Report: Nearly 41% of LAPD officers not disciplined for wrongful shootings

Nearly 41% of Los Angeles Police Department officers who shot at people and were found to be in violation of department policy were not disciplined between 2015 and 2020, according to a report scheduled to be reviewed by the Police Commission Tuesday.

The LAPD Inspector General Mark Smith reviewed 45 incidents of officers opening fire between 2015 and 2020 that the Board of Police Commissioners found to be out of policy. Sixty-six officers involved in those 45 incidents fired at least one round, with a total of 301 rounds fired, 228 of which were found to be out of policy.

According to the report, 27 of the 66 officers found to have violated LAPD rules on shootings by the Police Commission escaped punishment, while 13 were reprimanded, one was fired, four received two-day suspensions, one received a three-day suspension, four received five-day suspensions, two received 10-day suspensions, three received 15-day suspensions, one received a 20-day suspension, four received 22-day suspensions and one received a 55-day suspension. Three cases are still pending. Two officers resigned before their penalty was imposed.

An officer can only be fired if approved in a hearing by the department’s Board of Rights. Between 2015 and 2020, the LAPD’s chiefs — who were Charlie Beck until 2018 and Michel Moore beginning in 2018 — directed nine people to the Board of Rights with the recommendation for them to be fired.

Of those recommendations, only one person was fired, one accepted a settlement with a 22-day suspension and immediate retirement, four were suspended for 10 to 55 days, and one Board of Rights determination is still pending. Two cases were suspended after the employees resigned.

Following the Police Commission’s determination that a shooting is out of policy, the chief of police can choose either to have the officers undergo “extensive retraining,” issue a “notice to correct deficiencies” or launch a personnel complaint investigation, according to the report. All 66 officers were directed to complete extensive retraining.

Personnel complaint investigations were launched for 37 of the 66 officers. The remaining 29 received notice to correct deficiencies, and of those officers, members of the public initiated complaints against 22 of them. A total of seven of the 66 personnel were not subject to the personnel complaint investigations.

The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners will review the Inspector General’s report during its 9:30 a.m. meeting Tuesday. People can watch at https://bit.ly/37jQsfw.

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