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F.T.O. INTERVIEW
!la. NAME OF IN'l'ERVIEWER: Catherine Conway
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l1b. CATE OF INTERVIEW: June 13, 1991
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\le. LENGTH OF INTERVIEW: 2 hrs 15 min
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jld. NOTES:
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I.D. CODE: Conway-1
!!_!.: Female
~: Caucasian
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DIVISION: D.A.R.E.
ic. FIELD TRAINING -- SELECTION or F.T.O.S: • believes the
ll.
eeiectlon of P.T.O.s ia a !air proc•••· I fact, ahe waan't
initially selected because aomeone with mo e experience waa
selected over her.
PIELD ~RAINING -- · TRAINING OF F.T.O.SI feels that th• F.T.o.a receive very little training. She ha• never been to ·
Field Training Officer School. There is a manual but 1he
teals it is absolutely useless. Thi• is c ntraated with the
D.A.R.E. program in which she received two week• of teachinQ
evaluation and training. Basically as an .T.O. you •imply
develop your own style. It you never had omeone really
good to learn from then you develop a poor style.
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~2. FIELD TRAINING MISCONDUCT BY DISCIPLINE OF F.T.O.Sz
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di n t have any rea
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FIELD TRAINING EVALUATION OF She
area.
l4. FIELD TRAINING -- ASSIGNMENT S TO PROBATI
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FIELD TRAINING -- RELATIONSHIP G OF
with her
much force in
onally that
community which
PROBATIO ERS: This o cer was very str c
probationers and would not let them use to
arresting a suspect. She recognized occas
probationers had a lack of respect for the
this officer tried to correct. As a n F.T •
that you wanted a "white 9uy." This is c
training officers felt you had a better qu
probationer if they were Caucasian because
were so much higher for Caucasian officers
• it was frequent
mmon because the
lif ied
FIELD TRAINING -- EVALUATION OF PROBATIONE
m sconduct y probat oners ut fee s that
follow up on the part of the Department.
no one really wants to terminate a probati
giving probationers very negative reviews,
actually there to take action.
the standards
S: She has seen
here is little
ff icer feels that
ner. Despite
no one is
ROLL CALL TRAINING: This officer felt it as very rare that
roii call training was of any use. She ha the name of a
sergeant who was excellent at roll call tr ining by the name
of Sgt. Dennis Fuller, She felt Sgt. Full r put a great
deal into his roll call training and made 't very
interesting as well as informative. She s ggeated that
Metro has a good training officer as well. She frankly
thinks nc one cares about or audits the ro 1 call training.
OSE OF FORCE: This officer has never had a
report fI!ed against her. She has never ha
and she has never had a fight. The only ti
circumstances in which she feels there may
when she is dealing with mid-Eastern or His
on the street. She admits that she has dif
with these particular suspects because they
acknowledge a woman's authority.
use of force
used a baton
e she gate in a
e problems is
anic males out
iculty dealing
do not
As an aside, she mentioned that Hermosa Bea h uses the choke
hold. She felt that is a hold that could b useful.
Ose of force training is not effectively
call.
RODNEY KING INCIDENT: She felt the King in
awful to watch. She was absolutely shocked
force. She had previously heard rumors tha
involved in an excessive use of fcrca in Ko
she witnessed the video she did some soul-s
found that if she had been one of the off ic
she didn't think she would have done anythi
ined during roll
ident was very
by the use of
Powell was
eatown. After
arching and
rs standing by,
9 with a
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1upervi1or standing behind tham. She fee s very atrongly
that the Department is like the military - you go by rank.
You wait for the officer to tell you what to do.
CITIZEN COMPLAINTS:
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121.
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INTERNAL DISCIPLINE: She viewed the disci linary system as
being okay. I
~2. PROMOTION: Officer frankly is not that ha
She feels that although O.A.R.E. is a 9rea
you want to promote (and she does) she wou
on patrol. Unfortunately, the messenger y
L.A.P.D. is you have to get out of patrol,
speaking, and you have to get on an inside
will allow you to take the time to take th
PY in O.A.R.E.
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and receive a promotion.
career move if
d much rather be
u receive at
do some public
position that
sergeants exam
Doesn't believe it is fair that patrol is own-graded.
ASSIGNMENTS/TRANSFERS: She believes the a
transfers are fair. However, one of her f
she qot the D.A.R.E. spot because she was
this was unwarranted because people who ge
generally deserve the job.
signments and
iends told her
hite. She feels
the job
COMMUNITY POLICING/COMMUNITY RELATIONS: T is officer has no
experience in community polioin9. At Wils ire she was too
busy answering radio calls.
GAYS/LESBIANS: She has heard frequent tal
whether someone was a lesbian or gay. She
Grobeson and found him to be a fine off ice
a number of times at roll call training wh
lawsuit is discussed many male officers st
were not going to work with "one of them."
many male o!ficers are homophobic. sne ha
the use of the term "fa99ot." She mention
as a whole are more accepting of lesbians.
comment that lesbians don't braid their ha
there is a rule that police officers• hair
their collars; that the lesbian police off
their hair short, whereas non-lesbian offi
their hair.
in reference to
worked with Mitch
• She mentioned
n the Grobeson
ted that they
She believes
frequently heard
d that the group
The men do
r. Apparently
remain above
ce simply keep
ers will braid
~6. WOMEN: This officer experienced sexual ha aasment when she
was a probationary officer. She had an F •. o. who talked
about "dirty things," constantly asked her out, and when she
refused to go out, he gave her poor rating • She never
spoke up about it, instead she tried to tr nsfer away from
him as soon as possible. Throughout her p obationary
period, she had nothing but good reviews e cept for this one
particular F.T.O. She feels that women ha e to prove
themselves but feels that except for the o e instance with
the F.T.O she has been treated fairly by t e Department.
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I k RACIAL MINORITIES: Officer has trequently
L.A.P.D. has lowered their hiring standard
minorities. She feels as a general feelin
rather work with a male because he had bet
order to get into the Academy and is perha
qualified police officer. She had a bad e
black probationary officer. The officer h
and wouldn•t take the directions of a fema
time he was placed with a female officer h
Headquarters would then transfer him ~o a
which he would improve. Basically, she fe
impossible to fire a probationer. They si
transferring the person in order to keep t
force.
heard that the
in order to hire ,
that you would ·
er scores in
s a better
perience with a
d an .. attitude"
e officer. Every
did poorly.
le officer in
ls it is
ply keep
e person on the
28. ATTITUDES/OPINIONS RE L.A.P.D.:
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REFORM SUGGESTIONS: This officer feels ve y strongly that
patrol should be more highly reqarded. Sh feels if it were
more highly regarded you would keep more q alif ied people
out in the field. She strongly believes t at staff people
don•t have a clue as to what is happening ut in the field.
She understands that the Chief of Police o ly did 18 months
in the field. She made a statement that a majority of the
department is inside. She believes that o ly 2800 officers
are actually out on patrol. An emphasis s ould be put on
staying on patrol. She feels one of the b'ggest problems is
that supervisors don*t know what they're t lking about and
in fact do not understand what is happenin • She feels that
patrol officer morale 1s particularly low ecause they are
dealing with supervisors who really don't nderstand what
they do.
CODE OF SILENCE: Officer believes that wit
there is no code of silence. However, bet
department and the public, she definitely t
code of silence. People don't like tattler
commonly perceived by L.A.P.O. that the cit
appreciate or understand what an L.A.P.D. o
on a day to day basis.
in the Division
en the police
inks there is a
and it is
zens don't
ficer deals with
She used MDT messages as an example of some hing no one
would ever report. In a way, ahe has troub e understanding
why anyone would use an MDT for personal me sages because
she believes there ia alwaya some kind of a dit and they
always could be pulled for trial of an inci ent. In
addition, supervisors are always monitoring the MDT •
MISCELLANEOUS: As a result of working in D
of fleer has really become aware f the fact
changed the way kids act. She i s currently
different schools. It is typical to get au
such as "what would you if I flipped you of
you beat me?," etc. This officer feels tha
A.R.E. this
that gangs have
assigned to five
h questions
and ran? would
of ten she is
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• talking to the wall. She is aware that
is working in reference to the D.A.R.E.
yet to see it.
As a side comment, this officer mentioned
Department are constantly joking about bea
She believes that in part television is re
because people have come on the Department
like television, they're 9oin9 to act like
the streets. She states this is the way "
She doesn't believe the Police Protective
represents women.
ey" say 1omething ·
gram. She has
hat people in the
in9 people up.
ponsible for this
and feel just
a Rambo out on
verybody talks."
eague in effect