Two of the newest members of the Los Angeles City Council – a progressive who campaigned on defunding the police and a more moderate councilmember who once worked for the union representing L.A. police officers – have tag-teamed to push for sweeping reforms to increase police accountability.
Councilmembers Hugo Soto-Martínez, a frequent critic of the LAPD, and Tim McOsker, a former lobbyist for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, on Friday, Feb. 17, introduced a motion to repeal an all-civilian board that determines how officers accused of misconduct are disciplined.
The motion calls for changing the composition of future boards and authorizing LAPD Chief Michel Moore, and future chiefs, to immediately fire officers before they’ve had their due process hearing in certain egregious cases.
Currently, officers accused of misconduct go before a Board of Rights, a three-person panel that reviews evidence, determines whether the officer is guilty and recommends whether to approve, reduce or increase the level of punishment as suggested by Moore. The chief can then take action as long as the punishment doesn’t exceed the board’s recommendation.
Traditionally, the Board of Rights has been comprised of two officers ranked as captain or higher and one civilian. But in 2017, voters authorized the City Council to permit officers to go before an all-civilian board, an option which the council adopted two years later.
Since then, an analysis suggests that the all-civilian board tends to be more lenient than the traditional board, according to the councilmembers seeking reforms.
“We need to take the lessons learned and implement process improvements,” McOsker said in a statement. “The system and staffing currently in place for those charged with misconduct do not promote accountability, but often impede it. We need a menu of options to pave the way in how we comprehensively fix a broken system.”
The all-civilian board option was intended “to…
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