Oliver Thompson, interview, 1992-06-18

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Content PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL
ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
TO:
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
MEMORANDUM
SUSAN SPIVAK, ESQ.
KEN HEITZ, ESQ.
LAURIE L. LEVENSON
JANET LEVINE
JUNE 18, 1992
INGLEWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT INTERVIEW
On June 17, 1992, at 3:30 p.m. at the Inglewood Police
Department, we interviewed Inglewood Chief of Police Oliver
Thompson. The following is a summary of our recollection of this
meeting, including our questions and comments, together with our
mental impressions, conclusions and opinions, based upon the
meeting.
I. INTRODUCTION
On June 17, 1992, Janet Levine and I met with Oliver
Thompson, Chief of the Inglewood Police Department. The meeting
lasted from approximately 3:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. on that date.
The Inglewood Police Department is in the process of
independently analyzing its response to the civil unrest. Its
report is not expected to be complete for 30 to 60 days.
However, in our interview with the Chief of Police, we tried to
cover much of the information that will be in the formal report.
In addition, Chief Thompson referred us to other officers under
his command who will assist with follow-up information.
II. MATERIALS RECEIVED IN THE MEETING
During the interview, Chief Thompson referred to several
materials that might assist us in our work. He will contact his
assistant, Sgt. John Hough, to provide us with these materials.
They will include:
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1.
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7.
A copy of the Inglewood Plan, if any, to
respond to Major Events or Disturbances;
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An Organizational Chart of the Inglewood
Police Department;
A Map of the Jurisdiction of the Inglewood
Police Department;
A Chronology of the Activity of the
Inglewood Police Department in Response
to the civil disturbance on Wednesday,
April 29, 1992, through Monday, May 4, 1992;
An assessment of the damage to Inglewood
during the civil disturbance;
An analysis of the arrests made during
the Civil Disturbance;
A copy of an advertisement congratulating
the Inglewood Police Department for its
fine response during the civil disturbance.
These materials will be forwarded to you as soon as they are
forthcoming.
III. PREPLANNING
Chief Thompson began as Chief of Police for the Inglewood
Police Department on March 23, 1992. Prior to becoming Chief of
Police, Chief Thompson served for 17 years as a police officer in
Riverside County.
Chief Thompson stated that the Department did not have a
formal plan to deal with the disturbance before the King verdict
was read. There was, however, some advance planning of how
officers would be deployed if a problem developed.
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Since the interview, we have been notified by Sgt. Hough
that the Inglewood Police Department does not have a Major
Disturbance Plan. It has recently received, however, a copy of a
detailed plan from the Florida police departments for dealing with
civil emergencies. Sgt. Hough will be forwarding a copy of that
plan to us as soon as possible.
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Approximately one week before the verdict, Chief Thompson
sensed that some type of plan might be needed. Although the
media had created the expectation that the defendants in the King
case would be convicted, Thompson was not as confident of that
verdict. Accordingly, he began to think of how the Department
should prepare for any community response. Simultaneously, Lt.
Jack Frazier, Narcotics Division, discussed with Chief Thompson
the need for a plan. Together they began to prepare for the
Department's response.
As Chief Thompson described, the planning was "situational."
Specifically, it was decided that the Department would use the
team approach to respond to any unrest. This approach is
standardly used by the Inglewood Police Department. Each team is
composed of a Sergeant and 5-6 officers. If necessary,
additional assistance is requested from the Lennox Sheriff's
Department or the Hawthorne Police Department, that borders on
the Inglewood jurisdiction. In the past, both of these
departments had been very cooperative in assisting the Inglewood
Police.
Additionally, Chief Thompson was in contact with one of his
officers, Deputy Chief Porter, who was an officer during the 1965
Watts riot. Deputy Chief Porter suggested that officer picket
lines be used in specific city areas to quell any disturbance.
No other type of planning was made for a possible disturbance.
IV. MUTUAL ASSISTANCE PACTS
The Inglewood Police Department generally looks to the
Lennox Sheriff's Department for additional assistance. The Chief
was unaware of any formal pact with the Sheriff's Department for
this assistance.
There is no coordination between the Inglewood Police
Department and the Los Angeles Police Department {"LAPD"}.
According to the Chief, there has been no outreach by the LAPD.
The Inglewood Police Department receives occasional
assistance from the California Highway Patrol. Chief Thompson
was unaware, however, of any, formal pact between CHP and the
Inglewood Police Department for this assistance.
Once the disturbance began, Chief Thompson learned that
there is a Disaster Coordination Team in Inglewood working with
the County Emergency Operation Council. This team is coordinated
by Kate Webber.
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Chief Thompson learned during the disturbance that in order
to obtain assistance from the National Guard the Inglewood Police
Department must complete and get approved an approved mission
from the County EOC. He is unaware of any Pact that spells out
the steps he must take to acquire such assistance. In fact,
Chief Thompson's greatest frustration during the disturbance was
in trying to get assistance from the National Guard. Chief
Thompson stated that unquestionably most of the damage in his
city could have been prevented with earlier deployment of the
National Guard. If ammunition and assignments were coordinated
for the National Guard by 2:00 a.m. on Wednesday night, April 29,
1992, Chief Thompson believes there would have been no loss of
structures in the city. As it was, an Inglewood based unit of
the National Guard sat helplessly Thursday morning as stores
burned one block from their location. Eventually, at 8:45 p.m.
on Thursday night, April 30, 1992, a unit from the Imperial
Valley National Guard arrived in Inglewood to assist. Chief
Thompson noted that when this unit did arrive it was very
helpful. It arrived fully operational and was able to assist the
Inglewood Police Department. The Inglewood National Guard unit
was eventually deployed to assist in Lynwood.
VI. COORDINATION WITH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Inglewood Police and Fire Departments standardly receive
joint dispatch of fire calls. During the civil disturbance,
there was good coordination between the Inglewood Fire and Police
Departments. Initially, all fire calls were accompanied by a
marked police car. By the second day of the disturbance, a
uniformed police officer rode on each fire truck responding to a
fire. The fire department is headed by Chief Julio Ysias.
VII. INGLEWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT JURISDICTION
The City of Inglewood is approximately 9-10 square miles,
with 6.23 miles of livable space. The remaining space includes
cemeteries, the Forum, Hollywood Park Racetrack, and other
uninhabitable space.
There are 214 sworn officers, 95 non-sworn officers and 35
reserve officers on the Inglewood Police Department.
The City of Inglewood is serviced by two large hospitals:
Daniel Freeman Hospital (which has a trauma center) and Centinela
Community Hospital.
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There are informal community groups in the City but none
were contacted in advance of the disturbance. Volunteer and
community groups are coordinated by Sgt. Alex Perez and Volunteer
Ruth Terrell.
VIII. CHRONOLOGY OF THE EVENTS
Lt. Hough of the Inglewood Police Department will be
providing us with a formal chronology of the events during the
disturbance. What follows are some comments by the Chief
regarding those events.
A. Wednesday, April 29, 1992
Chief Thompson was on duty at the Inglewood Police
Department at the time the King verdict was announced at 3:00
p.m. on Wednesday, April 29, 1992. He immediately called in his
afternoon crew for briefing. The officers were instructed to use
restraint if there was public reaction to the verdict. Chief
Thompson explained that restraint did not mean allowing looters
and others to conduct their illegal activity; rather, it meant
not being goaded into a confrontation.
At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday night, there was a basketball game
at the Forum. It ended at approximately 9:00 p.m. The Special
Enforcement Unit of the Inglewood Police Department was able to
direct all attendees from that event without incident.
The first major disturbance occurred Wednesday evening at
8:00 p.m. Shots were fired at officers at 108th and 109th
Streets. No officer was injured. There were also two structures
lost the first night: one on West Blvd, the other a restaurant
on Imperial. Chief Thompson said that the police and fire
departments responded to both fires.
Although there were many other disturbance calls, Inglewood
police officers were generally able to respond within a minute.
All Inglewood Police Department officers were put on full alert
immediately following the verdict. The statistics on arrests
made that evening will be made available by Sgt. John Hough.
Chief Thompson anticipated that unlawful incidents in his city
jumped 100% during the civil unrest. There was no short booking
process in place at the time of the disturbance. Since the civil
unrest, Sgt. Milkovich, together with Deputy D.A. Will Orange,
have developed procedures to deal with the 48 hour arraignment
rule.
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There was some assistance provided on Wednesday night and
Thursday by the California Highway Patrol("CHP"). The CHP worked
the VanNess/Crenshaw corridor. This assistance was not, however,
at the direction of or in coordination with the Inglewood Police
Department. Inglewood police units were dispatched from a
command post set up in the parking lot of the former Sears store
in Inglewood.
Chief Thompson described the actions of the violators
Wednesday evening as opportunistic, not planned acts of criminal
behavior. In the Chief's words, it was a "Gala Party Event." It
did not appear that most of the violations were being committed
by gang members. Approximately 60% of the arrests (approx. 300
arrests) were of people who are not residents of Inglewood.
Two commanders were put in place to deal with the events of
the evening. They were Captains Seymour and Hoffman. Most of
the damage that occurred was at the periphery of the city, at the
strip malls. There seemed to be enough equipment, radios and
gear, for the forces that evening.
B. Thursday, April 30, 1992
The major disruption to Inglewood occurred on Thursday,
April 30, 1992. In anticipation of increased violence, at 2:00
a.m. Thursday morning, Chief Thompson contacted a liaison with
the National Guard. He was told that the Guard's response time
was one hour and that he could receive the assistance of 100-200
officers. This, however, did not prove to be the case. As
described in more detail below, Chief Thompson asked for National
Guard assistance at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. No guard units
appeared until 8:45 p.m. that evening (almost a 10 hour delay).
From 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on Thursday, there was an
upsurge in disturbances. Groups attacked the downtown retail
district. It was at that point that the City Managers decided to
impose a curfew. Prior to that time there was a hope that
Inglewood would not have to impose a curfew.
The violence in downtown commercial area affected several
different groups, including the Koreans. Chief Thompson believed
that there was a certain amount of "payback" (i.e., racial
animus) involved in the violence against Korean-owned stores.
The Korean community later expressed gratitude to the police
department for its zealous efforts in protecting its businesses.
Information on this topic is available from Truman Jaques, City
Public Relations Officer.
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ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
Captain Hoffman also tried to contact the National Guard for
assistance. All requests got bogged down in bureaucracy and
Chief Thompson felt that there was intentional stalling by the
Guard. Chief Thompson, himself, spoke to four generals for the
National Guard. There was no one general in charge. Eventually,
Chief Thompson went to the Lynwood Sheriff's assistance to see if
he could get assistance. He was told by a Lieutenant that he
needed a mission approved by the County EOC. Inglewood's EOC
Liaison, Paul Myron, was assigned to obtain the approval.
Chief Thompson emphasized that it was a great setback not
being able to get National Guard assistance after being told
earlier that morning that help was on its way. In assigning his
officers, the Chief and his commanders had relied on the National
Guard's representations that relief would arrive soon. Makeshift
arrangements were made to obtain housing and food for the
officers who were on 12 hour shifts. There was no Red Cross or
Salvation Army support.
By 7:00 p.m. on Thursday evening, the disturbances were
calming down. The curfew was helpful in calming the streets. At
8:45 p.m. on Thursday evening, 70 National Guardsmen arrived from
the Inland Empire. They were fully operational and were added to
the police force in the field. From then on, the streets
returned quickly to normal.
IX. IMPRESSIONS
Chief Thompson offered the following impressions regarding
the effectiveness of his department during the disturbance and
its relationship with other law enforcement agencies, including
the LAPD. First, Chief Thompson felt that the immediate lesson
of the disturbance was that the Inglewood police must be
independent and self-reliant. They could not rely on help from
surrounding police forces. The LAPD barely acknowledged the
existence of the other local police departments. They certainly
could not be relied upon for assistance. In order to make
themselves more self-reliance, the Inglewood Police officers are
now meeting with community members to enlist the assistance of
ham radio operators and block clubs. They are also instructing
citizens who own guns not to use them on the street, but only to
protect themselves in their homes.
Second, Chief Thompson credited the dedication of his
officers to the community for their strong response to the
unrest. There is a philosophy in the Inglewood Police Department
that the Police Department services the community and that
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ATTORNEY WORK PRODUCT
destruction of the city's businesses would have had a devastating
impact on the community. Thus, the officers worked aggressively
to prevent damage to the city.
Third, the organization of the Inglewood Police Department
is designed to create strong bonds between the department and the
community. Chief Thompson described it as a "community based
Police Department." There is not, as Chief Thompson perceived
amongst LAPD officers, an attitude of just doing a job and then
returning to the suburbs. The Inglewood Police officers are told
that they are accountable to the customer, i.e., the citizens of
the city. The Chief of Police sees himself in the role of a
Chief Executive Officer of a corporation, responsible for the
effective and efficient operation of the department. The
Department opens itself up, as much as possible, to the community
and its suggestions.
Chief Thompson's suggestions for improving law enforcement
response in the future include: (a) changing the leadership at
LAPD; (b) changing LAPD's philosophy so that LAPD officers
identify with the community they serve and don't feel threatened
by it; (c) quarterly meetings among personnel of various police
departments to review resources, cooperation agreements, and
mutual systems; (d) more communication between LAPD and other
police departments (at present the leadership at LAPD has been
fairly unapproachable).
Chief Thompson praised Sheriff Sherman Block. He said he
was easy to work with and could be reached at times of need. The
Inglewood Police Department uses the Sheriff's academy for its
training because the officers develop a much better attitude
toward their job and the community than LAPD trained officers.
Chief Thompson believed it would be very helpful to have a
formalized response plan for major incidents. It should, among
other things, identify critical parts of the infrastructure,
identify where the National Guard could best be deployed; cut
down on the National Guard response team; describe the team
response to the violence; and prescribe the appropriate sergeant
to officer ratio for such occurrences. Additionally, Chief
Thompson believed it would be helpful to use satellite television
training for the officers rather than sending them away for much
of their training. In particular, there could be a television
system in place to train in the event of a major incident and to
give direction on how to coordinate the response effort.
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Finally, Chief Thompson emphasized that remedying the
deficiencies in the police response to the violence is only a
small part of the effort that must be made to avoid a repeat of
the recent events. He believes it is very important to address
the underlying problems of unrest, including the declining
economy, racism, and collapsing infrastructure.
X. PEOPLE TO CONTACT
Chief Thompson mentioned several other individuals who may
be able to assist with the study. They are:
(1) Lt. Jack Frazier (Involved in contingency
planning for the disturbance);
(2) St. Alex Perez and Ruth Terrell (Coordinates
civilian volunteers);
(3) Kate Webber (Disaster Coordinator for Inglewood);
(4) Sgt. John Hough (Arrest statistics and chronology);
(5) Deputy D.A. Will Orange (booking process);
(6) Sgt. Milkovich (booking process);
(7) Captain Hoffman (efforts to obtain National Guard
Assistance);
(8) Chief Julio Ysias (Fire Department Chief);
(9) Paul Eckles (City Manager); and
(10) Truman Jacques (City Public Relations).
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