After a quorum was established, Commission President Steve Soboroff opened the meeting, and Commissioner Sandra Figueroa-Villa spoke. She wanted to thank the Department for the many things Chief Beck and LAPD personnel did to benefit children and families during the holiday season. Commissioner Soboroff added a similar comment from an experience he had in Van Nuys Division. He then proceeded to speak at great length about the “checks and balances, independence and uniqueness” utilized by the Department and its board of commissioners to review and adjudicate all categorical use-of-force cases.
For the Report of the Chief of Police, Chief Charlie Beck began by telling everyone he would not provide a report on current crime statistics but would address this issue next week on January 12 when the Department holds its year-end crime statistics news conference. He went on to offer condolences to the New York Police Department for their recent loss of two officers and a separate attack on two others. He also suggested people read a recent article by Sam Quiñones about the reduction of gang crime and violence in Los Angeles. Chief Beck also pointed out that officer-involved shootings in the city for 2014 were down 31 percent compared to 2013. In closing, he mentioned an upcoming event on January 28 about foster parenting, stressing that many LAPD personnel are foster parents.
For the Report of the Executive Director, Executive Director Richard Tefank reminded everyone that there will be two special meetings to obtain public input about on-body officer cameras. The first meeting will be on January 14, 6:30 p.m., at the Green Meadows Recreation Center, 431 E. 89th Street, Los Angeles. The second meeting will be January 15, 6:30 p.m., at AGBU Manoogian-Demirdjian School, 6844 Oakdale Avenue, Canoga Park. He also announced the commission will be holding a regular board meeting in Council District 13 on February 3, 6:30 p.m., at the Sandra Cisneros Learning Center, 1018 Mohawk Street, Los Angeles.
For the Report of the Inspector General, Inspector General Alexander Bustamante spoke about recent meetings he’s had with community members and the ACLU regarding suspicious activity reporting and in-car and on-body cameras.
Consent Agenda Items proceeded with approval of all items.
Regular Agenda Items then ensued with six items. Items A, B and D were pulled for discussion. The remaining items were approved as follows:
Item C, the Department’s Report, dated December 31, 2014, relative to the grant application and award for NIJ’s FY 2014 DNA Capacity Enhancement and Backlog reduction Program from the National Institute of Justice, as set forth, was approved.
Item E, the Department’s Report, dated December 16, 2014, relative to the destruction of obsolete original records for Van Nuys Area, as set forth, was approved.
Item F, the Department’s Report, dated December 16, 2014, relative to the destruction of obsolete duplicate records for Hollywood and Harbor Areas, as set forth, was approved.
After the line item approvals, the meeting continued with discussion of Item 8-A, the Department’s Report, dated December 18, 2014, relative to LAPD’s goals for calendar year 2015. Chief Beck took the lead on the discussion and presented five basic goals for the Department: a continuing commitment to constitutional policing; crime reduction and community engagement; prevention, preparation and response for catastrophic events; employee wellness; and maintaining the personnel strength of the Department. He also mentioned work proceeding on a five-year strategic plan for the Department. After a few comments and questions from Commissioner Soboroff, the board approved Item 8-A as set forth.
Discussion continued with Item 8-B, the Department’s Report, dated December 19, 2014, relative to the Ethics Enforcement Section Quarterly Report for the third quarter of 2014. Representing the Department were Captain Jim Alvarez from Special Operations Division and Lieutenant Nick Senibaldi, Officer-in-Charge of the Ethics Enforcement Section. Before providing an overview of the report, Captain Alvarez confirmed compliance with a request that Commissioner Paula Madison made several months ago about getting a better format or version of the report more similar to reports commissioners are accustomed to receiving. He then turned over the presentation to Lieutenant Sinibaldi who explained various aspects of the report, including its purpose, methods, results, etc. Both Captain Alvarez and Lieutenant Sinibaldi also addressed subsequent questions and concerns from the commissioners, after which the board accepted/approved the report for Item 8-B as set forth.
The final discussion topic was for Item 8-D, the Department’s Report dated December 12, 2014, relative to the Northeast Area Detective Command Accountability Performance Audit (IAID #14-033). Representing the Department from the Internal Audits and Inspection Division was Lieutenant Cheryl Baratta and Detective Dave Kennedy. Northeast Area Captain Jeffrey Bert was also present. Lieutenant Baratta discussed various aspects of the audit, including its purpose, audit features and elements, performance of Department personnel, training needs and other results. She also confirmed the results were reported to Northeast Area command staff. Lieutenant Baratta, Detective Kennedy and Captain Bert proceeded to address subsequent questions and concerns from the commissioners, after which the board accepted/approved the report for Item 8-D as set forth.
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