For Immediate Release
Contact:
Ryan Oliver (310) 854-8272
Los Angeles, March 6, 2009 – The Los Angeles Police Protective League will pursue its pending lawsuit filed in federal court challenging a judge’s mandate that requires LAPD gang and narcotics officers to disclose their personal financial information.
The Special Order imposed by U.S. District Judge Gary Fees and expected to go into effect within the next 30 days, comes on the heels of incidents at both the Los Angeles and New York police departments that exposed officers’ private information.
Authorities announced on Thursday that data on tens of thousands of New York City police officers was compromised by a digital security breach of their pension records. Prior to that, the Los Angeles Police Commission in February exposed personnel information on nearly 250 LAPD officers investigated for and exonerated of misconduct allegations.
“Police departments are already having trouble keeping the information they do have private,” LAPPL President Paul Weber said. “Our officers shouldn’t be another department mishap away from having their sensitive financial information exposed to identity thieves or their very own suspects. They shouldn’t have to worry that they’re going to wake up one morning and find their bank statements posted for the world to see on the internet.”
The financial disclosure mandate comes as part of the federal consent decree the department has operated under since 2001 and will affect some 600 specialized officers, who work with some of the city’s most violent criminals. The LAPPL attempted to stop the disclosure from going into effect before a trial, but the appeal was rejected by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Feb. 26.
“California affords its police officers with strong privacy rights under state law in order to ensure their ability to go after criminals and protect our streets,” Weber said. “We intend to defend those privacy rights against this overreaching mandate by a federal judge, which threatens the safety, recruitment and morale of our city’s officers.”
“We are prepared to challenge this in court as far as we can go,” Weber said. “The California Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act protects officers from exactly this kind of requirement for a lot of good reasons.”
The disclosure requirement is billed as an anti-corruption measure. However, with little history of financial corruption among LAPD officers and no evidence that the requirement would even stop any potential corruption, the measure is opposed by many observers, including the Los Angeles Times and WitnessLA creator/journalist Celeste Fremon, a frequent critic of the department.
The LAPPL on Thursday notified its 9,800 members of the pending requirement and told them there was little chance of it being stopped before trial.
“They’re upset,” Weber said. “This is really a slap in the face to a lot of them. These are the very officers working the front lines against our city’s biggest crime threats – gangs and drugs.
“How are we supposed to attract the best officers into these units if they know their personal financial records are going to become department property? We know from recent experience that the security of these records can’t be guaranteed,” Weber said.
About the LAPPL Formed in 1923, the Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) represents the more than 9,800 dedicated and professional sworn members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The LAPPL serves to advance the interests of LAPD officers through legislative and legal advocacy, political action and education. The LAPPL can be found on the Web at www.LAPD.com
