices that other cities are following as part of their disciplinary process.

Krekorian noted “horror stories” involving liability claims related to LAPD conduct and the impact they have to the city’s finances.

“Even as we’re experiencing that liability, often, those officers remain on the job, continue to be paid and are not put out in the streets,” Krekorian said. “So, we lost the value of that officer.”

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD’s rank-and-file officers, called the council’s vote an “important step toward preserving a civilian majority on the Board of Rights hearing panels.”

Additionally, it will ensure a “more robust and fair process” through binding arbitration for officers accused of misconduct and recommended for termination by the chief.

“We will be engaged in mandatory bargaining over the language of any ballot measure placed before the voters in November and are pleased that the council saw the merits of ensuring civilians continue to play a critical role in our discipline process,” the LAPPL Board of Directors said in a statement.