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[HUFFMAN - 012]
la. NAME OF INTERVIEWER: Julie Huffman
lb. DATE OF INTERVIEW: June 6, 1991
le. LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 1 Hr.
ld. NOTES:
2. I.D. CODE: 012
3. SEX: Male
4. RACE: Latino
5. AGE:.
6. DIVISION: Hollenbeck
7 • CURRENT RANKlASSIGNMENT:
8. MISC. PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
9. MISC. L.A.P.D. BACKGROUND:
10. FIELD TRAINING -- SELECTION OF F.T.O.s:
CONFIDENTIAL
This officer indicated that he had taken the PIII test on
several occasions, and had always passed it, but waited to take a
PIII position until one opened up in Hollenbeck Division, because
he wanted to stay in that division. Even before he became a
PIII, he frequently worked with probationers. He spent about a
year being a training officer before he took his last promotion,
and when he finishes his tour as a detective trainee, he will
probably return to being a training officer. He thinks that
maturity, age, and time on the job have a lot to do with whether
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a person will make a good training officer. He agrees that
people who have one year on the force are probably not competent
to train others, but doesn't think that experience is necessarily
the sole factor in determining who will be a good training
officer.
This officer expressed the opinion that he doesn't really
like being a training officer because he thinks that there are a
lot of "officer safety problems" that go along with the position.
It's scary to be working with a probationer, especially when you
meet up with a group of suspects. You're not always sure that
the probationer will back you up.
This officer believes that the position of training officer
ought to be reserved for people who really enjoy reaching others.
There ought to be a separate promotion track for training
officers and people who want PIII positions for other reasons,
like getting a job as a detective trainee or a vice officer.
11. FIELD TRAINING -- TRAINING OF F.T.O.s:
This officer has not taken the Academy's field training
course.
12. FIELD TRAINING MISCONDUCT BY I DISCIPLINE OF F.T.O.s:
13. FIELD TRAINING EVALUATION OF F.T.O.s' PERFORMANCE:
This officer believes that all the paperwork that goes along
with being a training officer is really a burden. It's
especially difficult if you're trying to terminate someone
because the Department requires a lot of documentation, and most
training officers don't want to put in the extra time to create
that documentation.
14. FIELD TRAINING -- ASSIGNMENT(S) TO PROBATIONERS:
Although Hollenbeck Division tries to keep probationers
working with the same training officer for at least three months,
it often doesn't work out that way. On a lot of occasions,
training officers will work with a different probationer
everyday. This makes it difficult to evaluate probationers, or
to give them extra training in areas where they are weak. A lot
of times, one training officer will see problems with a
probationer that the probationer's regular officer has not seen.
This officer believes that there ought to be a better method for
training officers to share their opinions about probationers.
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15. FIELD TRAINING -- RELATIONSHIP WITH I TRAINING OF
PROBATIONERS:
This officer's priorities in training new probationers are:
(1) officer safety; (2) communication skills; (3) administrative
details, like report writing. The officer thinks that
probationers generally come out of the Academy pretty well versed
in the basics. "It's as if they can walk, but they can't run.''
He acknowledges, however, that a new probationer's proficiency
will depend on the individual probationer, some people are more
streetwise than others and they tend to make better probationers.
In teaching communications skills, this officer tries to
teach his probationers to be patient. It's important for
probationers to learn to read people's eyes, so they can gauge
how they ought to respond to the person. He also thinks that it
is important to teach probationers to explain to people why they
have been stopped or detained. Explaining tends to put people at
ease, and will make them feel more comfortable if they ever have
to deal with the police in the future. He thinks that taking
five minutes to explain a situation to someone will save a lot of
time in the long run, because that person is less likely to file
a complaint.
16. FIELD TRAINING --EVALUATION OF PROBATIONERS:
This officer expressed a view that it is too difficult for
the Department to terminate unsatisfactory employees because the
training officer is required to fill out too much documentation,
and many training officers are unwilling to take the time to do
that. The officer also indicated that he thinks there should be
a better system for exchanging information between training
officers who have worked with the same probationer. This is
because some training officers will see problems or weaknesses in
a probationer that another training officer won't.
17. ROLL CALL TRAINING:
18. USE OF FORCE:
This officer does not believe that the use of excessive
force is a serious problem in the Department. He thinks that the
public should not be a worried about it as they are. He also
thinks that whether a situation involved in excessive use of
force is a difficult question to judge.
This officer thinks that, when excessive use of force
occurs, it's generally a situation where the police officer has
simply made a mistake or a misjudgment. He expressed the opinion
that if a suspect or a person that a police officer is dealing
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with levels a "sustained personal attack," on the officer, the
officer is going to be less able to judge how much force is
really necessary to subdue the person.
This officer expressed his opinion that beatings are rare.
He acknowledged that high speed pursuits are hard on police
officers because police officers get a real adrenaline rush. An
officer starts to believe that his life is in danger while he's
involved in a pursuit, and that it is all the suspect's fault.
After a while, you don't care so much about catching the suspect
as you do about catching up with him and "kicking his ass." He
thinks that beatings following high speed pursuits happen, but
not very frequently.
19. RODNEY KING INCIDENT:
The first couple of times this police officer saw the Rodney
King tape, he reserved judgment on whether the conduct was
excessive. Now he thinks that the police officers violated
policy and that the force used was excessive. He believes that
someone should have said, "This isn't working. Let's try
something else." He thinks this should have happened not because
the police officers have some love of humanity, but because they
were doing bad police work, the tactics they were using were not
working.
20. CITIZEN COMPLAINTS:
This officer believes that citizen complaints can be avoided
if police officers _take the time to talk with citizens and
· explain their cond~ct.
21. INTERNAL DISCIPLINE:
This officer makes it a point to tell probationers that he
is honest, that he does not violate Department policy, and that
he expects the same kind of conduct from them. He tells
probationers that, if they witness misconduct, they ought to tell
him about it or they ought to tell someone else who is in charge.
This officer believes that while there are problems with the
disciplinary system, the IAD does a good job of finding and
punishing misconduct. He believes that the public should not be
as concerned about misconduct on the police force as it appears
to be.
This officer thinks that the Department punishes police
officers equally for misconduct, it doesn't matter whether the
police officer is a training officer, a probationer, or in some
other position. He thinks that the Department views some kinds
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of misconduct as being more serious more than others. Hitting a
handcuffed suspect, for example, is really bad, while using
discourteous language is probably not as serious. He also
believes that the priorities in disciplining depend upon what's
in the news.
This officer expressed the view that the best way to avoid
becoming involved in this conduct is to make clear to your
partner that you do not tolerate that kind of behavior. He
always makes it a practice, when he is working with a new
partners, to explain to the partner the kinds of things he will
tolerate and the kinds of things he will not. He thinks that
police officers generally respect other police officers' limits
in this regard.
22. PROMOTION:
This officer thinks that the promotion system is generally
fair. For example, he thinks that oral boards are generally fair
because the people who are conducting the interview don't know
the people they are interviewing, and don't have a lot of bias
against them. He thinks the system becomes less fair at the
divisional level. Captains and Lieutenants like to promote
people they know and people they like.
23. ASSIGNMENTS/TRANSFERS:
24. COMMUNITY POLICING I COMMUNITY RELATIONS:
This officer indicated that he thinks the Department ought
to emphasize foot beats more strongly. He thinks foot beats are
good because it allows the community to get to know the police
officers and it breaks down barriers between the community and
the Police Department. He thinks maybe he has this attitude
because he grew up in New York City where most police officers
walk a beat.
He also thinks that the Department needs to emphasize
community relations more strongly. He says, however, that the
days of the "basic car meeting," are gone. The Departments needs
to emphasize education over simple public relations tactics.
Police officers need to make more of an effort to make people
comfortable about coming into the station for meetings. There
aren't enough neighborhood watch meetings or neighborhood
relations meetings being held for people to feel comfortable
coming to the Police Department with their problems.
He thinks that the Department needs to change its focus. It
is useless for the Department to look only at the number of
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arrests in determining whether police officers are doing a good
job. "We need to focus on making people feel safe."
25. GAYS/LESBIANS:
26. WOMEN:
This officer believes that a lot of male officers would
prefer working with men over women. For him, it's a question of
upper body strength. He thinks that the Department needs to have
a more stringent height requirement.
27. RACIAL MINORITIES:
This officer does not believe that racial tension is a
particularly big problem in the Department. There is a lot of
name calling, and a lot of joke making, but it's all in fun.
Every once in a while, however, someone means what they say.
Although he believes that there is a lot of segregation in the
Department, he doesn't think that there is a lot of tensions
between the races. People of the same race tend to stick
together.
28. ATTITUDES/OPINIONS RE: L.A.P.D.:
29. REFORM SUGGESTIONS:
(1) The Department should relax its focus on arrest
statistics and focus more strongly on making people feel safe.
He thinks that this is a problem with management. Management
right now is pressuring officers for quantity and therefore
"quality goes out the window." He thinks that the emphasis
statistics is bad management because the policy isn't working.
In his opinion, things on the street are getting worse. (2) He
thinks that the Department needs to be involved in educating the
community into how policing works. People need to know why
officers are doing what they do when they arrest a person or when
they stop and search a person. (3) The Department needs more
officers on the street, and needs to provide more support to
officers in patrol jobs. This officer believes that some of the
special units ought to be disbanded, and the Department should
make an effort to make patrol jobs better. (4) This officer
thinks that the Department should consider requiring officers to
have a certain amount of time on the force before they can apply
for promotions. (5) This officer believes that the promotion
track for training officer positions ought to be separate from
the promotion track for PIII positions. Not everyone who wants
to get a promotion is going to be a good teacher, and the
training officer positions ought to be reserved for people who
really want to teach.
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30. CODE OF SILENCE:
This officer thinks that, on "little things," there's a lot
of covering up in the Depa.rtment. For example, officers will
generally cover for each other when a "mouth beef," is involved.
Even if an officer has said something inappropriate, if it
worked, no one is particularly going to care. For example, if a
police officer tells an unruly, disruptive suspect to "shut the
fuck up," and it works, no one is going to "roll" on the officer
if a complaint is filed. More serious things, however, will get
reported.
He thinks that officers tend to be careful in choosing the
supervisor to whom they report misconduct. You decide who to
talk to depending on what you think that person's going to do
about it. Sergeants who have a reputation for handling problems
without filing personnel complaints are more likely to hear about
misconduct than are sergeants who are perceived to be really "by
the book."
50. MISCELLANEOUS:
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