Methinks “Jack Dunphy” doth protest too much. He seems to think that the LAPD should not be accountable to anyone, yet he overlooks that it was a lack of accountability that caused to the Ramparts scandal which led to the consent decree in the first place.
The disclosure requirements placed on the narcotics officers (5.3 percent of the police force) are not out of keeping with what is required of anyone who has any degree of responsibility in public service.
For example, as a middle-level manager in a California state financial regulatory agency, I am required to submit an annual financial disclosure statement to the Fair Political Practices Commission, and I am forbidden to engage in financial transactions with the entities that my agency regulates.
Certainly, the LAPD’s alleged mishandling of officers’ personal financial records does not eliminate the need to gather the information. The obvious solution is to improve record keeping procedures, not to stop gathering the data. It is egregious in the extreme to suggest such a thing.
The Ramparts scandal that led to the consent decree proved that there is a need for society to be protected from its protectors. As the Roman poet Juvenal who asked: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? or Who will watch the watchers?
