Statement by Chief Bratton Lawsuit Filed

Los Angeles:  Chief William Bratton provided the following statement in response to a lawsuit announced today:

"The allegations being made by the plaintiffs are so outrageous and without foundation, they do not merit a response other than that we will be happy to see them in court, where I expect the Department will prevail."

"I have based my whole career on ensuring equal opportunity to all people, and I stand on my record at LAPD of appointing qualified minorities and women.  Among my most recent promotions are:  Commander Sandy Jo MacArthur, the LAPD's first woman, to be in charge of LAPD's training function; Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger, an African American who runs the Department’s patrol and detective operations; Deputy Chief Mark Perez, a Latino chosen to fill the vacancy as head of Professional Standards Bureau; Commander Ken Garner, an African American in charge of LAPD's recruitment and hiring; and Rhonda Sims-Lewis, an African American and the Department's highest ranking civilian woman.”

On the issue of expanding and reconfiguring the Critical Incident Investigation Division (CIID), the forerunner of Force Investigation Division, Chief Bratton said:

"The organizational and personnel changes in CIID were partly due to recommendations and concerns raised by the Federal Monitor, which was concerned about the quality of the CIID investigations at the time."

Comments

[THE.CASTLE]

Will this be a transparent investigation? Or does that only apply to patrol? Better yet,if berkow is'nt an employee w/ the lapd,is there an investigation?

LT, you did your time at the Bradbury Building, whats the scoop on the process?

[Kenneth]

It's the holiday season.. Those officers just want some free money from the hard working tax payers of this city.. You all should be disgusted in try hit hit the "L.A. City lottery." You all give every hard working officers in this city a bad name! I hope the officers involved in this ridiculas lawsuit do the right thing and leave. I don't want to put my safety in their hands.

I don't know what's a more scary sight, these officers or our sub-par city council who was ready to just hand out 2.7 million dollars to that fire fighter WITHOUT A THOROUGH investigation. I GUESS THE COUNCIL DOES NOT CARE, IT'S NOT THEIR MONEY THEY WASTE.

[Lee]

Outstanding statement, by our Chief of Police.

What is unfortunate in the race card becoming a standard cause of action in todays litigation process,is that it's common use has provided a dulling effect in those instances where discrimination, bias and prejudice really are impacting our society. Kind of like 'the boy crying wolf', story that my Dad used to recite to me to discourage me from exagerating or telling stories for purposes of attention. We all know how that goes.

So, what is really sad in the fire department 'dog food' case,as now in this new police department case is that many of our men and women, in today's society, seem to be unable to accept accountability for their actions. They cannot seem to fathom that something they themselves may be doing isn't good enough,is even wrong, that more effort must be put in to achieve their goals, that others may be performing better and deserve the better treatment.

Oh, to be honorable, oh to be human, oh, to be truthfull and oh, to live up to the oath of office that we all have taken at one time or another.

Wouldn't it be nice if everyone were to be able to look themselves in the mirror in this new year and say 'I will be accountable for my own actions. I will focus on doing the best that I can at my job or profession. I will work to make things better for my my community, my family and myself'.

So, if anyone is reading this, who this may have an impact on, you need not do anything....but the right thing...and you know what that is.

God Bless America, God Bless the good and dedicated men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department who risk their lives on a daily basis to make our community a better and safer place to live. To the rest of you......fill in the blanks.

[John Doe p-2]

WOW thank god we are all aware of their nationalities!!! I will sleep better knowing their ethnic origins. I will make sure, that I pass on this statement to my, SAMOAN postman, HISPANIC landlord, ASIAN neighbor, and the CAUCASIAN barista at my local Starbucks... Happy equal opportunity employed new year!

[Jeff]

Thank you,God for giving me employment at a PD where I can concentrate all of my efforts on doing solid policework and not have to be distracted, looking over my shoulder at all times for utter nonsense!

Keep your heads up my LAPD brothers (yes, "brothers" is generic for my LAPD sisters too!!) and be safe.

[Lt. De La Torre]

Castle,

Yes there is an active investigation into the allegations that allegedly occurred during Berkow's tenure with the Department. I have confidence in those investigating and adjudicating that justice may be served.

[Ed O'Shea,]

Well, though there is much more that Berkow has to answer for the clearly hypocritical way that he treated great Police Officers who's boots he could not even carry. He vilified good Police Officers, and he is a black mark on our departments clearly misguided rank structure. Bring back civil service protection to our upper echelon and the Chiefs Office, NOW! We have some great Captains and Lieutenants that could have done Berkow's job far better than he, and there was NO need to go outside the Department to fill that spot, or any spot for that matter!
I do believe that most of these particular law suits do not pass the smell test! And I hope Berkow will properly be investigated and his antics are revealed publicly! We will be watching how true the Chief will or will not be to his "full transparency" convictions. And, yes THANK GOD, we were advised of these malcontents ethnicity's! I don't think I cold have lived one more day without knowing those facts! One of those code 37 suits stated at a live press conference "If your white, your all right! If your black, you must step back!" PATHETIC EXCUSE of a public employee. I don't know what department he is/was working for, but he needs to open his eyes and stop drinking the 1960s black panther Koolaid! We have "demographic imperatives" that anyone who is a white male constantly hear when certain jobs need to be filled!?! So get off the race card and stop pretending that you did not benefit from your particular skin color, as shameful as that is. Once he inserted the race card on his case he showed us all the lack of substance in the case! He is race baiting to the .03% that buy that guttural style rhetoric! And his comments detract from the very qualified people, with his skin color, that have worked their tails off to get to the positions they're working.
The Chief is right to make these non-hackers have to prove their case in court! I wish the city would make the same decisions in the many frivolous lawsuits filed against the LAPD every day! Maybe show a little backbone on a regular basis, not only when it's Police Officers and fire Fighters filing frivolous lawsuits!
The bottom line is that we have many great people working for this department of all races! It is also clear that some of these malcontents filing these bogus lawsuits were not among them!

All you civilian Los Angelenos reading these blogs and engaging in the conversations, thank you for caring enough to engage, weather we agree of not, spirited debate is healthy and constructive.

To my fellow Coppers, Stay Safe during this New Year! Inside and Out!

Ed O'Shea

[Frankie 5 Angels]

How come nobody has focused on the fact that the chief has a lot to say about this pending lawsuit. Don't forget, this is the department that always says, "The LAPD doesn't comment on pending civil lawsuits." Yah, only when it's convenient like when one of his boys (Berkow) is on the firing line.

No matter what you think of this particular lawsuit, these guys should receive the same treatment from the department that anyone else should receive. That is, let a full investigation prove or disprove their allegations. Don't attack the whistle blower just because you don't believe their cause is justified.

[Truthsayer]

Chief can you say the same thing for your specialized units. its nice how they love to tout diversity when they choose just one Black. I am urging the public to look at the LAPD gang units in South L.A and see how divers they are. All you see is Latino's and sprinkles of Whites. Diversity my butt.

[Truthsayer]

How come no one is saying this guy got his job just because he was White. Judging from his behavior so kind of privileged treatment was provided to him. A supervisor even putting himself in a position to be accused of something like this shows how unqualified this guy was for his position. I will bet no one will ever questions his qualifications for this positions. Appears to be affirmative action at its best, but only when a Black person is selected for a position do the accusations of affirmative action start.

[Larry]

Were these the same people that were ousted because they were among the group picked by an earlier chief? Of that same group with a member implicated in laundering money in a real estate for cocaine scheme? If this is the same group, then please let it be transparent and bring out all of the information...... this time. I am also waiting to hear all of the wonderful and juicy details of the Berkow investigation. I for one, now and will truly always believe in Karma....... liars get theirs in the end......

[Justanobserver]

It never ceases to amaze me how opinionated people are on this blog without knowing the facts of things they comment on. How can you say things like, "It is the holidays, they just want free money," or "It is also clear that some of these malcontents filing these bogus lawsuits were not among the hard working cops."

So suddenly you all have condemned the officers for wanting to "hit the LA City lottery." Do you even know what these officers are asking for? Do you even know that if they were in fact given the opportunity to corrects the wrongs they were allegedly making? How do you think a PO III in patrol would feel about having his stripes immediately taken away after he made a mistake on a a couple of reports without being given a comment card or Notice to Correct Deficiencies to correct things? How do you know this isn't just Berkow running amok again? The point is we all don't know.

It seems since the Fire Department "Dog Food Caper" everyone's case will be condemned to just wanting money. There have been many lawsuits filed on this Department by incredibly hard working people who were wronged and they asked for very little in the way of money (i.e. money to cover attorney's fees only) and just wanted the problem to be fixed. These people are PO II's to Captain's, patrol officers, detectives, Metro officers, and officers from specialized divisions. And yes, sometimes it is about race, disability, and other things and sometimes its valid.

Look what the jury said in the case of the Metro officer who got over three million dollars (that case was about race) and he is an incredibly hard working officer from what I have seen over the years. We don't like to think the worse of our fellow officers, but we are from the human race and people really say stupid things and do stupid things sometimes. Look at the I.A. raps sheets which speak for themselves. Do you know people are still getting suspended for use of the "N" word? And if your wondering, no I am not a minority. Just a hard working white cop watching it all swirl around like an overflowing toilet. Maybe we wouldn't see these kind of lawsuits if we really treated each other with RESPECT and were the professional "Big Blue Family" that we say we are, instead of just quoting it as a manual section. Judge not, lest thy be judged!!!

[Loves LA LEOs]

Just An Observer is an impeccable witness. Pretty refreshing viewpoint, and very kind of you to take the time to post it! It takes courage for a victim to come forward and risk being blamed and ostracized. One thing you forgot to mention, is that all parties are under the direction of their attorneys and not necessarily free to express everything. Not only that, but when they do, the media will distort it. The courts are not bastions of truth, either. That is why your one voice matters. Kudos to you, hard working street copper!