Saavedra has worked as a journalist since 1979 and has held positions at several Southern California newspapers before arriving at the Orange County Register in 1990. with conspiracy and vandalism for allegedly spray-painting a swastika inside a vehicle. Another officer then sat on Ross legs before others were able to bind Ross arms and legs with a hobble restraint.. for the Advancement of Colored People. Without that officer, you couldnt prove that case.. The purpose of that board, according to the bill text, is to make recommendations regarding police officer decertification and to protect the public and all constitutional and statutory rights.. Atty. Which of the above data are published publicly? Jose Esparza, 19, Luis Ortiz, 20, and Jose Rodriguez, 21, described similar comments by police in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the department last month. Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. - William O. Douglas, Associate Justice (1939 - 1975), Peace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments, Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS]. Such claims represent one of the most sensitive areas of police-citizen relations and were cited as a fundamental cause of both the 1965 Watts riots and the broader 1992 Los Angeles riots. Three years into De Laduranteys tenure, though, critics question whether much has changed. The pair allegedly spray-painted a swastika and a happy face inside the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint. Gascn praised Torrance Police Chief Jeremiah Hart for moving quickly to provide information to prosecutors, noting he met resistance from police leaders when investigating similar scandals involving racist text messages among San Francisco officers. Share & Bookmark, Press Enter to show all options, press Tab go to next option, National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), Consolidated Plan: HOME, HOME-American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP), Candidate Registration & Qualification Form, Torrance Police Department Quarterly Reports, Trust Building Campaign - Torrance Police Department Strategic Plan, 3300 Civic Center Drive, Torrance CA 90503. Tony Saavedra is an investigative reporter specializing in legal affairs for the Orange County Register. Gen. Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated). The council and Hart appear to have full faith in the oversight power of the state oversight board, though. Country: United States Address 1: 340 Blount Ave City: Guntersville State: Alabama Zip Code: 35976-1106 County: Marshall County Phone #: 256-571-7571 Fax #: 256-571-7570 Police1 is revolutionizing the way TheCalifornia Public Records Actdoes not regulate the use of records obtained from public agencies. The answer, according to the caption, was to break a tail light on his car so the police will stop him and shoot him., Someone else sent a picture of a candy cane, a Christmas tree ornament, a star for the top of the tree and an enslaved person.. Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, Left-handed pitchers offer gold-like value for high school teams, Column: How I finally learned to care about Orange Countys crumbling coastline, Shipping firms to pay pipeline company nearly $100 million in O.C. However, the investigation has already produced statements by several former officers claiming that the department not only tolerates racism, but teaches it. The picture above it showed several Black men who had been lynched. They said they were stopped, pulled from their car at gunpoint, berated with racial threats during a 2 1/2-hour search, told to leave town and not come back--and escorted to the San Diego Freeway. Sgt. District attorneys records reviewed by The Times showed Tomsic sent a slew of racist images and messages, including a picture of former President Reagan feeding a monkey with a caption stating Reagan used to babysit [former President] Obama.. It is not unusual for minorities to complain that police harass them with pointless stops in an attempt to discourage them from driving through certain white neighborhoods. The grand jury also said that only three police departments in the county have any sort of civilian oversight. Two years later, the city agreed to pay $1.9 million to a construction worker shot in the neck by an officer during a 1988 traffic stop, and $1.1 million to a Carson man who claimed that officers broke his neck with a billy club. The city has doled out millions of dollars in recent years to settle lawsuits charging officers with everything from using excessive force to orchestrating massive cover-ups. Rollo Green--who, according to testimony, had a history of alcohol abuse--caused the death of Kelly Rastello, 19, of Long Beach, by making an illegal left-hand turn in front of the motorcyclist, jurors said. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. Torrance is no stranger to allegations of racist conduct by its police officers. Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer, Subject: RE: California Public Records Act Request: Torrance, CA PD Citizen Complaints. Additionally, they say, investigators allegedly reviewed confidential attorney-client messages on the phones as well as the officers medical information. 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For assistance They were stopped, they say, because two of them are black. According to district attorneys records reviewed by The Times, Concannon once sent a troubling text message referring to a deposition he gave in an officer-involved shooting., They believed our lies. Other departments include intentional and accidental shootings; others do not. Changes need to be made in the Torrance Police Department, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said this week in announcing an independent investigation into the text messages. The city indicated the forms previously only available at the Police Department can now be found in the City Clerks Office and City Hall lobby as well. Daniels said the officer approached him three days later at a local mall. Some individuals may be reluctant to file a complaint for fear of reprisal from the officer or officers they are complaining against or the police department itself, the grand jury report added. MuckRock is a non-profit collaborative news site that gives you the tools to keep our government transparent and accountable. Chief De Ladurantey said he receives as many citizen complaints from whites as minorities. Want the latest investigative and FOIA news? The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Torrance--as well as others against El Monte, Alhambra and Pomona--claiming that the police and fire departments discriminated against minorities during hiring. In court documents recently filed by the government, former officers--some of whom are minorities fired after probationary periods--said two epithetic slogans are commonly used within the department. This isnt just a lone wolf, this is a huge group.. Beverly Hills attorney Howard Price, who represented many of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, said Friday that the nature of the phone texts made it appear that racism was ingrained in the department. Public records in theCalifornia Public Records Actare defined as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the publics business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. There is a separate category of purely personal information that, although it may be in the custody of a government agency, does not fall under the act. The result: citations for a defective turn signal and a passenger not wearing a seat belt, both of which were later dismissed, the suit said. (Please list officer firearm discharge directed at a person separately from a shooting involving an animal and separately from accidental firearm discharges). In addition to Weldin, Tomsic and Chandler, The Times has reviewed district attorneys records detailing racist texts or images shared by six other police officers: Blake Williams, Brian Kawamoto, Joshua Satterfield, Omar Alonso, Christopher Allen-Young and Long Beach Police Officer Maxwell Schroeder, who is a former Torrance police recruit. At certain levels noises are During the struggle, Tomsic said, Ross tried to gain control of his gun, according to a district attorneys office memo clearing the officers of criminal liability. Rob Bonta said Wednesday his office will investigate the department in the wake of the scandal. Please include the number of officer-involved shootings resulting in discipline. In total, Torrance police have confirmed 15 officers were placed on administrative leave as a result of the scandal. Gascn said the texts are proof that some Torrance officers hate the communities they were hired to serve. It creates a tremendous amount of concern for me. Before they start complaining too loudly about how much it If you would like to file a formal complaint for an officer that is not yet listed, please contact us and we will add that individual immediately. The department has also hired an I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 25, 2017. LMAO, thats what they call a W.. And several jurors laid blame for an above-the-law attitude on then-Chief Donald E. Nash, who resigned a year and a half later, six months before his planned retirement. Several of the officers have also been named as defendants in lawsuits alleging excessive force, false arrest and wrongful death, court filings show. Gascn said he first became aware of the situation in July, when he was given a briefing about the pending vandalism charges. Two former Torrance police officers were charged with spray-painting a swastika inside of a residents car, and prosecutors are now reviewing hundreds of cases involving the ex-cops, officials said. And new officers, according to claims in the court papers, are often instructed by their training supervisors to stop and question black motorists without cause. Every time I turn around, somebody has a complaint against them, said Royce Esters, president of the Compton National Assn. Our members have a right to due process and should be protected from illegal and unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.. We catch em (criminals), and the community likes that.. Torrance was one of four cities surveyed that were not in compliance with that policy, which the state penal code requires. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, New: California Attorney General to investigate Torrance Police after racist text scandal, Ex-Torrance police officers charged with spray-painting swastika on car, How the theft of 44 firearms from an L.A. gun store exploded into an LAPD scandal. Mark KickbuschPolice Operations SupervisorRecords DivisionTorrance Police Department3300 Civic Centre DriveTorrance, CA, 90503E:
[email protected]P: 310-618-6347F: 310-618-2355. Within weeks, Torrance police provided the district attorneys office with more than 200 gigabytes of data, which showed the officers had been exchanging racist messages since at least 2018, according to Teran, the advisor to the district attorney. His work has been recognized by the National Headliner Club, the Associated Press Sports Editors, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, the Orange County Trial Lawyers Association and the Orange County Press Club. In Torrance, the Police and Fire Departments costs make up 65% of the citys general fund budget. 2. .Search for Guntersville, Marshall County, AL police and arrest records. A city of 137,000, Torrance had 12 homicides while nearby Inglewood, with 112,000 residents, had 45. Torrance also reported fewer rapes, robberies and other violent crimes. Katz, the former independent police auditor, described those statistics as concerningly low.. Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above. GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. . After years of such complaints, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating accusations of racist policing by Torrance, the countys third-largest police department. Still, in the span of one week in November, the Los Angeles County public defenders office received about 300 letters from prosecutors disclosing potential misconduct by officers implicated in the scandal, said Judith Green, an office spokeswoman. . According to a Times review of public records, Concannon has shot only one person during his career: Christopher DeAndre Mitchell. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers conducted a two-year investigation in the early 1990s into department racism that culminated in a 1993 lawsuit alleging job discrimination in the citys police and fire departments. Although the officers actions were found to be justified in each case, experts say those cases should be reexamined in the context of the hateful messages. The text messages were not on one continuous thread, according to two of the sources. And its not new., De Ladurantey flatly denies that his officers pull over motorists because of the color of their skin, but acknowledges that part of a police officers job is to sense deviation. The Times identified 13 officers in its investigation, including Tomsic, Weldin and Schroeder, meaning there are an additional five Torrance officers under investigation whose identities remain unknown to the public. The department has refused to identify them. WebServices include abandoned vehicle reporting/removal, adult fingerprinting, adult sexual assault prevention, business security evaluations, crime prevention, crime victim support, . Gen. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed. The department would not comment on citizen complaints against police beyond saying that it investigated 34 of them in 1993, sustaining 23. The proper administration of law enforcement can be insured only through a highly professional police agency which respects itself and earns the respect of the public. Torrance Police Department is notin compliancewith: This information has been curated by journalists andprivate citizens; and, this platform is available as-a-service to allPeace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments,Prosecutors, andLaw Enforcement Organizations [LEOrgs]. All the while, the city contended officers were innocent and that all the allegations were fabricated, including one that officers had squeezed the testicles of three teenage Latino detainees. We are aggressive, and sometimes we get some lawsuits, he said. Torrance recorded fewer violent crimes in 1993 than many neighboring cities of comparable size, according to the FBI. City officials report an exceptionally high level of public support for the departments practices, saying that politically conservative Torrance expects and even demands a hard-line approach to law enforcement. As such, we do not have access to facts of the underlying investigation, or the alleged inappropriate materials. We expect that as police officers, our members should be treated like any other citizen considered innocent until proven guilty, the union said in a statement. maybe its something else. Please feel free to try again. The City Council, in a 6-1 vote on March 15, voted against the proposed city survey, arguing that existing oversight measures will be enough to eradicate any misconduct systemic or otherwise in the police department. Some critics say the citys most recent vote against a survey is a show of the councils unwillingness to address the concerns of the Torrance community. Judge Amy Carter will decide whether to suppress evidence from the personal cellphones of ex-officers Corey Weldin and Christopher Tomsic. Its a deep-seated cultural problem, Price said. This is a prime example of running away from local control and accountability and trying to delegate to some people far away who arent a part of the community.. Pursuant to the California Public Records Act (California Government Code 6250), I hereby request the following records: We are Economics Professors in the College of Business at Ferris State University, and are engaged in an empirical research project on police behavior and citizen complaints. 3300 Civic Center Dr. Torrance Police Chief Joe De Ladurantey calls the boundary a geographic crust and freely acknowledges that his 249 officers patrol it aggressively.. The current administrative investigations are confidential. Torrance police sustained 35 out of 43 internally generated complaints of officer misconduct from 2016 to 2020, Ponegalek said. I am in receipt of your request and I am attempting to locate the information requested and will attempt to have it to you as soon as possible. Torrance Police Department What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your departments officers annually for the last 10 years? One of the suspects arrested there owned a Silver Hyundai Elantra parked on Maricopa. Johao Miguel Chavarri, 26, threatened the victims through social media platforms if they refused his request for explicit photos or videos. Minutes later, firefighters on scene noted Ross pulse was beginning to weaken. SB 2 would create a nine-member Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board within the existing Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). in which police officers believe a white boy traveling with two blacks is unusual, or an indication of potential crime., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Dramatic before and after photos from space show epic snow blanketing SoCal mountains, The chance of a lifetime: Five friends ski the tallest mountain in Los Angeles, Best coffee city in the world? Non-Emergency Police Response: (310) 618-5641 3300 Civic Center Drive, Torrance CA 90503 Animal Control: 310-618-3850 Community Affairs : 310-618-6392 Which one doesnt belong? the caption asked. We are located at: 3300 Civic Center Dr. Torrance, CA 90503, 3031 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503 | P: (310) 328-5310 | Contact | Login. Community Affairs: 310-618-6392. If you wish to file a formal complaint, it will be necessary for you to complete a personnel complaint form (provided below). Tice and five other party-goers settled a lawsuit against the city for $105,000. Grand jury investigation spurs Torrance to, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Grand jury investigation spurs Torrance to change police-complaint forms, Hermosa Beach Police arrest 2 men suspected in shooting attempt, LAPD union wants to hand nonviolent calls over to to unarmed responders, Lunafest returns as a live event in Redondo Beach on March 5, Retired LA Kings star Dustin Brown honored in Hermosa Beach, grand jury report titled Policing the Police, Alpine Village, for decades a German American hub, faces unknown future, Real snow falls at Disneyland not the fake soapy stuff, Is there a problem with paying cash for a car? When the jury returned with its massive award to the Rastello family, it said the department had a pattern and practice of whitewashing incidents of officer misconduct. According to their lawsuit, the students were driving through Torrance in a 1979 Chevrolet strewn with history and calculus texts. But theyve hit a snag, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, A $150,000 executive protection dog? Police officials say they were investigating Daniels claim and could not comment. Census figures at the same time said 1.7% of Torrance residents were black, 10% were Latino and 22% were Asian. Many of the officers under investigation as part of the scandal also have use-of-force histories involving the communities for which they expressed hatred. In the mid-1990s, Torrance was hit by a spate of civil rights lawsuits and complaints, including one that contended a Black employee found a hangmans noose dangling above his desk. Maybe its a taillight out . 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