LAPD Faces 3 More Years of Scrutiny

L A Times ^ | may 16, 2006 | Patrick McGreevy

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A federal judge rebuked Los Angeles Police Department officials Monday by extending for three years a consent decree that orders reforms meant to counter a decade of corruption and brutality complaints.

In a decision that caught leaders by surprise, U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess flatly rejected the city's plea that the five-year agreement — set to expire June 15 — be extended for just two years and narrowed in scope to the 30% of reforms not yet enacted.

The agreement was largely born from the Rampart Division scandal in 1999 but included elements that police critics have been calling for since the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King.

By extending all the terms of the decree, Feess effectively signaled that he did not trust the LAPD to complete the reforms without supervision by the federal court and its appointed monitor. Indeed, Feess went further than the monitor asked and openly questioned whether the U.S. Justice Department was sufficiently committed to finishing the work it began when it negotiated the original agreement after threatening to file a civil rights suit against the police.

City officials asked the judge to give them credit for achieving 70% of the 191 reforms and suggested that any renewed agreement focus only on elements still incomplete. The city noted that the administrative cost of monitoring all aspects exceeded $10 million a year and occupied 110 employees, some of whom would otherwise be deployed to more directly fight crime.

While acknowledging that the LAPD had made progress, Feess nevertheless had sharp words for the city and Justice Department officials "The parties have conceded that there are material provisions with which they are not in substantial compliance," Feess said. "We are not going to achieve [full compliance] by starting to carve pieces out."