REPORT FAULTS LAPD IN MONITORING OFFICERS.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The LAPD's inspector general said Tuesday that the department has no comprehensive system for tracking problem officers - sparking concern that police have failed to address a key Christopher Commission finding.

In a report to the Police Commission, Inspector General Katherine Mader said the Los Angeles Police Department doesn't adequately track ``high risk'' officers who face criminal charges, are on probation or who are being sued for misconduct, such as using excessive force.

``There are significant gaps in the system,'' Mader told reporters. ``Right now if you say to the department how many officers are being sued . . . and how many officers are the subject of multiple lawsuits, we don't know.''

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and City Attorney James Hahn, whose office received sharp criticism from Mader, both disputed elements of the report, but both also said they already have initiated steps to improve the Police Department's ability to monitor and manage officers with histories of misconduct.

Parks said the chief needs flexibility in disciplining officers and he fears the report will be used to set down too many specific policies.

``Creating numerous and specific written guidelines and procedures leads to artificial limits to his or her administrative prerogatives and innovative solutions,'' Parks said.

Voicing concern

At City Hall and elsewhere officials expressed concern that some of the same concerns were identified by the Christopher Commission in 1991 and last year by Merrick Bobb, a special counsel to the Police Commission.

``On the face, it's troubling,'' said Gilbert T. Ray, who served as executive director of the Christopher Commission.

Ray and others said they believe some of the tracking problems identified by his panel after the police beating of Rodney King should have been taken care of by now.

``It is disheartening to everybody to keep having new reports come out saying the same thing the last report said,'' said Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. ``We've had tracking concerns for a long time, and they come up generally when we have lawsuits, and one of the reasons the city attorney feels we can't defend ourselves is because the person has a bad history.''

Commission members referred the report to a standing committee to determine which recommendations have merit.

``The risk-management issues raised in the report are important ones,'' said Commissioner T. Warren Jackson.

The report was especially critical of the City Attorney's Office for not sharing key information with the LAPD concerning lawsuits against officers.

``In part because its efforts to glean information about litigation have been met with some resistance by the City Attorney's Office, the department does not have a comprehensive ongoing program to identify and monitor potential at-risk employees,'' Mader's report said.

Lawsuit settled

The report noted in August, the city settled a lawsuit by splitting $125,000 among four plaintiffs who claimed that department gang enforcement officers used excessive force at a birthday party.

The inspector general determined that the LAPD had no record of the lawsuit or the settlement, was not notified of the facts by the City Attorney's Office and there was no corresponding department personnel investigation of the officers.

Sometimes, she said, details of misconduct alleged in lawsuits are not brought to the department's attention until years after the incident.

Mader looked at 561 civil claims since 1995 and found that only 26 resulted in personnel complaint investigations, with none leading to a sustained complaint.

``It is difficult to understand how the city can pay large settlements and awards for provable misconduct in instances wherein the department has not initiated parallel personnel investigations,'' the report said.

Hahn said the report includes ``misconceptions'' about his office's relationship with the LAPD. ``I think we've had a history of close cooperation in working with the Police Department,'' Hahn told the commission.

Hahn said there is an attorney-client privilege when his office represents police officers who are sued, but he said his office can share ``vast amounts'' of information with the LAPD.

He announced he is creating a new division assigned directly to the LAPD to represent police officers and information on lawsuits to police administrators.

``This reorganization would enable my office to work more closely with the Police Department and to more efficiently provide a greater level of representation and advice to the City Council, commission and chief on all police matters,'' Hahn said.

Parks called Mader's report ``simplistic,'' citing a call to restrict the field duties of officers who have been disciplined but not terminated.

``We certainly cannot rediscipline (an officer) if we disagree with the original action of a board of rights,'' Parks told the commission.

78 cases reviewed

Mader reviewed 78 cases of discipline for integrity-related offenses since 1993 and found the offenses do not affect the assignment of officers.

One officer suspended for 50 days for filing a false insurance claim on an alleged theft of his vehicle is back working Traffic Division as a collision investigator.

Parks also disagreed with a proposal by Mader to abandon the list of 44 problem officers identified by the Christopher Commission for having six or more allegations of excessive force or improper tactics.

Mader said the list is outdated and was meant to show management failures, not to stigmatize the officers.

Parks said he feels an obligation to monitor the employees because they were identified by the Christopher Commission. Still, he said he has ordered new ``At Risk Reports'' to be developed to identify patterns of officer behavior that might indicate a problem that requires counseling or training.