Busy Work competition at LASD Lakewood station

Apparently the LASD Lakewood substation officers dont have enough to do? Well how about writing a few parking tickets after the useless city parking staff goes home at 5pm (just when most of the parking violations start occurring in Lakewood). Well you know the saying in Lakewood, "write a parking citation loose a vote".

So if they cant find enough to do and dont want to write parking tickets (as that is too far beneath them) then perhaps we should transfer some of the officers to other LASD areas that have a use for them and save a few million dollars of the city budget. I think the LASD contract is the largest portion of the city service budget for "contractors"

City Councilman Todd Rogers, who coincidentally is commander of the Carson Sheriff's Station, was quoted below stating: "But I do want my officers to be proactive. That's what really characterizes the Sheriff's Department, in my opinion, and we've been historically proactive in terms of seeking out law violators."

Given the parking problems in the city and the council stating over and over again that it is a complaint driven system, and not forgetting about the whole Brian Miller explosion debacle, LAAG finds it hard to believe that LASD is proactive. Maybe in "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" (Carson) but we have not see proactiveness in Lakewood. And this after rewarding the Sheriff's with a new 20 million plus station?

Lakewood Sheriff's Station capt. apologizes for quotas
Sheriff Baca emphasizes `quality over quantity.'
By Karen Robes, Staff writer
Article Launched: 10/04/2007 09:15:48 PM PDT

LAKEWOOD - The commander of the Los Angeles County Lakewood Sheriff's Station said Thursday he was wrong in permitting competitions that pushed deputies to achieve the most arrests, net the most impound vehicles and interrogate the most gang members.

Capt. David Fender said he made an error in judgment and will stop conducting the contests, a practice not condoned by Sheriff Lee Baca.

"As the sheriff puts it, `Quality over quantity,"' Fender said. "I erred because I gave the ultimate approval to go out there and try to make the arrests on this given day. But it was all for the right reasons - to impact crime and bring up productivity and morale.

"We weren't promoting any quotas or attaching any rewards to the arrests," Fender said.

Baca said the competitions were a well-meaning but poorly conceived idea that promoted "the wrong values."

"We're not into numbers, we're into quality," Baca said. "I don't think it will occur again."

Fender's apology comes after reports of an internal e-mail by sheriff's Lt. James Tatreau to patrol deputies to make them aware of the contests, said Fender.

Some Lakewood city officials - including City Councilman Todd Rogers, who is commander of the Carson Sheriff's Station - said they were not aware of the competitions.

Rogers said he knows Fender and Tatreau, whom he described as "an outstanding guy who did it with all the best intentions, which was to motivate deputies and increase productivity."

"There was no malicious intent," Rogers said.

Rogers said the line between motivating deputies and falling into a situation such as Lakewood's is a blurry one.

"You don't want to establish quotas, obviously and you don't want to go out and say this is the standard by which you'll be judged," he said. "But I do want my officers to be proactive. That's what really characterizes the Sheriff's Department, in my opinion, and we've been historically proactive in terms of seeking out law violators. But there has to be a purpose, part of a larger law enforcement mission."

Rogers said the city will monitor the issue.


Los Angeles County Deputies Criticized Over Competition
Updated: October 4th, 2007 10:20 PM EDT
Story by knbc.com
http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=38213

The Sheriff's Department was under fire from law enforcement experts Thursday over contests to see which Lakewood station deputies could make the most arrests, impound the most vehicles and question the most gang members in a 24-hour period. Video

An e-mail written Aug. 15 and obtained by the Los Angeles Times described one recent competition -- "Operation Any Booking" -- designed to arrest as many people as possible within a specific 24-hour period, according to the newspaper.

Lakewood-based sheriff's Lt. James Tatreau, the e-mail's author, told The Times the intent was motivational and said the only prize was "bragging rights."

"No way, no how did anyone encourage officers to falsify a report or an arrest," he said.

Another competition, dubbed "Operation Vehicle Impound," aimed at seizing as many cars as possible, according to the Times. It took place July 11 and dramatically increased the number of vehicles seized.

A third competition challenged deputies to see how many gang members and other suspected criminals could be stopped and questioned, according to the Times. That produced a spike in such interviews.

Some police accountability experts, civil libertarians and defense attorneys condemned the competitions, saying they trivialized traumatic encounters such as arrests and having a car impounded, The Times reported.

"It's crazy," Jane White, the associate director of the National Center for Community Policing, told the Times. "I'm at a loss for words. I've never heard of anything like this before."

Hubert Williams, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation, which promotes innovative policing strategies, told The Times that the competitions were "highly problematic and inappropriate."

Sheriff Lee Baca told The Times the competitions were well-meaning but ill-conceived.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-games4oct04,1,2655896.story
From the Los Angeles Times
Deputies compete in arrest contests
Southeast L.A. competitions were meant to boost morale, official says. Baca calls them a well-meaning but ill-conceived idea.
By Scott Glover and Matt Lait
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

October 4, 2007

Participating in sports such as football, weightlifting and boxing has long been part of the culture within the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. But deputies have recently been playing some new games -- on-duty enforcement competitions that have police watchers across the country crying foul.

One recent competition, described in an internal Sheriff's Department e-mail obtained by The Times, was called "Operation Any Booking." The object was to arrest as many people as possible within a specific 24-hour period.

Other one-day competitions have included "Operation Vehicle Impound," a contest aimed at seizing as many cars as possible. And another challenged deputies to see how many gang members and other suspected criminals could be stopped and questioned.

The prize for winning was nothing more than "bragging rights," said Lt. James Tatreau, who helped organize the events that involved teams of deputies patrolling the southeast Los Angeles cities of Lakewood, Bellflower, Paramount, Artesia and Hawaiian Gardens. The station is one of 23 that make up the nation's largest sheriff's department.

"It's just a friendly competition to have a little fun out here," Tatreau said. It was Tatreau who sent the e-mail about the booking contest Aug. 15. Tatreau said he viewed the games, which began in July, as a morale booster for overworked deputies who, because of staffing shortages, are required to work four overtime shifts a month.

But police accountability experts, civil libertarians and defense attorneys condemned the practice, saying that it trivialized traumatic encounters such as arrests and having a car impounded, and raised questions about deputies' motives in taking such actions.

Hubert Williams, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Police Foundation, which promotes innovative policing strategies, called the competitions "highly problematic and inappropriate."

"The arrest is one of the most potent tools in the possession of law enforcement and should be used with great thought," Williams said. "It's not a competition or a game."

Others, including Los Angeles County Public Defender Michael P. Judge, worried that the games might also prompt deputies to make illegitimate arrests to boost their statistics.

"Certainly, it calls into question whether there was a legitimate reason to book any of the people who were booked during the time of the competition," Judge said.

"It's crazy," said Jane White, the associate director of the National Center for Community Policing. "I'm at a loss for words. I've never heard of anything like this before."

After being called for comment by The Times on Wednesday, Sheriff Lee Baca said he spoke with the Lakewood station lieutenant. Baca called the competitions a well-meaning but ill-conceived idea that promoted "the wrong values."

"We train deputies to be independent thinkers and leaders," Baca said. "The lesson learned here is that -- whether it's for morale purposes or to increase productivity -- law enforcement is not the kind of service where you can dictate the activity.

"We're not into numbers, we're into quality," he said. "I don't think it will occur again."

Operation Any Booking did not result in an increase in arrests on the day of the contest, according to records provided to The Times in response to a public records request. The cities reported a combined total of 28 arrests, which was equal to the daily average that month.

The impound competition, however, appears to have dramatically increased the number of vehicles seized, records show. On average, deputies in the five-city area hauled away 4.7 cars a day in July. On the day of the contest, July 11, they impounded 37 vehicles -- which owners could not recover until they paid a towing fee.

Deputies in Lakewood seized 18 vehicles that day, half the total they would impound over the course of the month.

The number of field interviews with gang members and other suspected criminals also soared during the contest to increase that particular enforcement activity. Tatreau said the spike occurred because some deputies had fallen out of the habit of doing that intelligence gathering.

Before he was contacted by Baca, Tatreau said he stood by the idea to encourage deputies' productivity and had been encouraged by deputies who liked the competition.

"They were pumped and excited," Tatreau said. "I've never got any negative feedback. It's not a quota or review system. It's a morale booster."

Like every station, Tatreau said, there are "good, hardworking deputies and there are the lazy guys." He said he was trying to encourage the less motivated deputies to get more involved in proactive police work.

Tatreau said he joined the Lakewood station about 18 months ago and noticed that some deputies weren't pulling their weight. Some patrol deputies made 15 to 20 arrests a month, while others made seven arrests in an entire year, he said.

"It frustrates me that people are so against doing work and cry foul," he said.

Tatreau said he was "almost certain" that he was the one who came up with the original idea to have deputies compete, but that he did so with the approval of his captain.

On the day of the contests, a sheet of paper was posted in the watch commander's office where deputies reported their activity. At the end of the 24-hour period, the team results were tallied.

"We're not doing anything wrong," Tatreau said. "No way, no how did anyone encourage officers to falsify a report or an arrest."

scott.glover@latimes.com

matt.lait@latimes.com


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