Council backs giving chief power to fire LAPD officers

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez was absent during the vote.

City leaders instructed the chief legislative analyst, LAPD and other relative departments to report back on recommendations to give the chief of police the power to terminate officers, plans to update the Board of Rights’ structure, and incorporate binding arbitration as a component of the discipline process in termination cases.

Any changes to the City Charter would require the approval of voters. Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez said he hopes this can be done in time for the November election.

Under current procedures, almost all disciplinary actions taken against members of the LAPD — including suspension, demotion and removal — are recommended by the chief of police, and ultimately decided by the Board of Rights. The three-member board, a quasi-judicial body, hears evidence related to each charge of misconduct and determines punishment. The chief may then levy a punishment equal or lesser to the board’s recommendation.

Council members want to allow local clergy, civil rights groups and the Office of Inspection General to be able to nominate candidates for the Board of Rights. They also want candidates of diverse experiences and perspectives, and they want to remove a requirement for candidates to have a certain number of years in mediation, arbitration or similar work, and to prohibit candidates who are current or former employees of local law enforcement agencies from serving as civilian hearing examiners.

Additionally, the council will look to incorporate some type of training to educate new Board of Rights members regarding excessive force and domestic violence — issues the board routinely takes up.

These proposed reforms were initiated through a motion introduced by Soto-Martinez, Councilman Tim McOsker and Council President Paul Krekorian in February 2023.

McOsker highlighted the historical context behind the decision to introduce changes to the LAPD’s disciplinary process, touching on the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and subsequent establishment of the Christopher Commission. The councilman said it “began a process that has sped up, at that time, police reform.”

“It gave us a reason to strengthen civilian oversight at LAPD that gave real power to the civilian overseers,” McOsker said.

The process also took the council out of the politics of hiring and firing a police chief, created the position of an inspector general and led to changes to the Board of Rights — requiring the body no longer have three command officers hearing the cases, with the addition of one civilian.

But McOsker said former LAPD Chief Michel Moore and prior chiefs recognized that their lack of ability to fire officers was a problem.

The councilman then jumped to the Rampart scandal during the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which widespread criminal activity within the Rampart Division was discovered. More than 70 police officers were initially implicated in police misconduct, such as unprovoked shootings and beatings, planting false evidence, stealing and selling drugs, perjury and cover-ups.