HAHN REGROUPS OVER POLICE; CITY ATTORNEY CREATES DIVISION TO FOCUS ON CASES AGAINST LAPD.Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer City Attorney James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California announced Thursday that his office is forming a new police division to handle lawsuits against the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. in an effort to reduce legal actions against the department. His office also is splitting its civil branch into two sections, one to advise city departments on legal matters and another to represent them in litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . Hahn said the reorganization ``makes us a lot more efficient, more responsive to the client, and ultimately will save money for the taxpayer.'' Earlier this year, City Council members complained that they, as well as the Police Commission, learned of lawsuit settlement proposals only after they were negotiated. The council also complained that the city lacked a system to track trends in legal problems. Hahn responded in June with plans for sweeping changes that he said he is now implementing. ``It's good news that the city attorney is moving forward on what the mayor and City Council approved last June, and the taxpayers should soon begin to see the financial and efficiency benefits that he has projected,'' said Deputy Mayor Noelia Rodriguez. At the outset, the city attorney's new division will have a workload The term workload can refer to a number of different yet related entities. An amount of labor While a precise definition of a workload is elusive, a commonly accepted definition is the hypothetical relationship between a group or individual human operator and task demands. including 350 active lawsuits against the LAPD, said Chief Deputy City Attorney Timothy McOsker. They are among about 2,500 lawsuits pending against the city, Hahn said. The division attorneys will deal with cases against the LAPD and individual officers, including accusations made by employees and former employees, over civil rights, excessive force, employment issues, harassment Ask a Lawyer Question Country: United States of America State: Nevada I recently moved to nev.from abut have been going back to ca. every 2 to 3 weeks for med. , discrimination, grievances about disciplinary action and other issues. About 250 of the new division's cases involve lawsuits against individual officers accused of causing harm, as by using excessive force against a suspect, McOsker said. Fifty other cases are more complex - some involving numerous plaintiffs, suing the city and numerous officers. In addition, about 50 to 60 cases are employment-related. Employment lawsuits are the fastest-growing type of litigation against the city, Hahn said. About 50 such cases are filed each year against the city, up from 25 annually five years ago. During the same period, however, costs of claims and lawsuits against the LAPD have dropped by more than half, Hahn said, from $26.3 million in 1993 to $12 million in the last fiscal year. He attributed the drop to creation of a special team in his office to handle police litigation. The new police division will expand on that approach, he said, and aim at averting a·vert tr.v. a·vert·ed, a·vert·ing, a·verts 1. To turn away: avert one's eyes. 2. lawsuits by tracking the types of situations in which they arise. The division will track cases on new legal software and work with the LAPD to solve problems. ``In evaluating the areas where we incur the most liability, we will be able to adjust our training and policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental to reduce potential risk,'' LAPD Cmdr. Dave Kalish said. Cecil Marr, who served as the county counsel's legal adviser to the Sheriff's Department, will head the new division. Senior Assistant City Attorney Cheryl Ward will provide full-time legal advice to Police Chief Bernard C. Parks Bernard Parks (born December 7, 1943 in Beaumont, Texas) is a member of the Los Angeles City Council, representing the 8th District in South Los Angeles and former Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department. Parks attended Los Angeles City College, received his B.S. as the city attorney's liaison in Parker Center Parker Center is the headquarters for the Los Angeles Police Department, and is located in Downtown LA. It is named for former LAPD chief William H. Parker. Originally with the prosaic name, the Police Administration Building, ground for the center was broken on December 30, 1952 . |
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