In the LAPD, the Cream Rarely Rises to the Top
The next time you watch a movie or television show about the Los Angeles Police Department in which the key figure in an investigation, the real brains of the operation, is depicted as a captain, you’ll know the writer didn’t bother to learn much about the LAPD.
I occasionally receive email from exasperated colleagues in the LAPD. “Dear Jack,” they write, “my commanding officer is . . .” And there then follows one or more descriptive terms from a list that includes the following: a drunk, a philanderer, an egomaniac, a moron, a lunatic.
What suddenly strikes me as I compose this column is that some substantial number of LAPD officers, perhaps even a majority, will read the above and be certain that I am talking about their own commanding officer. And, just as striking, not a single one of the commanding officers who reads it will entertain even a suspicion that I might be talking about him. Self-delusion: it’s not something that’s taught to the LAPD command staff, it just seems to come naturally to most of them.
I am now in the twilight of my police career, having been around longer than only a few dozen of my fellow officers. For reasons I will explain below, I have not risen far in the organization, and from my vantage point near the bottom of the chain of command I have watched as some of my contemporaries and some of those who followed me rose through the ranks to become captains, commanders, and deputy chiefs. I recall with some embarrassment the naïveté I displayed when, as a young cop back in the early ‘80s, I assumed — as you may also — that one had to be possessed of above average intelligence and keen law enforcement skills to ascend to the lofty levels of the department. It didn’t take long before I was disabused of this notion.
I spoke with a colleague not long ago, a man I had worked with in an earlier assignment and whom I knew to be an outstanding police officer and a first-rate field supervisor. He had taken the lieutenant’s exam, and I asked him how he had fared when the final list for promotion was published. “Not well,” he said. “I probably won’t make it on this list.” When I asked him where he thought he had stumbled in the process, he just shrugged and said, “I guess I’m not in the Club.”
“Ah yes,” I said, “the Club.” Within the LAPD, the Club is the informal society to which anyone aspiring to rise into the department’s command ranks must belong. There is no roster of the Club’s members, there is no clubhouse or headquarters, and as far as I know the members do not greet each other with some secret handshake. But, as in any exclusive club, each member knows all of the others, and they take great pains to limit the membership to those who share their views and experiences. Only rarely does some interloper manage to sneak through the various levels of scrutiny to the point that he can join the Club and cause trouble.
If you were to draw a Venn diagram of the Los Angeles Police Department, with a large circle representing the entire department and smaller ones depicting the various entities within, you would see the following: If one of the smaller circles represents the brightest and most capable police officers, detectives, and field supervisors, and another, larger, circle represents the administrative bureaucracy, the members of which in their daily duties have only tangential connection to real police work, you would see that the circles barely, almost imperceptibly intersect. And if another small circle represents the command staff, i.e. the Club, you would see that it broadly intersects with the bureaucrats while barely touching the one containing the best cops.
How can this be, you ask. Doesn’t the cream rise to the top?
No, it doesn’t. Not usually, anyway.
Welcome to the corporate world….. anywhere. I’ve never worked in a company that wasn’t this way. It’s the human factor. The problem here as well as all other public organizations is that there is no competition to keep them on their toes.
They make sure there is no competition by installing the incompetent as their subordinates.
Seldom have I read such truth about all corporate structures.
I used to voluntarily work 12 and 13 hour days as a manager in several companies, skipping lunch and having my first meal of the day at 10PM each night, as well as taking work home every weekend. I did this because I could see (and measure) the concrete improvements I was making to the company, the products, my direct reports, and my department. Seeing my projects and efforts come to positive fruition felt good.
But I gradually came to realize that nobody else above me or below me in these companies was working very hard, or gave the slightest damn whether the company did well, whether the products hurt patients, or whether the company utterly collapsed. The CEO’s were using me as a competent work horse who would solve many long-term problems and clean up messes that others wouldn’t or couldn’t handle.
And they did not have to pay me any more than the lazy, stupid bullshit artists I was usually surrounded by. And they knew they could lay me (and others) off with a one minute notice, for any reason or no reason.
I have since given up believing that it is even theoretically possible to improve any organization or company. There is just too much weight to carry (even for a CEO), and there will always be too many employees who will anonymously work to make any attempts at improvements fail, possibly because it might cause them to have to work a bit harder, or think, or even to simply amuse themselves.
I have also given up caring. It greatly surprised me that this change of attitude has made me see the world very differently. It is now very difficult for me to get excited about ANY scandal I see or read in the news. I now find it boring and pointless to discuss or debate anything with anybody. Almost everything one hears, from morning to night, is at least partly a lie, if not an all-out whopper.
Of course the LAPD is screwed up. Of course anybody who tries to improve it, or be fair and honest, or be efficient and effective will be punished, humiliated, fired, and then blacklisted from other police forces. And dogs bark and the Sun is hot. What else is new?
For me at least, that old saying is true: “I feel much better since I gave up hope”.
I work for a company that has only 100 employees. Even here, the 80/20 rule applies, with 20% doing most of the work. However, when it is necessary to downsize, no one in the important 20% is laid off. Maybe it’s different in government.
Wil, go into business for yourself, treat your employees like you would have wanted to be treated, and perhaps volunteer in local groups that believe and act as you would want others to do onto you. You’re too good of a person to let the corporate mess defeat you.
I’m one of the subordinates.
Every so often I get the urge to try for management.
Then I watch what they do and what their work involves.
I see them working longer hours than I do, and having do stuff (budgets, internal politics) that I would truly hate.
At which point I put my head back down and work harder, glad to be just a techie.
Truth is, since I got out of the Army, I have never had a “bad” boss. Some of them wanted things done in ways I thought stupid, but I was pretty certain they had their own reasons (like proving work hours to get more people, or making it easier for other people to take over tickets if you’re not available).
When you get to boss^2 or boss^3, though, I call ‘em “The echelons beyond reality.”
Capitalism has a great mechanism for achievers like Wil who are getting the shaft. It’s called executive recruiters. I made a lot of money placing disgruntled talented producers into competitors.
Wil, I work for a Fortune 10 company, and everything you describe is in full view here as well. I keep my head down, collect the $, and keep my network of competent people at other firms up-to-date; always look for your own exit strategy. And yes, resignation is the right tone, it allows you to endure sheer idiocy with bemusement, not anger.
Where in the corporate world do you get raises based on time of service?. Only with union shops which is why manufacturers have surrendered the field to the unions and gone elsewhere to make a profit. THE BIGGEST CRIME OF ALL IN THE COMMIE UNION WORLD…PROFITS.!!!!
Crime pays for cops and criminals. The criminals just don’t have as nice of retirements.
It seems strikingly similar to education, wherein in effect you rise in the profession by not teaching and those who enjoy teaching (usually if not always the best teachers) don’t go into administration.
So true. In universities, good teaching gets lots of lip service, but good teachers are way down on the totem pole. The horrible teacher who gets published in prestigious journals gets lots of respect. Never mind that most of the time the articles are totally useless.
Sounds like Departments are the same everywhere Jack. I’ve worked for a large municipal police department and a small rural sheriff’s office. The politics are the same…it’s all about either being in the club or being a cop. It’s very rare to find someone who is both.
Rothbard explained because this happen inside the government and large private corporations: lack of market transactions.
Their performances are not measurable in any objective way. Socialists can not calculate the prices of things and services; they can not calculate the real performance of these men.
Privatization of the only way to go.
When bread is tied to performances things usually work as intended.
This can probably be said about every medium to large size department in America.Politics internal and outside play a great part in these promotions.Promotion boards are rigged for the most part.
While I really haven’t had any commanders that I could describe as a drunk or a philanderer, we, in the Army, have many of the same issues with bureaucrats running the show. I was bad before 9/11. We got rid of quite a few in the first couple years of fighting as the military turned to its warriors to fight (transfers and such). But now I see the bureaucrats returning. I’ll be retiring here in a couple years myself. I like the Army and my job but I don’t think I’ll regret leaving it behind.
This is the case in most organization. We lose more good people because of crap like you speak of.I suspect the head honcho always has to have their lackies to cover for them.
You nailed it, Dunphy. The truth is, it’s the same in the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. I retired from it after a career as a homicide prosecutor. There are five “grades” in the DA’s Office. Grade 5 is the highest (known as “Head Deputy”). As far as I can recall, there is only one Grade 5 who ever successfully prosecuted a murder (my good friend Steve Kay). The real work of actually prosecuting homicides is done by those in Grades 3 and 4. I often was asked why I did not apply for the Grade 5 position. My answer was always the same: “Because I like prosecuting murders.”
The Peter Principle at work!
During my 42 years in law enforcement I was promoted several times; never taking an examination, and always via solicitation from an outside department. “C’mon with us, we need a guy to… and you’ll be a …”.
But, as JD says, each move upward was a move away from real police work.
As a commander-equivalent one becomes an efficiency expert, a mediator, a policy interpreter, an expert in logistical support, a motivator; and stops being a cop.
And one experiences, daily, pressures to do wrong, to fail to do right, to lie, etc.
Refusal to “join the club” means ostracism, professionally and socially.
When one does not drink, smoke, hunt, fish, party, fornicate, steal, he is designated a social pariah and looked upon with contempt and disdain, particularly if his performance mandates outstanding evaluations.
But the most damning blow of all is our increasingly corrupt judiciary and politicos, who trump and negate our best efforts to protect and serve.
“Shut up and be a good little socialist” Seattle Police Office Steve Pomper
It’s almost all afirmative action promotions and everyone knows it will not say it.
As a retired police sergeant with over 30 years experience in departments in two states, I can say emphatically “You got it right,Jack!!” The transition from cop to club member is at its most noticable when the individual reaches the position of “Chief” which is simply a politician in a uniform (when they wear it – usually just for ceremonies).
The problem with organizations is that
there are never enough competent people.
When there is enough time and money for
inefficiency and do-overs they go soft.
This is made worse when TPTB want the
organization to be politically correct.
It’s always hard for police officers to accept this but police departments ar no different than any other large public sector bureaucracy. Underneath all of the “Protect and Serve” rhetoric is an organizational structure no different than any other group of government time-servers. The public good takes a a distant second place (if that) to personal ambition, personal status and the eventual size of one’s pension.
Police departments (much like public school systems) are among the most “overly-administered” entities in the United States. If we accept the proposition that the primary role of the police is to prevent crime, arrest offenders and conduct investigations than a relatively small percentage of the officers in any given department are actually doing “police work.” One of the great anomalies of police departments is that the more experienced and (presumably) qualified that an officer is the more separated he/she is from the central tasks of policing.
My experience is that most police command officers “command” practically nobody. Their decision-making authority over the lower ranks is nonexistent due to the language and restrictions of collective bargaining agreements. Since they don’t actually command anyone most command officers perform “make work” type jobs, attend useless conferences and seminars and scheme for their next promotion. This doesn’t make them bad people – It merely means that they are taking advantage of a favorable situation just like anyone else. Once upon a time municipalities had the resources to absorb this sort of thing. Not any more.
Story of my life in the corporate world. What saved me was being able to get things done while my co workers chased the secretaries and went to the right bar after work. And working in a business that wasn’t enormously profitable. Small margins have a way of focusing the mind in a way not much else will.
You have just vividly described how almost all bureaucracies function. It could be funny if it weren’t so serious. Unfortunately, it is also dangerous. It is dangerous in law enforcement, air traffic control, and someplace that people rarely consider, health care (hospitals).
Physicians, who are all part of the 20 per center’s, have been fighting this problem for decades, both openly and behind the scenes. We have gotten nowhere. That is why the health care system is in trouble and is all going to come crashing down soon.
I don’t know how long the LAPD can be propped up, probably for quite a while. After all, they have guns.
In grad school in the 1980′s I developed callouses on my lips from biting them while my professors spouted impractical nonsense. Every once in a while I spoke up and politely expressed opposing views in class, but since that had a definite effect on my grade I went back to cultivating leather lips. I thought, when I finally get my degree and become a “professional,” things will be better out there in the “real world.” Well, you can guess how quickly the scales fell from my eyes.
While our fallen human nature can explain some of what Officer Dunphy describes, the problem is greatly exacerbated by the emphasis on “professions,” which I guess a bunch of German know-it-all academics began promoting in the 19th Century or so, and which spread to this country, resulting in Progressivism and other evils. Now we have professional Educators, for instance, who know and embrace Gramscian political theory, student/teacher ratio data and techniques for teaching kindergartners about the joys of gay and straight sex, but who don’t have a clue about how to effectively teach children to read, write, acquire knowledge and be good citizens.
In my profession, which is much safer than police work and not quite as far off the deep end as teaching, I’ve seen much of the same general Club characteristics, with incompetents running the show and enforcing the Club rules, while conscientious hard-working grunts do what needs to be done while not being rewarded for their efforts. In the 20-plus years since I’ve gotten my master’s degree, I’ve watched the top professional organizations in my field be dominated by Politically Correct ideologues, I’ve worked under four managers who were either Feminazi females or male Useful Idiots, I’ve waded through so-called professional literature which was 90% useless but published because of Club values, and I’ve gone to countless conferences which were mainly held so that Club members could more publicly congratulate themselves. In the end, I’ve learned to somewhat tolerate all this by following Officer Dunphy’s rule–I like doing the grunt work. But, like the country’s financial situation, I don’t believe that this form of “professionalism” can continue much longer without a major catastrophe occurring.
“All professions are a conspiracy against the laity.”
– Oscar Wilde
I worked in federal civil service for the US Navy for forty years. I thought that the peacetime navy must be the worst-run organization on earth, but I now believe that was simply because I could see more of what was going on, as it was closer to me. In reality I don’t suppose it was any worse than Dunphy’s description of the LAPD.
State and municipal governments.
Same in the army, except much greater representation of affirmative action drones who get moved up.
Jack:
You’ve seen it and lived it. What is your solution?
That’s life, eh?
I’d have to say this is pervasive in most organizations. My wife (Masters Education, Special Ed Teacher Consultant for 32 [retired]) saw it throughout the education system. Often it was easier to bump somebody upstairs where they could do less harm than in a position that actually required knowledge and skill.
I have owned 8 or so small businesses. Why? Well I worked in corporate world off and on, quite successfully I might add, throughout my career as an Operations Manager, Management Training Director, Sales Manager, V.P. Divisional Opertions, etc. etc. and always and forever I would end up after 2,3,5,9 years, whatever, give my notice and start or buy a small business, where the buck stopped with me, build it up, sell it and then usually give the corporate another try during the break between small businesses.
I have seen ‘The Peter Principal’ at its’ finest at some of the highest levels of corporate world (and I do mean world I worked for a large French comapany for a few years, Wow that was something). Owners, COOs, CEOs and many V.P.s that were absolutely, 100% clueless how to run a company. I mean staggering. Fortunately most of them through some God given ability other than management skill or insight realized that they didn’t know anything and would let us lesser beings ‘just take care of it’. Praise them for this and curse those who didn’t have this gift as they made our lives miserable.
In any event, I must presume that we have at the head of our government one of the latter who is so arrogant, incompetent, and dictatorial that he believes he knows what is best.
Unfortunately he doesn’t have a clue and unfortunately I (and many people I have worked alongside at many levels) have a better management resume than he does.
Oh what I and a few guys and gals I know could tell him about how to run this country.
But he won’t bother, his kind never do, they just leave messes for others to clean up.
Why would any administrator promote “the best and the brightest”? Who would be left to do the work? Club members generally promote the one who would be missed from the work-team the least. It’s a rule in their playbook.
‘…I occasionally receive email from exasperated colleagues in the LAPD. “Dear Jack,” they write, “my commanding officer is . . .” And there then follows one or more descriptive terms from a list that includes the following: a drunk, a philanderer, an egomaniac, a moron, a lunatic….’
Barbara Oakley’s “The Evil Gene” is a scientific description of these “Machiavellian” types.
‘glenn’ says “Small margins have a way of focusing the mind in a way not much else will.” Our society has been so rich for so long it can support these organizations, until (eg, GM) there is no more money.
How many of the police managers are protected by the Police Union?
Captains and above are not represented by the Police union, although I seem to recall they do have their own collective bargaining unit.
Everybody like to make all issues so very complex when in reality, there is always a very simple analysis to be had.
What has systemically corrupted and destoyed most of America’s cancer cities law enforcement agencies (including LAPD) is the very same thing that is corrupting and destorying the nation.
The social justice ideology!
I can remember when LAPD, throughout the ranks, was Marine Corps disciplined in mind, body and spirit with strict entry and retention requirements. The communities also, generally had high regards and respect for the officers and their mission and were generally great at helping officers through their moral and civic duty to do so.
Its an ideological societal problem today…not an LAPD created problem! Everything at all levels is corrupted and the unions are representatives of the corrupted social justice ideology.
Our nation’s declining wealth will not change the situation. When the money falls short, it’s the people who do the work who are sacrificed. Just look at 3rd World governments.
This is an example of Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy:
“In any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. The second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”
The contrast of LAPD with what I read of the Chicago Police Department is interesting. CPD has an exam system (which is corrupt – “connected” officers get to see the tests in advance), but a large fraction of promotions are “meritorious”: the person is arbitrarily deemed to “merit” a promotion by upper ranks.
One of the candidates to replace Jody Weis as Superintendent has four merit promotions. And quite a few officers think he’s the best candidate from inside the Department (which says a lot about the others).
It’s well worth reading what CS Lewis said in 1944 on the same topic.
http://www.lewissociety.org/innerring.php
“In the passage I have just read from Tolstoy, the young second lieutenant Boris Dubretskoi discovers that there exist in the army two different systems or hierarchies. The one is printed in some little red book and anyone can easily read it up. It also remains constant. A general is always superior to a colonel, and a colonel to a captain. The other is not printed anywhere. Nor is it even a formally organised secret society with officers and rules which you would be told after you had been admitted. You are never formally and explicitly admitted by anyone. You discover gradually, in almost indefinable ways, that it exists and that you are outside it; and then later, perhaps, that you are inside it.”
***
“It is not easy, even at a given moment, to say who is inside and who is outside. Some people are obviously in and some are obviously out, but there are always several on the borderline. And if you come back to the same Divisional Headquarters, or Brigade Headquarters, or the same regiment or even the same company, after six weeks’ absence, you may find this secondary hierarchy quite altered.
There are no formal admissions or expulsions. People think they are in it after they have in fact been pushed out of it, or before they have been allowed in: this provides great amusement for those who are really inside. It has no fixed name. The only certain rule is that the insiders and outsiders call it by different names. From inside it may be designated, in simple cases, by mere enumeration: it may be called “You and Tony and me.” When it is very secure and comparatively stable in membership it calls itself “we.” When it has to be expanded to meet a particular emergency it calls itself “all the sensible people at this place.” From outside, if you have dispaired of getting into it, you call it “That gang” or “they” or “So-and-so and his set” or “The Caucus” or “The Inner Ring.” If you are a candidate for admission you probably don’t call it anything. To discuss it with the other outsiders would make you feel outside yourself. And to mention talking to the man who is inside, and who may help you if this present conversation goes well, would be madness.
Badly as I may have described it, I hope you will all have recognised the thing I am describing. Not, of course, that you have been in the Russian Army, or perhaps in any army. But you have met the phenomenon of an Inner Ring. ”
****
“The quest of the Inner Ring will break your hearts unless you break it. But if you break it, a surprising result will follow. If in your working hours you make the work your end, you will presently find yourself all unawares inside the only circle in your profession that really matters. You will be one of the sound craftsmen, and other sound craftsmen will know it. This group of craftsmen will by no means coincide with the Inner Ring or the Important People or the People in the Know. It will not shape that professional policy or work up that professional influence which fights for the profession as a whole against the public: nor will it lead to those periodic scandals and crises which the Inner Ring produces. But it will do those things which that profession exists to do and will in the long run be responsible for all the respect which that profession in fact enjoys and which the speeches and advertisements cannot maintain.”
Read the whole speech – it’s brief.
Great link, penetrating and thoughtful speech by the great CS Lewis. Thank you
It’s the “Peter Principal”. If you haven’t read the book, do so, it’s an excellent study on the realities of how beauracracies function and the implications for how personnel promote.
I’ve been a Reserve Officer with the LAPD for 20+ years. As such I’ve lived a good part of my life with a foot in the department camp and a foot in the commercial world. I was almost ready to dismiss this as the ramblings of a disgruntled employee until the very end where JD talks about people roaming the halls saying “this too shall pass”. I’ve been saying that to myself these days after having been subject to the ill-founded decision making process of an Assistant Chief based on the piss poor staff work of some brainless cubicle jockey with stripes.
I work in a big company and there are many similarities in the organizational behavior between it and the LAPD. But there’s also something fundamentally different between the two that I just can’t put my finger on. It just seems that although I might not like many of the decisions that are made at my company, there’s a level of common sense about them. Maybe it’s the bottom line; the almighty buck. Most decisions have to do with making one or saving one, but at the end of the day it’s always about the money. On the other hand, the LAPD seems to lack that common thread in its decision making. We’d like to think that all decisions are made around providing police services to the citizens, but even that doesn’t seem to be a constant in the department. I dunno, there’s just something more dysfunctional in the way the department behaves and the ego-driven basis of much of what happens.
It’s the presence or lack thereof of a profit motive. Your commercial workplace must make a profit or fold. The decision-makers at the LAPD, on the other hand, would never think of completing a project under budget. There’s no need. Mo’ money is always available. It therefore is an accountability thing, though police commanders will always deny that point.
Curiously, what you’re describing is a Pareto distribution; an economic/statistical phenomena where 20 percent of the population control 80 percent of the wealth. Only here, the distribution has been inverted, where the leadership comes from the 80 percent of the population who are slugs sucking off the 20 percent who get the job done.
It’s sad when the command staff who publicly preach that officers need to be held to a higher standard are more concerned about protecting, and covering up the wrongs of the people in “The club” as opposed to providing the front line with the proper equipment and support to best take care of the people they get paid to serve.
As a friend of mine pointed out. It is unfortunate that the departement such as the LAPD who is supposed to look at things objectively and make non-biased, non-descriminating decisions are driven by personalitys that contradict the core values instilled in new recruits and officers. The department will continue to have these problems so long as decisions are personality driven.
As excited as I was to see the new chief take office, I am disappointed to see he is not intervening in poor decisions made by his top command staff.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS!
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION DOES NOT WORK!
I became a lieutenant on the LAPD and never felt I was part of a club. I was, however, exposed to many members of the club who gave me pause to climb any further in the organization.
This is absolute BS, Jack.
Name all the brass, and we’ll rate them. Names like Incontro, Green, Hillman, come to mind? They are up there. I propose that the Club is mostly made up of top cops than you pretend to espouse. Most come from Metro, Jack.
Incontro, Green, and Hillmann are examples of the exceptions I wrote about. Look down the list of command officers. How many Incontros and Greens are there? Most of the others were mediocre cops at best, and most of them resent the Incontros and Greens in their midst.
You’re wrong, Jack. There are more Incontros and Greens at the command level than you’re trying to paint here.
Sure there are women, Blacks and Hispanics, and Terry Hara types for Consent Decree bean counts and “to please” the community, but most of our “shot-callers”, people w/ both clout and rank, are from Metro.
10-David could be the Chief if he wanted to, that’s how much clout this guy has. There are countless Sgts out there (w/ Metro experience) that chiefs kow-tow to by virtue of their experience and swagger, and they are the ones that set the rhythm in the Dept, Jack, not the “affirmative action” (as one comment has pointed) postings.
Commander Green…. get back to work. To be honest, most of the smarter street cops and supervisors who work for you, see right through you.
@ Jack Dunphy, et al.
Instead of throwing generalities, let’s get specific. Categorize your Capts and Up and you’ll have folks from Metro Div. PSB (IA) and Detectives. Who make up the most, from which category? I suspect it’ll be the officers from Metro, Chief D. Gates crew. And the LAPD is Chief Gates’.
they should let the Zaks run 77th, and make it a reality show, like Khloe & Lamar. we’ll have laughs.
How about Capt. Dennis Kato? Is he an exception or the norm, Jack?
Capt. Kato is unquestionably one of the best. But he also illustrates the problem I was talking about. He’s had three challenging commands since making captain: two tours at 77th Street and one at Metro. But when it came time to promote three people to commander, look who they picked.
Commander Blake Chow is good people. I hope you don’t mean him, Mr. Dunphy.
Great article and so true. I especially agree with the 80/20 rule. In my last month at the LAPD I wrote a scathing letter re these issues. Re the 80/20 rule, they didn’t need to hire more cops, they just needed to trim the fat off the top and re-deploy them into the field. Hiring more cops would probably just recalculate into a 90/10 rule.
Having said that, I am thankful for leaders like Chief Daryl Gates, Dep Chief Mike Hillman, Comm. Keith Bushey, Lt Byron Young, Lt Doug Young ect.
I speak all over on Counter Terrorism and National security. A ‘small’ portion of my syllabus is on how law enforcement has changed for the worse, and the importance of citizens arming themselves, as they can not rely on law enforcement. As you’ll see in my below video (time stamp 1:43,) I mention how some LAPD command staff have become “cowards” and traitors to this great Nation. All in the name of political correctness, multiculturalism and tolerance. Currently I mention six sellouts in the So Cal area. http://youtu.be/zbjbnlgDqRo
Bill Rhetts, LAPD #25114
Mr. Rhetts,
I just saw your video and it’s sickening. I can’t believe you were an actual LAPD officer.
I’m not going to call you a racist, but you are of the same ilk as that nut case pastor from Florida.
Have you actually visited and interacted with locals in the Mid-East, sir?
What you’re showing are crimes perpetrated by criminals, but when you go on the talk circuit trying to make sense of these crimes using your own personal bias and ignorance, that’s when you’ve crossed the line between helping and making things worst.
I’m not sure what the rest of your qualifications are, but if you interface with Americans (SF, NCS, State, etc) who have actually studied COIN, CT, Mid-East history and culture, you’ll get a more nuanced and sophisticated approach to the problems.
You are over simplifying. You can’t claim expertise and not know what you’re talking about.
Well, I haven’t watched the video, and I thought Williams’ response was interesting until I got to this:
When people start talking about “nuanced and sophisticated” approaches to problems, it’s time to put on the hip waders.
I’m happy for you Bill. You found your own niche, your own hustle, playing into the fears of small town America. Pimpin’ ain’t easy as they say, but you got your own televangelist market going for you, so Kudos. But when you exploit your “time” in LAPD to sell your crap, you’re kinda making the rest of us look like total doofuses. There are actual officers in the LAPD who are Special Forces and SEALs, who have plenty of time outside the wire in the Sandbox, who are actually knowledgeable in real world Counter-terrorism and Counter-insurgency methods. I hope you get in touch with them first before opening your mouth.
this is the old jocks vs. nerds debate, jack. remember in the academy, there were “smart” recruits and “physically fit” recruits and then you have your rare hybrids. sometimes the nerds in the dept. are just better managers, jack.
How about Commander Smith, Mr. Dunphy?
Andy Smith is also one of the best. I hope I don’t doom his career by saying so.
During my almost (almost there)20 years working patrol:
1. LAPD command staff members are careerists with massive egos. Their focus is on their place in the organization and advancement, not the LAPD’s true mission.
2. To promote, you need a command staff sponsor. This usually will begin when you are a sergeant or detective.
3. To obtain sponsorship, you must ingratiate yourself with a command staff member who, if they think you are “qualified,” will put you to work for him/her. Your job will be to work to advance your sponsor’s career.
4. LTs are pre-selected. Sponsors ensure their guys/gals are interviewed by their own people to ensure they get high scores. This is how they do it: SGT II Jane Smith is sponsored by Commander Jones. Commander Jones also sponsors CAPT A and CAPT B. Commander Jones ensures SGT II Smith is interviewed by these two, who will give her a 99 score no matter what. Once Smith is promoted she continues to work for Commander Jones.
5. Unsponsored candidates: good luck, but you will never make it. I hope you have enough seniority points to break 90. At least when the written was 40 or 50 percent of the score outsiders had a chance. Now, with the oral as 100% of the score, the process is rigged by those who give the scores.
5. Metro Man, Metro is OK but face it- it is a political game unto itself. Every Metro guy who picks up SGT wants to go back to Metro and there are as many political games there as in the building, just a different variety. Metro is not the cream of the LAPD- just people who are willing to play that type of game. Metro attracts a lot of motivated big-ego types and they naturally want to promote. I have heard for years “the new SGT is from Metro, he’s gonna be great.” Many of them, I noticed, were politicians who were setting up their next job (usually back in Metro) who were reluctant to back an officer if it might be controversial with the command staff- that might jeopardize their chance of becoming 70C or 60B. The stepping stone for them on the wheel was always a specialized unit, then finally back in Metro. Patrol was just a requirement to get past with as little effort ass possible. Building boys and girls did the exact same thing, only they were headed for a staff job instead of Metro. Same game.
5. The number of lawsuits is tied to how LAPD command staff operates. They run the LAPD like a fiefdom. There are plenty of people who are given jackets to keep them from even getting a paygrade advancement. Some of the officers/SGTs who won big were not great people but the command staff does not discriminate when they hammer those they do not like- jerks get hit as hard as angels when it comes to abusing subordinates.
@ Expat,
If your theories are correct, then all the beautiful females (especially the young ones) in the LAPD Women’s Run Team should, could, would become Command Staff very soon.
Not that I’m complaining there’s 6 to 7 very attractive ones, especially the young ones. I hope they get the express train to Captain I.
I guess this explains my position on the current LAPD Lieutenant list. Maybe I should go to IA or take a Commander’s Aide spot, instead of remaining in operations.
Mary Grady, sweet Mary Grady, is even playing these games. She sent a homosexual/gay ofcr. working for her, who was being too gay (ie. drama queen), sent him pedaling around Skid Row. A gay ofcr. working bikes in Skid Row, that some f’ed up sht, man.
As a retired 27 yr LAPD ofcr, I could not agree more. Very seldom did the good street cop get promoted. With that said, the good Metro/Swat cop would/could promote, usually going right back to Metro after “probation.” Which is not a bad thing. But their skills/knowledge is needed in the patrol divisions, as well.
Elitism sells.
P2 Dawg (SOW),
Catching on fast! Quick learner. Usually, though, my experience teaches me they want a “niche” job. Climbers and those seeking high-profile spots do have to work hard- not at being cops, though- but they still need to sell themselves and perform for their sponsors to keep moving up. Many of those types you described are approached with job offers but prefer a comfy spot somewhere (not patrol), often as as a P2 for life- civilian hours, all holidays off, no stress. You never see them except when the WC tells you to drop off some envelope at PAB or some offsite office- somewhere you did not even think LAPD would have an office. That’s when you realize LAPD is the largest it has ever been but still can’t field more than 4-5 units per watch because the command staff has everyone in some plainsclothes specialized unit or on a staff.
Having worked a couple of specialized details, I just wanted to add that it does boost morale greatly when there’s a hottie in the detail, especially with connects to the command staff.
If the female ofcr. is a hottie (and not a danger to self or others, and able to recognize patterns), I wouldn’t mind having one as a capt. or lt. I’ll take morale over leadership (which is really rare, and in a bureaucracy almost unnecessary) any day of the week.
Another perspective on organizations….and I think it fits LAPD perfectly.
http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/
If you guys hate LAPD so much, why not go Feds? God knows they are hiring big time.
Instead of all this complaining. A bunch of whiners.
One morning, many years ago, I’m assigned to training session (Gays & Lesbians in the workplace), held at Parker Center, LAPD headquarters. Just my luck, most all my fellow session attendees work Internal Affairs. Oh, gosh, Commander CC (CCC) is there, too. A guy I’ve never really cared for. So I’m sitting there getting trained with all the kool-aid drinkers and I see CCC is venturing off track, checking out his new department-issue laptop.
Soon after he’s waded through some departmental correspondence, a strange image pops up on his laptop screen. Within a few minutes, it comes into focus. It’s a nude woman. Of course, she’s got her arms placed to conceal the naughty-bits, but nonetheless, she’s nude. She’s nude, that’s a department computer, and hello, we’re in the workplace. There’s a guy next to me, IAD Sgt. BW, and we look at each other with that, “WTF?” look. Seated next to CCC is a Lt. MS. and another Sgt. MS, both from IAD.
I finish the training and go back to my office in Chinatown. I tell my fellow unit members what happened. We all can’t believe that a guy who writes the rules has that crap on his laptop. One of the women in my unit is incensed, particulary because when he was in her chain of command he put her on the beach for a week, because she had a playful/sexy (but fully-clothed) portait on her desk. So this is hypocracy, plain and simple.
I tell the unit I’m going to complain, because it’s wrong for him to do. But I’ll only do it with their blessing, as we’re a small and some might consider “disposable” unit. The unit OIC says to me, “you have to, anyway, maybe it’s a test.” So I call IAD and make the complaint.
The next day, I’m interviewed. One of the IA sergeants asks his questions like he’s CCC’s employee/defense representative, the other listens and concurs that misconduct appears to have occurred.
Some weeks later, I’m called down to IA HQ, where another guy shows me a printed out image which was the woman…it’s Cindy Crawford. Yes, she is nude, but as I said, her naughty bits are covered. I identify the image. I am also asked to sign the, “I understand I am subect to discipline and/or civil penalty if I’ve lied” form. The IA guy tells me that CCC turned over the image, he’d loaded it on the laptop testing it out, and yadda-yadda-yadda. But, I’m told, no one else in the room saw the image on the screen. Not IAD Sgt. BW, not IAD Lt. MS, or IAD Sgt. MS, just me, Kieth M., alone.
Weeks after that, the new Deputy Chief promotional list comes out. Yes, you guessed it…Commander CC is No. ONE on the list. However, right off the bat, they promote No. two on the list over CCC. But never fear, the discipline process is fair and CCC becomes Deputy Chief CC in due time.
Some time later, Sgt. MS tells me, “Gosh, Kieth, even though I was sitting right next to CC, I never saw that image on his screen!” The moment I left his company I rolled my eyes and said, “Yeah, shuuuuurrrrrrr!”
Yes, it works out for everyone. In fact, everyone at training that morning eventually got promoted. Sgt. BW is now Lt. BW. Lt. MS retired as Capt. MS., and Sgt. MS. is Lt. MS. Even Dep. Chief CC retired and got to be Chief CC of a Northern California agency. He has since retired from there and I’ve heard that they are very glad he’s gone. It seems that he tried to recreate a mini-LAPD in his new setting, and it doesn’t work outside L.A.! Sometimes, it doesn’t even work in L.A. for that matter.
Wait, did I say everyone got promoted? Later, Capt. MS sat on my one and only lieutenant oral. I came out No. 178 on the list. I remained a minimum-wage sergeant to the end of my career. I was soon, the only one at that “disposable” unit, whose position was eliminated and I was sent back to patrol. Which, in a way, was just fine and dandy with me. I had spent enough of my time walking among the “building people” and I see how they rolled. I’ll take my chances on the street with the hoodlums, anyday. It’s safer out there. People who work the building should wear both their ballistic vest panels on their back – for their fellow admin backstabber’s knives.
In 2009, Lt. BW just came out in band number one of the LAPD’s Captain’s list, and made it, of course.
So, do I belive in “The Club”?, You bet I do. History once had another term for such behavior, though, I think it was along the lines of “gutten-klienen Duetschlanders.”
You complained about a Cindy Crawford image? First, there’s no “nude” photos of Cindy Crawford. Second, this is so chiken sht, it’s petty–as blacks say it’s triflin’. It’s a photoshopped photo of Ms. Crawford, this isn’t even porn, in every sense of the word.
As for powerful men hitting on chicks in the office, it’s all good, unless it leads to ruffies and biting, then that’s something else.
The right to complain and be a whistle-blower is a power that needs responsibility and forethought, the fact that you jumped on the most miniscule bs, tells me you’re not command staff or even LT material.
She had no clothes. Her arms and legs were strategically placed to conceal her breasts and crotch. As I already pointed out, this commander had disciplined a female officer I was working with for having one of those “budior” (sp?) portraits, with the feather boas and saucy-look on her desk – so his behavior on this matter was not consistant with both his own and our “company policy”. In the end, since he was found guilty and given an official reprimand (OR) by then-Chief Parks for having the photo on his computer, perhaps just maybe, I called it correctly?
And, just so you know, there’s a small-town police department a thousand miles away from Los Angeles which will be glad to argue with you over whether I’m well-suited to be in-charge. I’m a chief, now. The first thing I did was check my LAPD ‘tude at the door and figure out what was best for these men and women, here, not for me. As I said, the LAPD model doesn’t translate well everywhere, for everyone, for every situation – I just took the best and left the rest.
Truly, tell you’ve loved and respected everyone you’ve ever worked for…and you’ve admired and trusted every occupant of Parker Center’s fifth and sixth floors (and today’s equivelant)? That’s great for you.
Sounds to me like you and your policewoman friend were sore at this particular guy, so you decided to go after him for some bs Cindy Crawford non-porn.
Your policewoman’s photo on her desk, for everybody to see, is actually more grounds for complaint.
I’m happy you became Chief somewhere, but BS is still BS. I’m just calling you out on it, Chief.
Okay, let’s see if I have this straight. It’s mutually exclusive? I can’t dislike this guy and see (non-porn) images which would not pass inspection, back there? Would the image I’ve described be allowed to be displayed in station hallway? A workout or locker room? The Bomb Squad office? Have they changed the policy since I left? I have to like him or at the very least have no opinion on him to point out what I think is a violation of department policy being carried out by a commander?
As I’ve said, I did not know about the woman I worked with being disciplined until after I shared the experience with the rest of the squad and she came forward.
I work for this prick, and we’re trying to send him back down to L.A. But he and his “club” run the show up here.
No, I doubt you work here with me, Ofcr. Smiley, and it seems that these posts are becoming just about something other than Jack Dumphy’s article. I’m done here.
Chief Parks reprimanded everyone for every small thing. Take a number, pal.
By “naughty bits are covered” you mean Cindy Crawford was wearing a bikini?
She had no clothes. Her arms and legs were strategically placed to conceal her breasts and crotch.
That’s not PORN.
No, it’s not porn…but is it workplace appropriate under LAPD standards? Shall we ask Sandy Jo or Det. Deb Gonzalez the Women’s Coordinator?
Sending a Public Affairs gay officer to work bikes in Skid Row for being too flamy, now that’s F’ed up. Cindy Crawford covering her naughties is like me brining a Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition to read on my desk–a big nothing! We’ve done worst in Vice (I’m ‘take off my undies’ in a Massage Parlor qualified).