Budgets and beginnings

At the same time that the city of Riverside is putting together its own annual budget, the city of Los Angeles is doing the same, according to the Los Angeles Times. And one city department that's going to get a lion share of funding is the city's police department, which will check in with 48% of the city's monies.


Budget kind to LAPD


Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa plans among other things to add enough monies to hire 235 Los Angeles Police Department officers as part of an attempt to inch closer to the city's goal of staffing 10,000 officers in that department. Money will also be added to the city's new anti- gang program to the tune of $168 million.


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"This budget proves that we can put more cops on the street, work to reduce gang violence, provide necessary city services and guarantee the city of Los Angeles remains on sound financial footing as we head into an uncertain fiscal year," Villaraigosa said during a news conference in Baldwin Village.

Hiring new officers in the LAPD has been a difficult process, with academy classes that don't fill up and officers still leaving that agency to what they believe are greener pastures elsewhere despite the new 13% pay hikes and the popular 3-12 working schedules.

The LAPD spends a lot of money on recruiting its officers, but is locked in a battle for candidates with its neighbor, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Villaraigosa said that the money spent in public safety will not infringe the budgets of other city services. Much of the focus of his city's budget is similar to that in Riverside, with an emphasis on streets and traffic.

Unhappy with Villaraigosa's plan, is City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo whose found his office's budget facing cuts next year. Whether or not this has anything to do with recent tensions between the two men, is not clear.

Also in the Los Angeles Times, an update on problems with the city's fire department concerning hazing in its ranks.

A recent incident in the department's North Hollywood Station involved a Black fire fighter who opened his locker and found it vandalized.

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"The Fire Department has zero tolerance for any kind of behavior that involves hazing, racial discrimination or mistreatment of people," Battalion Chief Kwame Cooper said late Friday.

"So we are actively and aggressively investigating this incident to determine the details of what happened. We are taking it very seriously and will take appropriate action when our investigation is complete."

Matt Szabo, press secretary for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, said the department's "swift and thorough" response was "evidence that the zero tolerance policy of the mayor and chief is taking effect and that the culture of the Fire Department is changing."

This latest incident comes not long after another Black fire fighter was awarded $2.7 million in a similar case, a verdict that the city council voted against paying out. Then fire chief, William Bamattre then quit amidst allegations of racial and gender discrimination in his department. One would think that in the wake of this mess, the behavior would have stopped or gone underground, but apparently not. The pervasive culture that creates this behavior and past behaviors which led to sexual discrimination and harassment law suits being filed by female employees prevails once again.

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"I just cannot fathom this happening … after all of the other [discrimination] lawsuits we have had," said veteran Fire Capt. Jerry Thomas, a vocal critic of the department who is retiring after 32 years. "Until people start getting terminated for these offenses, these types of conditions will continue."

Until the culture changes in that department and there's a management team including a chief who has guts to take it on, this behavior will not only continue in the fire department, it will continue to cost the city major dollars in terms of civil litigation.

The editorial board at the Press Enterprise recently wrote an editorial praising the use of the internet for conducting police business especially by providing services which allow the public to file police reports through computers. Some law enforcement agencies like those in Corona and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department are currently using this tool. Others like the Riverside Police Department state that for their agencies, it's only a matter of months away.

The editorial stated that it allows the public to file reports especially for less serious crimes which would allow the police officers in the field to focus on more serious ones.

Colton's police department has a new chief. The city council appointed Bob Miller who worked years at the police department he will now head, before he had did a stint as chief of the police force at California State University, San Bernardino.

Miller replaces Kenneth Rulon, who was fired by the city council after an investigation was launched into allegations that he discriminated against officer in his department then retaliated against them when he complained about it. Over 90% of the officers in Colton's police union issued a no confidence vote against him, though many community members supported him because of his commitment to youth programs in the city.

Rulon blamed the investigation and his termination on the city manager's office which he believed retaliated against him after he took allegations of misconduct against a former city councilman to the San Bernardino County District Attorney's integrity unit. Criminal charges were filed against that elected official.



Also in San Bernardino County, jury selection is expected to begin soon in the trial of a former San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputy charged with attempted manslaughter in connection with an onduty shooting that was captured on videotape and aired nationwide.

The lighting is dim in the video but it appeared to show Webb shooting Carrion with his gun for getting off the ground after the deputy had ordered him to do so. Carrion was seriously injured with gun shot wounds including one to his leg, which required surgery.

In 2005, Ivory J. Webb shot and wounded airman Elio Carrion after a high speed chase ended in a crash. Not long after, he became the first law enforcement officer to be charged by the San Bernardino County District Attorney's officer for an onduty shooting in that county's history.

The trial which is expected to begin in the middle of May as both attorneys have announced that they are ready to go to trial and expect no further delays. Both sides predict a tough battle ahead.