June 17, 2010

False arrests and the Los Angeles Police Departments

Police have an odd way of measuring their performance. Their performance appraisals are largely based on the number of arrests made and citations issued. Felony arrests get more points than misdemeanor arrests and although citations for things like not wearing a seatbelt, expired registration tags, etc aren't technically arrests; they make the government a lot of money. So cops get points for them as well.

If you haven't noticed the flaw in this system, allow me to elaborate. Let us say that someone is murdered. The police arrest somebody for the murder and as far as the police are concerned "the case is cleared."

It does not matter that the person they arrested is innocent, never prosecuted or is eventually acquitted. That doesn't matter. Their job performance is based on the number of arrests made. The fact that the arrest had no merit is irrelevant to police agencies.

Let me spell it out for you. False arrests improve your performance appraisal at both the Los Angles County Sheriffs and City Police Departments.

Although false arrests may get police officers raises, bonuses, promotions and commendations; for the victims of crimes, not to mention the falsely arrested; things aren't so swell.

Let's take a look at the most recent annual reports from the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department for 2008.

In 2008, the Sheriff's Department made 138,341 arrests. Although that was a 10 percent increase over the prior year, it was fairly typical for the previous ten years which average over one hundred thousand arrests each year.

Keep in mind that these are just arrests made by the County Sheriff. They do not include arrests made by the City of Los Angeles or any of the other cities in the county which have their own police departments.

Remember as well, as far as the police are concerned, once an arrest is made the "case is cleared" is far as the police are concerned. So what if the police arrested the wrong person, cops aren't going to let a little thing like actual guilt or innocence get in the way of a good performance appraisal.

Given that actual guilt or innocence doesn't mean anything to the police and we have a County Prosecutor, Steve Cooley, who is proud of the fact that he convinced a Los Angeles jury that a homeless man, with a 25 year history of being in and out of mental institutions was actually sane and had him convicted and sent to prison for life without parole?

One would think that with such a low standard for clearing a case, virtually all cases in Los Angeles would be marked as cleared. Not so.

54% of Criminal Homicides went "uncleared" in 2008.
37% of Forcible Rapes went "uncleared" in 2008.
69% of Robberies went "uncleared" in 2008.
36% of Aggravated Assaults went "uncleared" in 2008.
83% of Burglaries went "uncleared" in 2008.
80% of Larceny Theft went "uncleared" in 2008.
89% of Arsons went "uncleared" in 2008.
93% of Grand Theft Auto went "uncleared" in 2008.

Recall, these are just crimes for which an arrest was made (cleared) and don't represent actual convictions. Let's take a look at what the District Attorney, Steve Cooley, made of these arrests. Keep in mind that Steve Cooley has proven himself to have low standards for prosecuting.

Of the 138,341 arrests made in 2008, 47,831 were adult felony arrests. Of those 47,831 felony arrests made, the police filed felonies for 7,867 individuals.

Let me do the math for you, that is 39,964 felony arrests made by police for which charges were not even filed. I was unable to find even a single case of a police officer being arrested for making a false arrest let alone being tried and convicted in 2008.

Of these 7,867 felonies actually filed, the District Attorney's office reduced 288 to misdemeanor and rejected another 1,327 for various reasons. Even someone like D.A. Steve Cooley thought that 20% of the felonies filed by police did not merit prosecution. And this is a guy who claims crazy homeless people are sane and sends them to prison instead of to an insane asylum. Memo to police, when someone with low standards like Steve Cooley says you have low standards, you might want to pause and reevaluate.

Adult misdemeanors fared much better. Of the 61,411 arrests, 3,752 or 6% were rejected. This isn't surprising. Most people can't afford to hire an attorney regardless of the charge. Public defenders are useless and they know it, so, regardless of guilt or innocence, the poor will plead guilty and pay a fine with little or no additional jail time rather than risk 6 months to a year in the County jail. Since people are less likely to contest misdemeanors and citations, these offenses are very profitable for the criminal justice system.

For those of you who are mathematically challenged, let me sum it up for you.

Cops are rewarded for making arrests, including false arrests. Most arrests in Los Angeles County never go to trial.

And these arrests do not even include all the "non-arrest" arrests made by police. You know the kind, the ones were the police stop you and handcuff you for your "safety" and eventually release you without booking you or write you a citation and cut you lose. The cops get points for those arrests as well although not as many as for a misdemeanor or felony arrest.

County judges don't consider these non-arrest arrests to be actual arrests so the only recourse you have is to sue the police in Federal Court which, come to think about it, is the better venue. You certainly aren't going to get any justice in our corrupt Los Angeles County Court houses.

Have you ever wondered why the cops spend so much time looking for guns during vehicle stops? True a gun gets bonus points but even when it is obvious there is no gun present they still go through your vehicle with a fine tooth comb. Are they looking for invisible guns? No, they are looking for drugs or traces of drugs and not just illegal narcotics.

Have you or your children ever been prescribed a medication? If the cops find so much as half a prescription pill in your vehicle and you don't have a copy of the prescription with you then ka-ching, you are arrested, your vehicle is impounded and the cop gets double bonus points for screwing up your life. Have your children with you when you are arrested? No problem, the cops have warehouses full of them where they will be "well cared for."

But that just avoids the question as to why you people keep electing the same city councilmen and county supervisors over and over again. They can fire the police but don't? And yet you reelected them. What would Freud say about you?

I don't know what Freud would say but I say "The government is not here to help you." To quote a famous President, Ronald Reagan, "Government is not the solution...Government is the problem."

Stop being part of the problem.

http://www.examiner.com/

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False arrests and the Los Angeles Police Departments

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