i)
1-Ij
8
0
' '
. "
•
•
•
la. NAME OF INTERVIEWER: Paul B. Savoldelli
lb. DATE OF INTERVIEW: June 3, 1991
le. LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 2 1/2 hours
ld. NOTES:
--- ~
- .. ... -· .. ~ - - ·-..... -- ~ - - --- -........ - ·- ~-. .
2. I.D. CODE: PBSl
3. SEX: Male
4. RACE: Caucasian
5. AGE: .. 6. DIVISION: Van Nuys
7 . CURRENT RANKLASSIGNMENT:
8. MISC. PERSONAL BACKGROUND PRIOR TO ENTERING ACADEMY:
10. RECRUITMENT - RACE AND BIAS ISSUES:
- felt that there was a lot of "reverse
discrimination" during the recruitment period. He considered
the written exam to be "a basic 7th grade evaluation test" and
SAV00162.WP
•
•
•
found that written exams for other police departments in the
state (many of which use the POST exam) were much more
thorough. He found the oral test to be more comprehensive and
a better measure of judgment and other factors necessary to
become an LAPD officer.
was required to take the oral exam three times
because, although his scores were high, they were not
sufficiently high for the standards required of white males
(he scored 87 on his first test, 93 on his second and 96 on
his third test). His conversations with the testing officers
and with other recruits gave him the impression that there was
quota-based hiring and that white males were discriminated
against. His co-workers and friends who were minorities were
being admitted to the LAPD with lower scores.
noted that there should be more
emphasis on confidentiality of scores and that the recruits
should not talk about scores. Knowledge about other people's
scores creates a certain amount of acrimony because -of the
disparity in hiring practices.
11. RECRUITMENT - TESTING TO ENTER ACADEMY:
On the whole, this probationary officer found the testing
process to be very lengthy and, except for the oral exam, to
be relatively worthless .
12. ACADEMY - ASSESSMENT OF CURRICULUM/POSSIBLE AREAS OF
IMPROVEMENT:
This probationary officer believes that it is the
unanimous opinion of all his classmates there is not enough
tactics training at the Academy. The Academy spends too much
time on courses such as Spanish (104 hours) and yet only 60
hours on tactics which is "required for your survival". The
recruit asked, "do they want us to communicate or to survive?"
In addition to not enough training on tactics, only one
day is spent on actual simulation. This means that the
recruits go into the field with very little training which
attempts to integrate what they have learned with real-world
situations. He felt the simulation training was good but
there just wasn't enough of it. The recruit also believed
there should be more field training during the Academy.
currently there are 3 days of field training, 2 in a car, and
1 in a jail.
13. ACADEMY - EVALUATION OF INSTRUCTORS:
According to this probationary officer, the instructors
at the Academy were "very good" and very approachable, even
after the Academy was over. The LAPD apparently encourages
SAV00162.WP -2-
probationers to ask questions from their instructors even
after they leave the Academy.
The probationary officer expressed some concern about an
apparent push to change the teaching methods at the Academy
from having experts from each field teach individual classes
to having on.e teacher basically teach recruits the entire
curriculum. He felt strongly that experts in the field should
teach individual classes.
14. ACADEMY - EVALUATION OF TESTING:
No comment recorded.
15. ACADEMY - USE OF FORCE TRAINING:
This officer believes that there is a conflict between
what is taught in the Academy and what should be required to
be taught to prepare officers for life on the street. He felt
that the POST mandated training was very thorough, but that it
is not really applicable to situations on the street. For
example, the POST method of frisking and handcuffing is too
time-consuming and is not practical when trying to deal with
multiple individuals in a real life situation.
16. ACADEMY - PHYSICAL TRAINING/BOOT CAMP/STRESS TESTING:
This officer's family had been in the Marines, and he
felt that the discipline and boot camp mentality of the
Academy was good. He felt that the screaming and stress
testing was probably good training for what happens on the
street. He stated that, "people are always in your face in
the street and you better learn how to deal with it".
17. ACADEMY - COMMUNITY POLICING AND CRISIS INTERVENTION:
This officer felt that the crisis intervention training
at the Academy was very good. He especially liked the
mediation training which, he felt, gave him certain skills to
try and avoid problems. He also noted that many of his
training officers were big "on public relations" and liked to
interact with the community.
18. ACADEMY - DISCUSSION OF RODNEY KING INCIDENT:
The Rodney King incident was a "big subject" of
discussion at the Academy during this officer's training.
Over the course of several weeks, almost every class was
opened with a discussion of the Rodney King incident.
This officer believes that the King incident made "8,400
people look real bad" and that it was "not good for the
family". He stated that he has not witnessed any racial
SAV00162.WP -3-
..
problems at the Academy or during his field training and also
thought that Chief Gates did not promote a racially intolerant
attitude.
19. PROBATIONARY PERIOD - RELATIONSHIP TO ACADEMY TRAINING:
This officer believes strongly that there should be more
integration between the training of the probationary period
and the training of the Academy. In particular, there should
be more time on simulation training which attempts to provide
a "real life" view of the world.
20. PROBATIONARY PERIOD - EVALUATION OF FTO'S AND FTO'S VIEW
OF ACADEMY TRAINING:
In general, this officer believes that his FTOs are
excellent. In addition, he commented that the FTOs don't
really disregard the Academy training, although they do
attempt to make it more practical. The comments regarding use
of force training in Paragraph 15 above are relevant.
21. PROBATIONARY PERIOD - USE OF FORCE:
Not discussed.
22. MISCELLANEOUS/SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT:
This officer's primary suggestions for improvement are
noted above with respect to more simulation training. He
believes that additional simulation training could easily be
provided at the Academy by limiting and focusing the Spanish
training. He noted that most of the students treat Spanish as
a "blow off" course, and that even after more than 100 hours
of training, he would not be able to converse with anybody in
Spanish. The Spanish course is primarily geared at giving
officers basic skills with respect to basic police commands in
Spanish. ·
SAV00162.WP -4-