CONFIDENTIAL
la:. NAME OF INTERVIEWER: Julie Huffman
lb. DATE OF INTERVIEW: June 11, 1991
le. LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 2 hours
ld. NOTES:
-------------------------------------------------------------2. I.D. CODE: 017
3. SEX: Male
4. RACE: White
5. AGE: - 6 • DIVISION: 77th • 7. CURRENT RANK/ASSIGNMENT:
8. MISC. PERSONAL BACKGROUND:
9 • MISC. L.A.P.D. BACKGROUND:
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CONFIDENTIAL
10. FIELD TRAINING -- SELECTION OF F.T.O.s:
This officer became a PIII about three years ago. He
has been working with probationers, however, for almost five
years.
11. FIELD TRAINING -- TRAINING OF F.T.O.s:
This officer took the Academy's field training course
right after he received his promotion. He did not find it
particularly helpful because he had been working with
probationers for about two years before he took the course.
The course deals primarily with documentation, but also
touches on ethnic sensitivity issues. Very little of the
course is conducted by people who actually train probationers ,
so it isn't really a "nuts and bolts" course. This officer
believes that the department should provide training officers
with more guidance in training techniques.
This officer also indicated that many training officers
are "old cops," who are burned out. On the other hand, many
are also too inexperienced to be good training officers. In
this officer's opinion, police officers should be required to
have at least five years of experience before they can become
training officers.
12. FIELD TRAINING -- MISCONDUCT BY I DISCIPLINE OF
F.T.O.s:
13. FIELD TRAINING EVALUATION OF F.T.O.s' PERFORMANCE:
14. FIELD TRAINING ASSIGNMENT(S) TO PROBATIONERS:
Although training officers have little formal input in
the probationers to which they are assigned, this officer
indicated that he tries to avoid being assigned to bad
probationers. At times, however, he is forced to take the
"problem children." In this officer's opinion, recent
graduates of the Academy are poorly trained and many of them
lack the basic skills necessary to become a good police
officer. He feels as if now he has to do the Academy's job as
well as his own.
15. FIELD TRAINING -- RELATIONSHIP WITH I TRAINING OF
PROBATIONERS:
This officer expressed the view that being a training
officer today is less enjoyable than it used to be because
many new probationers fail to understand that their
probationary period is "(a) a period of training; and (b) a
period of initiation." A lot of the recent Academy graduates
are people who simply want to "work the system," and these
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CONFIDENTIAL
people are difficult to train. The officer also indicated
that many recent Academy graduates have poor writing skills.
They use run-on sentences, can't spell, and "think Strunk &
White is a rock band." This officer believes that the
department should screen out people who have poor writing
skills and that it should raise its entrance requirements.
Although he believes that many minorities would be excluded if
the entrance requirements were increased, he also stated that
he thinks Hispanic recruits are generally good because they
tend to be well educated and are also street wise.
In describing a good probationer, this officer
indicated that you need a person who has "a modicum of
courage." A person who is able to get over their fear and do
their job. It is also important to have people who can
readily adapt to different situations, and can learn to make
judgments about people quickly. Finally, it is important to
have people who have good tactical skills. He believes that
the Academy fails to teach new recruits adequate tactical
skills because the people who are doing the training have not
worked on the street recently. This officer believes that the
Academy should rotate training officers off the street and
into the Academy and then back again.
In training recruits on how to deal with people, this
officer tells his recruits that they ought to treat people the
way "they allow themselves to be treated." He tells his
probationers that they know they have done a good traffic stop
if the person they have stopped says thank you after they
receive their ticket. He believes that 99% of the problems
police officers can encounter can be avoided if the police
officer learns how to talk to people and how to get them
laughing. This is a skill that probationers learn by
watching; it simply can't be taught in the Academy.
This officer believes that it is important to explain
to people why they have been stopped or detained once the
situation is stabilized. He believes that most of the time,
if they are given a reasonable explanation, people will
understand what has happened to them. He noted, however, that
he does not apologize as a general rule. He stated that this
is not a "macho thing," but if you apologize it gets the
person thinking that maybe you did something wrong and it
makes a personnel complaint more likely.
In this officer's opinion, most training officers do
not emphasize talking enough. In addition, most training
officers are not engaged in "active training" enough. They
don't talk to their probationers enough, or spend enough time
with them discussing the situations that they encounter. When
this officer gets a new probationer, he frequently asks them,
"How many times have you shot your gun? How many times have
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you gotten in a fight? How many times have you talked to
somebody? Now what do you think is the most important?" When
he puts it that way, most probationers realize that learning
how to talk to people is probably the most important skill
they can learn during their probationary period. Most
probationers haven't thought of it that way before they get to
him.
This officer also believes it is important to teach new
probationers not to taunt people after they have been
arrested. He thinks that it is not uncommon for police
officers, especially young officers, to taunt people. This
generally happens when the person really gets to you. It
doesn't happen often, but it happens. Police officers need to
have about five years of experience before they are able to
really let the comments made by suspects and members of the
community roll off their back.
With regard to misconduct, this officer generally tells
his probationers that he is not going to get them into
trouble. If they do get into trouble, he tells them to tell
the department what happened. They shouldn't worry about him,
because he will simply take his days, but they should be
truthful because otherwise they could lose their job. When he
talks to them about reporting misconduct by other officers, he
tries to make them understand that they shouldn't report
something they see that makes them feel uncomfortable if they
don't understand the entire situation. If a recruit expresses
the opinion that he or she would not report misconduct, he
talks to them about the fact that misconduct is generally a
crime and that they have an obligation to report it.
16. FIELD TRAINING --EVALUATION OF PROBATIONERS:
This officer indicated that the Academy no longer
deselects recru its. He believes that there are not enough
people flunking out of the Academy, because they know that all
they have to do to get by is the minimum. Working with
officers like that is very difficult, because they are
generally unwilling to do what is necessary to do the job.
This officer also indicated that he had recently worked
with a probationer who is perceived by other training officer
to be a bad police officer, but whom he was able to turn
around. This probationer had the attitude that she was
already "a full-fledged member of the fraternity," but she had
a reputation for having poor geographic skills and for
cowardice. Although this probationer was a good report
writer, she was convinced that she was a great report writer.
This officer indicated that he was able to help her improve
both her tactical skills and her ability to determine where
she was so that her reputation for cowardice diminished.
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CONFIDENTIAL
17. ROLL CALL TRAINING:
18. USE OF FORCE:
Although this officer indicated his belief that the
excessive use of force is not a serious problem on the
L.A.P.D., he did comment that the department's use-of-force
policy has a big gap between verbal commands and the use of
the baton. Police officers do not have adequate tools for
dealing with people who "passively resist but won't stand
still," although they do have the tools necessary to deal with
people who violently resist. This officer is not sure that
the choke hold is the answer to the department's policies,
primarily because it was banned before he became a member of
the force.
As a general rule, police officers try to prevent each
other from using excessive force. If a police officer is
getting angry with a suspect or simply can't handle the
situation, the officer's partner will generally come in and
take over. In this officer's opinion, this sort of informal
disciplining takes place frequently. Most police officers are
willing to step in and stop misconduct that they witness
because they believe that they are also helping to save the
police officer.
This officer also believes that the police department
is "getting much too hesitant to use force." This is because
many police officers are worried about personnel complaints
and civil liability. For that reason, most officers "don't
hurry to answer radio calls." Because they are afraid of
civil liability or personnel complaints, police officers are
less willing today to "stretch" for the public than they used
to be.
19. RODNEY KING INCIDENT:
This officer was unwilling to describe the conduct he
saw on the Rodney King videotape as misconduct. He admitted
that he was shocked the first time he saw the tape, but now
when he looks at it he believes that the officers may have
been justified. In his opinion, Rodney King never gives up.
When the audio portion of the tape is enhanced, people might
be able to hear officers making racial slurs, but they will
never be able to hear King say, "I give," because he never
did. In this officer's opinion, all of King's actions
indicated that he was either crazy or on PCP. When the Tazer
didn't work, the cops rightfully believed that they were in
trouble. The officers had no option but to use their batons
on King because he was not complying with their demands. In
this officer's opinion, a swarm technique would not have
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CONFIDENTIAL
worked because Rodney King was too big and too violent. This
officer also indicated that, if he had been present at the
scene, he probably would not have intervened to stop the use
of force. First of all, there was a sargeant on the scene and
it was his job to make the decisions. Secondly, the next step
available to the officers in taking King into custody wasn't
"a step down. It's a step up, it's a gun ."
This officer also indicated that he knew Stacy Koon
well because Stacy used to work at 77th. He described Koon as
"one of the finest men I've ever known." He also indicated
that Koon had saved the life of "a black drag queen whore," by
giving the person CPR. The same story was told to me by
another police officer. See, Memo No. Huffman-004.
20. CITIZEN COMPLAINTS:
In this officer's opinion, the department is going
overboard in combating the image that the department does not
take complaints from citizens. He believes that that image
was never an accurate one. In addition, the department
appears to be increasing the discipline given to officers who
engage in excessive force. He thinks that the department is
going to switch from suspending people to terminating them.
This officer also indicated it would be nice if sargeants were
armed with video equipment so that they could videotape
encounters between police officers and citizens.
This officer believes that citizen complaints have
become more common since the King incident. It used to be
very rare for people to ask to speak to a supervisor, now at
least the threat of complaints and the desire to speak with
supervisors have increased. People are now literally asking
to be hit, saying, "I'm going to be the new Rodney King."
Although this officer believes that it is probably too
easy for citizens to file complaints against police officers,
he also acknowledges that citizens have to have an avenue for
complaining about the department. A lot of people file false
complaints. This officer believes that the department should
require people who file personnel complaints to participate in
the process. The complaints should ba dropped if the person
refuses to cooperate with the Internal Affairs Division
investigation. Finally, this officer indicated that the
department's rule requiring corroboration from independent
witnesses cannot be changed. Without such a rule, police
officers will refuse to work. In this officer's opinion, once
the department decides that excessive force has occurred, the
department disciplines it very heavily.
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CONFIDENTIAL
21. INTERNAL DISCIPLINE:
This officer indicated that most of the discipline that
occurs in the department is done informally. People get a
reputation for being belligerent and, if they have such a
reputation, other officers will not want to work with them.
In addition, supervisors will make it a point to show up more
frequently to check on the officer's behavior. The department
will also split partners up if they believe that the partners
are encouraging each other in the use of force. When this
happens to police officers, they tend to try to change their
tactics because it is very important to police officers that
their peers approve of their work.
This officer believes that the amount of discipline
police officers receive depends very heavily upon their rank.
Patrol officers, especially PII and PIII officers, will take
the hardest hits, and the discipline becomes more lenient the
further up the ladder you go. As an example, this officer
pointed to the official reprimand given to Assistant Chief
Vernon for misusing the department's computer systems. He
expressed the view that if he had done that, he would have
been fired. Many officers believe that the disciplinary
system is unfair and this is having a negative effect on
morale .
This officer also indicated that police officers find
the disciplinary system to be very stressful. Even if the
complaint is not true, and they believe they will be
exonerated, just going through the process is difficult for
most police officers. Police officers believe that the fact
that they have had complaints filed against them, even if the
complaints are not sustained, will affect their promotional
opportunities and will affect the views of their superiors and
their fellow officers.
22. PROMOTION:
This officer expressed the view that police officers
need to have more time on the force before they are eligible
for promotions. In addition, he believes that the time needs
to be time in the field, rather than time at a "inside" job.
He expressed a lot of bitterness, and indicated that many
patrol officers share his view, over the fact that police
officers who have many years in the field generally lack
promotional opportunities. Officers with a lot of patrol
experience are generally denied "inside" jobs because the
department looks down on its patrol officers.
23 • ASSIGNMENTS/TRANSFERS:
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CONFIDENTIAL -
24. COMMUNITY POLICING I COMMUNITY RELATIONS:
This officer believes that the department places too
much emphasis on the number of t i ckets police officers write
and on response time statistics. He thinks it would be nice
for the department to have more cops walking a foot beat, but
with the size of this city he believes that that would be
impossible. He thinks the department's community relations
efforts are adequate, given the department's current budget.
He thinks it would be nice to have more time to stop and talk
with citizens, but, "the crime problem is horrendous," and the
police department can't really afford that luxury.
25. GAYS/LESBIANS:
This officer indicated that one of his best partners
was fired after he was arrested by an undercover vice officer
for soliciting homosexual sex in a men's room. Eighteen {18)
other police officers appeared at the gay officer's board of
rights hearing to protest his termination, but the gay officer
was terminated anyway. This officer feels very strongly that
his partner would not have been terminated if he had been
arrested for soliciting heterosexual sex.
This officer indicated his believe that, although the
department used to ask questions about sexual orientation
during background investigatiions, it no longer follows that
practice. He indicated that, during his background
investigation, questions about his sexual orientation were
asked.
This officer expressed the opinion that he would not mind
working with a gay police officer, "as long as they don't do
it in the street and frighten the horses. Or do children."
He also expressed the view that gay police officers would be
acceptable as long as they didn't go "mincing around in the
field." Finally, this officer indicated that many police
officers would feel uncomfortable working with gay men.
26. WOMEN:
This officer expressed the view that attractive women
tend to get promoted more frequently than unattractive women.
This officer indicated that many police officers feel safer
working with male partners because men tend to be physically
stronger, and because you can't talk to a woman the way you
can talk to a man. On the other hand, most people have
"resigned themselves to working with women." This officer
believes that a lot of "real horror stories" have been hired
by the department in its effort to increase the number of
women on the force. He also indicated, however, that some of
the best partners he has ever had were women.
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CONFIDENTIAL ..
27. RACIAL MINORITIES:
In this officer's opinion, race relations within the
department is not a particularly serious problem. Although he
thought the situation appeared to be okay, he also said that
he would be curious to talk to older black officers to see how
they would feel. He also indicated that many police officers
are racist in their personal beliefs, but he believes that
most police officers leave those beliefs at home when they
come to work. This is because most police officers know that
the department will "come down hard" on racist behavior. He
indicated that the department hires a lot of "blue collar
stiffs who aren't the most enlightened people in the world."
He makes it a point to tell new probationers that if they have
racist views, they have to leave them at home. If they can't
do that, they shouldn't have this job. It is also important
to be aware that police officers generally see people at their
worst. "It's not the Cosby show or even Sanford and Son out
there."
28. ATTITUDES/OPINIONS RE: L.A.P.D.:
This officer expressed the view that although he used
to like working in patrol, he doesn't like it any more, "not
today." He believes that most citizens and most judges are
too willing to presume that a police officer is guilty if
anything goes wrong, and that perception is affecting morale
on the department. "I've worked in 77th for five years
protecting black lives and black property, and now I'm just
another racist cop." This officer indicated that he has put
in a transfer to North Hollywood Division and expects to be
working in the valley very soon.
This officer also expressed a great deal of animosity
about the way the department's managers treat the patrol
divisions. Although they give lip service to the idea that
the patrol division is the "backbone of the police
department," they don't really believe that. In his opinion,
Gates and the other upper level managers have absolutely no
concept of what police officers do for a living. Upper
management is too isolated. You never see upper management in
the station house talking to police officers. In addition,
these people haven't spent any time in the field and don't
understand what's happening. There is an unspoken belief
within the department that people who have spent many years on
patrol are stupid and ought not to be promoted. "I have the
worst job on the department and there's nowhere to go."
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CONFIDENTIAL
29. REFORM SUGGESTIONS:
This officer believes that the department needs to
support its patrol divisions more strongly. Patrol officers
need to be given greater promotional opportunities, and ought
to be given a pay differential because they work under such
unpleasant circumstances. He believes that people who have
"inside" jobs ought to be rotated through patrol positions on
a regular basis. In addition, the upper management of the
department ought to be required to do ride-alongs on a regular
basis so that they will be more aware of what's happening in
the street.
This officer also believes that people should not be
promoted until they have spent a significant amount of time
working in the field. Many of the field supervisors,
including sargeants and lieutenants, have very little
experience, and none of it in the field. These people are
difficult to work with and don't really understand what a
police officer's job entails.
30. CODE OF SILENCE:
This officer acknowledged that police officers
sometimes cover up for one another and lie for each other.
Police officers are reluctant to report every violation of
policy that they see because they know that if they do report
every violation they will be "very alone out there," and that
when they violate policy they are certain to be burned by
their peers. In deciding whether to report misconduct, this
officer looks at the seriousness of the violation and tries to
judge whether the police officer involved has his "heart in
the right place."
Police officers are very careful about the person they
choose to report violations of policy to. You choose the
person you speak to based upon their knowledge and how much
you trust them. You want to know that the complaint is going
to be investigated, and not just kissed off, and that it will
be investigated fairly.
50. MISCELLANEOUS:
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