Los Angeles gang police quit over financial rules

THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press

Monday, January 10, 2011

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dozens of anti-gang police officers across the city are quitting their assignments over a requirement to reveal personal financial information under strict anti-corruption rules, The Associated Press has learned.

Gang units in some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods are being left with multiple vacancies, with officers choosing instead to work regular patrol shifts, Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said Monday.

One of the areas most affected is the city’s northeast division, which includes territory controlled by the notorious Avenues gang around Highland Park. Rather than fill in financial disclosure forms, most of the division’s anti-gang unit has decided to leave and return to patrol, resulting in an unspecified number of vacancies.

Paysinger and other police officials stressed the reassignments would not affect public safety. The former gang officers — along with their street smarts and gang expertise — would remain in the neighborhoods they had long served.

The main difference would be that, as regular patrol officers, they would not be able to use some of the investigative techniques they could as gang officers.

“The community should not be concerned,” Paysinger said. “We haven’t backed away from our gang enforcement posture.”

The deadline for officers to sign the LAPD’s financial disclosure forms is the end of March but many officers are letting their superiors know ahead of time that they are declining.

The rules were mandated by the U.S. Department of Justice after a scandal in the late 1990s involving misconduct by anti-gang officers from LAPD’s Rampart division.

The rules require gang and narcotics officers to reveal portions of their personal financial records to the department and are supposed to snare corrupt officers in units frequently handling cash or drugs.

The police officers’ union, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, has long faulted the requirements, saying they are onerous and sap morale, among other criticisms,

Paysinger said gang officers who chose to quit rather than fill in the forms did not have a full understanding of the policy, and said the financial disclosure forms were less intrusive than credit card applications

The departure of gang officers could put the cash-strapped department under additional pressure. Already, it has had to cut overtime to deal with a shrinking budget.

Despite this, the city last year recorded its lowest homicide rate in decades.

More like this story

MK 2 years, 4 months ago

If they haven't done anything wrong and have nothing to hide then why are they worried about disclosing the records?

Bucky 2 years, 4 months ago

You know there is so much wrong with that statement, I don't even know how to respond. First of all, these are men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting the public. But they should have less rights then the criminals they fight? Because of a few bad apples back in the 90s, they should be painted as possible criminals?

I guess you are opposed to the 4th amendment, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

TheRickster 2 years, 4 months ago

Sorry Bucky,,you are off base. Way too many officers are showing a lifestyle that they can't show the backing. They have their bad coworkers to blame. The old saying about one bad apple and all. I can tell you it ain't just one,,there are too many that see all the money and feel it is fair. If they have truly dedicated their lives then a little paper work shouldn't scare them. When you put yourself in the public's eyes you should have no problem. It isn't like they will publish them in the paper.

Bucky 2 years, 4 months ago

I disagree with the idea that because someone becomes a cop he should have no problem with giving up the very rights he has sworn to uphold. I do understand that there are bad cops, there are bad citizens too, a lot of them. Should the rest of the citizens give up their rights because of them?

MK 2 years, 4 months ago

Actually Bucky I was being sarcastic. That's the same arguement used by authorities against citizens who wish to invoke their own rights against search and seizure of their property or their right to remain silent.

See what happens to you when you get pulled over at a local sobriety checkpoint and refuse to answer personal questions about yourself or your travel. First off, you are being stopped and investigated with no reason to believe you are involved in any crime. Then, if you wish to not answer questions, which is your right, and further you don't consent to any searches of your property without a warrant, they will more times than not, take action against you and sometimes do it in a punitive fashion.

I actually sympathize with the police on this one. If there is no reasonable suspicion that they are involved in theft, racketeering and extortion that the others before them were guilty of. They shouldn't have to prove innocence to a crime there is no probable cause to believe they have committed.

These gang police in L.A. and other big cities routinely go out, stop black people walking the street, request ID, search their backpacks and their pockets, run them for warrants, solely because these people are walking around in the neighborhood but have done nothing wrong other than being black and on foot. They have their rights trampled on big time by the gang units. Ironically, this appears to be karma to me.

TheRickster 2 years, 4 months ago

MK- True and spot on! Nuff said.

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