Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyer Blog

Despite a mountain of employment litigation piled year after year against the Los Angeles Police Department, the agency has apparently failed to correct the underlying practices that lead to such action, according to a recent audit.

Our Los Angeles Sexual Assault Lawyers understand that the 10-page report, delivered by the L.A. Police Commission's inspector general, was a stinging one. Among the allegations:

• The police department routinely takes action to destroy case files;


• The agency keeps incomplete and inaccurate information on lawsuits;


• The department lacks a system that would help to identify recurring issues that result in problems among officers.

In other words, despite shelling out sometimes millions of dollars per case, the agency has made little or no effort to make any meaningful changes that would prevent sexual harassment and various kinds of discrimination. As the audit worded it, department administrators "failed to take even basic steps" to reduce the number of lawsuits or, what's more, improve the safety and quality of working environment for the men and women who dedicate their heart and soul - and sometimes sacrifice their lives - to this work.

The inspector general's office tabulated that the city has paid somewhere in the neighborhood of $31 million over the past 5 years to resolve employment-related cases. Those have involved LAPD members who alleged they were victims of retaliation, harassment, discrimination and other forms of misconduct. That portion accounted for nearly one-third of the total $110 million paid out during that timeframe for all LAPD lawsuits. The other two-thirds were for complaints stemming from allegations of excessive force and negligence in traffic crashes.

We don't know what the total liability was in each case because neither the LAPD nor the city attorney's office took the time to track how many hours both attorneys and investigators worked on each case. So while we know the amounts paid out in verdicts and settlements, the actual cost per case is much higher.

Among the recommendations made as a result of the audit was the suggestion to start a mediation program that would involve not only members of LAPD, but also the city attorneys' office and members of the union. The union has said it would be completely on board with such a program, but the agency has yet to announce its support (or rejection) of such a measure.

Another recommendation was that the agency immediately cease its practice of shredding case files as soon as a civil lawsuit is closed. This would help improve the accuracy of the information stored in the agency's case-tracking database, which had been identified as another problem by the inspector.

The agency was also advised to use the lessons learned from lost employment litigation to identify potential pitfalls that often lead to lawsuits. With that information, supervisors should be trained how to handle these kinds of specific problems, should they arise. Generally teaching a course on sexual harassment is a start, but taking a case-in-point, actual issue that the agency recently dealt with and showing how things might have been done differently might be more effective.