Maywood [California, illegal alien 'sanctuary city'] hires police with past troubles

Los Angeles ^ | April 1, 2007

[John Jorsett]

THE Maywood Police Department — a 37-man force that patrols a gritty square-mile city south of downtown Los Angeles — has become a haven for misfit cops who have been pushed out of other law enforcement agencies for crimes or serious misconduct.

Among those on the job: A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy terminated for abusing jail inmates; a onetime Los Angeles Police Department officer fired for intimidating a witness; and an ex-Huntington Park officer charged with negligently shooting a handgun and driving drunk.

Other officers were hired by Maywood after flunking out of training programs elsewhere, a Times investigation has found.

In all, at least a third of the officers on the force have either left other police jobs under a cloud or have had brushes with the law while working for Maywood. Several officers in recent years have left Maywood after being convicted of crimes.

Even the newly appointed police chief has a checkered past: He was convicted of beating his girlfriend and resigned from the El Monte Police Department before he could be fired. His conviction was later overturned on appeal because the defense was not allowed to exclude a juror who had previously worked with domestic violence victims. He was ultimately convicted of a lesser charge of making a verbal threat.

Known among law enforcement circles as a department of "second chances," Maywood's police department is one of nearly 50 independent police agencies in Los Angeles County. The department, whose officers are mainly white and Latino, serves a densely populated city of roughly 30,000 that is 96% Latino. There are no women or African Americans on the force, which also patrols the nearby town of Cudahy.

[John Jorsett]

Maywood is the place that forbade its officers from enforcing traffic laws because too many illegals were getting picked up for driving without a license and losing their cars. They've also largely done away with code enforcement for residential properties, resulting in virtual shantytowns springing up to rent to illegals.

[mewzilla]

New LAPD flashlights are too small to be used as weapons (Disarm Police /Empower Criminals update)

Gee, why do I think flashlights are the least of their problems...

[JimRed]

What's new about that? Police departments have a right to reassign officers to less desirable postings for disciplinary reasons

[Coldwater Creek]

Even I can remember when Maywood/Huntington Park where just sleepy little burbs. My mother and I would take the bus to HP and shop.

[radar101]

They let ILLEGAL ALIENS do as they please--Why not "police with pasts"?

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=156926

Cops Comment on Maywood Protest These comments were posted on the Save Our State forum.

I am a visitor on this site and would like to give a little insight into how the day went. I hope you don’t mind. I was one of the police officers assigned to the event. I will not say which department I work for, but, will say that there were officers from 5 different agencies there. As far as we were concerned, the day went pretty well. That means that nobody had any major injuries. I do want to express my condolences to your female friend that was attacked. I wish her well.

The city council is out of control in Maywood. There are 2 good councilmen and 3 bad ones. The leader is the Vice Mayor. He takes all his orders from the church. The police dept pretty much has its hands tied. They did disband the traffic unit by order of the city council. They do still impound cars but can’t put the state’s mandatory 30 day hold on them. Another agency has been enforcing traffic laws and impounding cars. The city has no authority over their officers

[janetgreen]

Even I can remember when Maywood/Huntington Park where just sleepy little burbs. My mother and I would take the bus to HP and shop.

I remember that too, but neither town (and scores of others) are no longer safe to shop in, or to even drive through at night because of hispanic gangs.

[Inquisitive1]

Among those on the job: A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy terminated for abusing jail inmates; a onetime Los Angeles Police Department officer fired for intimidating a witness; and an ex-Huntington Park officer charged with negligently shooting a handgun and driving drunk.

Good political move: The Powers That Be can either (1) Take credit for lowering the crime rate by letting these officers 'operate at their discretion' [WINK, WINK...KNUDGE, KNUDGE...] and, if things go wrong and someone sues on the grounds of the officers past pattern[s] of behavior, said PTB can claim "We didn't hire them...they were forced upon us!!!"