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President's Message - May 2017

Craig Lally
President

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Please get out the vote for Measure C (Fairness in Discipline)

Potentially the biggest change in our discipline system is coming soon. After about two years of work by your Directors, Measure C is on the ballot on May 16. The Charter Amendment will be presented to the voters and will finally provide an all-civilian Board of Rights option for our officers.

Our goal is to ensure that when an officer faces discipline, he or she is evaluated on facts and evidence in a fair manner. We think the voters will agree. Allowing police officers to choose a panel comprising all civilians eliminates any conflict of interest in the discipline process and increases public confidence in how officers are disciplined. The current discipline process puts command staff officers in the position of making decisions about colleagues’ careers and
potentially overruling decisions made by their boss, the Chief of Police. Measure C eliminates this conflict of interest.

If approved by the voters, the officers and only the officers can choose what system they are most comfortable with. For some officers who may be apprehensive about these changes, please remember the following point. This will be your option to go to the three-civilian Board or opt for the current system. This is a win-win for you. Under the all civilian system, the officer will no longer have to worry about possible interference by upper management while conducting the Board.

At this point, the only individuals or groups out there opposing this Charter Amendment are the Chief, the Los Angeles Times and the ACLU.

The Times Editorial Board wrote on Jan. 24, 2017, “What a perfect place to quietly slip in a proposed City Charter Amendment that would completely overhaul police disciplinary review boards to tilt the balance in favor of cops. Hardly anyone will be coming out to vote except those who are organized by the police union and its supporters to give a thumb up to the ballot measure.”

“That’s the cynical ploy that the City Council will be considered this week. With Garcetti’s backing, the Police Protective League, the union representing the rank-and-file officers who come before the disciplinary boards, is pushing the measure to oust Los Angeles Police Department leaders from the boards in favor of all-civilian panels. That may sound like a solid move until you read the reports showing that civilians routinely go easier on officers facing discipline than their uniform leaders do.”

For the Times and ACLU, it is believed that the three civilians would be TOO LENIENT! Anytime that is the argument on the other side, it’s good for L.A. cops.

My argument has ALWAYS been about fairness. As I stated in earlier articles, fair discipline is guaranteed to us by the State and Federal Constitutions. The Public Safety Officer Procedural Bill of Rights requires that police officers be offered an administrative appeals process before any punitive action of denial of promotion on the grounds other than merit can be undertaken.

So, if you live in the City of Los Angeles, PLEASE tell your family, friends and neighbors to VOTE!

As always, please feel free to contact me at [email protected], or call me at (213) 251-4554.

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