On Monday, 24 Sep. 2001, the Public Safety Committee of the Los Angeles City Council will be holding a meeting at which LAPD hiring practices, including polygraph screening, are on the agenda. The schedule includes time for comments from the public, and any who can attend may wish to be there:


PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2001

ROOM 1010, CITY HALL - 10 AM
200 N. SPRING ST., LOS ANGELES, CA 90012

*** PLEASE NOTE NEW COMMITTEE ROOM LOCATION ***

      MEMBERS:  COUNCILMEMBER CINDY MISCIKOWSKI, CHAIR
                   COUNCILMEMBER JAN PERRY
                   COUNCILMEMBER JACK WEISS
                COUNCILMEMBER NICK PACHECO
                   COUNCILMEMBER DENNIS P. ZINE
                

     (Brian Walters - Legislative Assistant - 213-978-1078)      
_________________________________________________________________

Note: Assistive listening devices are available at the meeting; upon 72 hour advance notice, other accommodations, such as sign language interpretation, and translation services will be provided.  Contact the Legislative Assistant listed above for the needed services.  TDD available at (213) 978-1055.


FILE NO. SUBJECT

                                   (1)

-------      City Attorney and Chief Legislative Analyst to provide an update on the implementation status of the Consent Decree and other related matters.

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________


                                   (2)

-------      Chief Legislative Analyst to provide an update on the implementation status of TEAMS II.

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________


                                   (3)

-------      Police Department to report relative to the Depart ment’s plan and implementation time line for collection of pedestrian and traffic stop data on paper forms to meet the Consent Decree November 1, 2001 implementation schedule and associated costs.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________

                                   (4)

           Scheduled for Council consideration - September 25,2001
00-0211-      Consideration of Motion (Miscikowski - Pacheco)relative 
S31            to transfer of funds for printing costs of pedestrian and traffic stop data collection forms and data input scanning services.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION______________________________________

                                   (5)

-------      Chief Legislative Analyst to report relative to a lease for the Los Angeles Police Department, Special Opera tions Section, Internal Affairs Group and associated budget needs and required fund transfers.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION______________________________________


                                   (6)

99-1803-S1      Communications from the Police Department relative to the status of its hiring and recruitment efforts for the period ending June 2001. (Also referred to the Personnel Committee)

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________
     
                                   (7)

99-1803-S7      Communication from the Police Department relative to the use of bumper stickers to enhance police officer recruitment.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________

                                   (8)
     
01-0572      Communications from the Personnel Department relative to its monthly activities to improve recruitment and selection of Police Office candidates for the periods ending May, June, July and August 2001. (Also referred to the Personnel Committee)

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION___________________________________________


                                   (9)

01-1586      Personnel and Police Department report relative to the recent Memorandum of Agreement, the resources and authorities needed to fund its coordinated efforts, and any other related police officer recruitment and retention matters, pursuant to Motion (Miscikowski - Weiss) (Also referred to the Personnel and Budget and Finance Committees)

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________

                                   (10)

--------      City Administrative Officer to report relative to the Police Department’s Interim Budget request for poly graph unit positions.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: No

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________

                                   (11)

------      Communication from the Personnel Department relative to a personal services contract with US Investigation Services, Inc. for polygraph and investigative services and reprogramming of funds for the Police Officer Recruitment Incentive Program.

           Fiscal Impact Statement Submitted: Yes, by Dept.

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________


                                   (12)

01-0219-      Consideration of Motion (Padilla - Miscikowski)
S1            relative to the revised Integrity Assurance Package for the Police Department’s Risk Management Group, for an additional 63 position authorities.

           DISPOSITION__________________________________________

     

COMMENTS FROM PUBLIC ON ITEMS OF PUBLIC INTEREST
WITHIN COMMITTEE'S SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION

Fred F.,

I agree that the scheduling of L.A. City Council meetings at 10:00 A.M. must make attendance difficult for many. Fortunately, David Zahniser of the Daily Breeze was in attendance and wrote an article on it titled, "Panel seeks to speed LAPD hiring."

Some points of note with regard to the LAPD polygraph program:

• A backlog of more than 500 LAPD applicants wait to be polygraphed;
• The Committee voted to recommend that a private company (presumably US Investigation Services, Inc., which was mentioned on the agenda but not in Zahniser's article) be awarded a contract of up to $615,000 to address that backlog;
• The Committee also recommended that LAPD establish four new permanent positions for polygraphers.

Fred F.,

The total number of polygraph interrogations that might be provided under the contract is not clear. Note also that the Daily Breeze article mentioned that it is in an amount up to $615,000. It's not clear from the article whether that amount would be applied only to clearing the present backlog, or if it would include potential future backlogs, too. 

See also the article, "LAPD Expands Recruitment Efforts" on the MSNBC website, which is about the same Public Safety Committee meeting, and states in part:

Quote:


When the Daily Breeze reported the backlog to be "more than 500" it seems to have made an understatement.

George,

Mayor Hahns letter brings out some other points that are equally disturbing;

He wants to start recruiting at the High Schoollevel.
Quote:


The good Mayor is forgetting that you have to be 21 to be appointed to the LAPD. Also, to get young peoples involved in a waiting process is absurd. Making them civilian members of the LAPD to be paperwork jockeys or clerks can have a negative effect as these students will see police work as boring and repetitious and make them lose interest. Also this discourages a college education, but that may be what they want, people without knowledge that they can mold into their model of an officer

However he does have a good idea in forgiving college debt as a recruiting tool
Quote:


While this is a good idea, If the officer still becomes disillusioned all they need to do is put in the time and start applying to other PD's that offer more lucrative work schedules and assignments. The LASD does NOT forgive college debt, but does allow many to advertise freely to the entire dept. The LASD also has tuition reimbursement.

The most important point still is to scrap the polygraph requirement. 

Fred F.