The Los Angeles Riots: Independent and Webster Commissions Collections

Complaints and Accountability

 

Complaints and Accountability

In addition to revealing the extent to which excessive use of force occurred within the LAPD, the commission also sought to understand how the department dealt with complaints filed against officers and how it addressed disciplinary matters relating to officer misconduct. In June 1991, staff from the firm Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher reviewed complaints and personnel reports at station jails and in a memorandum noted some of the problems in regard to addressing abuse complaints, including lack of a clear policy about what constitutes excessive use of force and a system of reporting abuse that required witnesses to confirm misconduct. A wider examination of disciplinary actions in response to misconduct allegations was conducted by the law firm Freeman & Mills, whose analysis of LAPD databases containing personnel complaint statistics yielded some striking findings visualized in a series of charts and graphs prepared by the firm. The first chart (1) below indicates that 25.2% of the 6,757 misconduct allegations reported by citizens during an unspecified period involved use of excessive force, yet only about 10.4% of these allegations resulted in some form of disciplinary action or acknowledgment of wrongdoing against the officers accused. Misconduct complaints, in other words, most often resulted in no consequences or reprimands, even for officers accused of multiple violations (2 below).

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