LAPD SUED BY WHISTLE-BLOWERS

Courts: Suit By 41 Current And Former Officers And Others Claims A Code Of
Silence Is Enforced By Retaliation Against Those Who Report Misconduct.
Officials Decline To Comment.

More than 40 current and former Los Angeles police officers filed a
class-action lawsuit Thursday, alleging that LAPD officials support the
department's so-called code of silence by retaliating against those who
report misconduct.

Among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit is Officer John Goines, a veteran
motorcycle officer who broke ranks with LAPD officials by saying in a
deposition last month that he believed the March 1999 fatal shooting of
Margaret Mitchell, a mentally ill homeless woman, was unwarranted. Since
his comments became public, Goines has been harassed by other officers,
including a supervisor, his attorney alleges.

Other plaintiffs include officers who contend they were victims of
retaliation for reporting incidents of excessive force, hostile work
environment issues and other forms of police misconduct. Many of the
plaintiffs said they were forced out of the LAPD because they reported
police abuses to their supervisors.

LAPD officials declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending
litigation. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages. A spokesman for
the city attorney's office said the suit lacks merit as a class action.

Attorney Bradley C. Gage, who filed the suit, said the LAPD's management
fosters the code of silence by punishing departmental whistle-blowers. The
retaliation comes in various forms, Gage said, including personnel
complaints, undesirable job assignments, demotions and terminations.

"These good cops fear their own administration and management more than the
criminals on the street," Gage said.

He alleges in the lawsuit that LAPD managers secretly pass along
confidential information about a whistle-blower's background to other
managers to perpetuate the harassment of the employee. The practice, Gage
said, is known as a "phone jacket."

The issue of retaliation has long been a matter of concern for members of
the City Council and Police Department. Three years ago, after a series of
public hearings, then--Interim Police Chief Bayan Lewis unveiled a
comprehensive anti-retaliation policy that covered all LAPD employees, but
was largely meant to protect female officers who complained about sexual
harassment and discrimination.

Some women who made such complaints told city leaders they had been targets
of death threats, false complaints and warnings from colleagues that they
would be left stranded without backup in emergencies.

Last year, city officials passed a law aimed at preventing retaliation
against employees who file complaints with the Police Commission's
inspector general. But many officers still believe they will become victims
of retaliation if they report a colleague for criminal or departmental
misconduct.

Gage said that the recent LAPD corruption probe has uncovered overwhelming
evidence that the code of silence exists in the department and is condoned
by top brass.

"The Rampart corruption scandal demonstrates that when police officers are
afraid to report criminal acts for fear of becoming targets of retaliation,
corruption will spread," he said.

Indeed, if ex-officer-turned-informant Rafael Perez is to be believed, the
code of silence thrives within the LAPD. Perez, who is cooperating with
authorities to obtain a lighter sentence on cocaine theft charges, has told
investigators that officers in the Rampart Division's anti-gang unit
routinely witnessed and acquiesced to police misconduct. An officer who
dared to report misconduct would be ostracized and subjected to
retaliation, Perez said.

At a news conference announcing the filing of the suit, Gage was flanked by
a half-dozen clients, all of them current or former LAPD officers, who say
they suffered retaliation for reporting misconduct by others in the department.

One 18-year veteran who worked in the scientific investigations division
said she blew the whistle on a colleague who, while supposedly on sick
leave, was attending a "cowboy school" in Colorado. The ex-officer, Coleen
Braun, said she reported it to her supervisor, who promised to investigate.

But Braun said she later learned that the supervisor was aware of the
misconduct--she had been receiving phone calls and postcards from the
officer at the cowboy camp--and did not intend to do anything about it.

As result of filing the complaint, Braun alleged, she was charged with
benefits abuse after she had multiple surgeries for work-related injuries
to her hands, elbows and shoulders. She was found guilty of the abuses at a
departmental Board of Rights and fired earlier this year.

"I want my job back," she said. "I love my job."

Another officer said he was fired after he testified against two officers
who are currently under investigation as part of the Rampart scandal. The
ex-officer said he told department officials that he had the tape-recorded
statement of an officer who witnessed the beating of a homeless man,
allegedly at the hands of former Central Division Officers Christopher
Coppock and David Cochrane.

The officer, who was originally accused of the beating himself, said he was
found not guilty of that charge at a disciplinary hearing. But he was later
charged with threatening one of the internal affairs investigators on the
case and was fired for that.

Yet another officer said his filing of a formal complaint against a
supervisor resulted in a campaign of harassment and retaliation that
culminated in his dismissal for "checking out a police car on a rainy day."

Gage said his clients brought a host of other alleged misconduct to the
attention of the LAPD, but were ignored or punished for doing so. Among the
allegations for which officers say they suffered retaliation: A commander
misappropriated public funds, computers were stolen, and officials
instructed officers to falsely log on to their patrol cars' computers so
that it appeared they had arrived at a crime scene sooner than they
actually did.

Gage said one officer was forced off the job after alleging that officers
planted drugs on suspects in the Rampart and Wilshire divisions in 1996,
the same period during which Perez claims such things were done on a
routine basis.

Gage said he has 41 current and former department employees as plaintiffs
in the suit, all but a few who were or are sworn officers. He said about 15
are still on the job, but facing some form of discipline. He said he
expects that the class, which still needs to be approved, will grow to
several hundred.