Maywood PD Follow-up

[PapaBear]

"THE Maywood Police Department — a 37-man force that patrols a gritty square-mile city south of downtown Los Angeles — has become a haven for misfit cops who have been pushed out of other law enforcement agencies for crimes or serious misconduct.

Among those on the job: A former Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy terminated for abusing jail inmates; a onetime Los Angeles Police Department officer fired for intimidating a witness; and an ex-Huntington Park officer charged with negligently shooting a handgun and driving drunk.

Other officers were hired by Maywood after flunking out of training programs elsewhere, a Times investigation has found.

In all, at least a third of the officers on the force have either left other police jobs under a cloud or have had brushes with the law while working for Maywood. Several officers in recent years have left Maywood after being convicted of crimes.

Even the newly appointed police chief has a checkered past: He was convicted of beating his girlfriend and resigned from the El Monte Police Department before he could be fired. His conviction was later overturned on appeal because the defense was not allowed to exclude a juror who had previously worked with domestic violence victims. He was ultimately convicted of a lesser charge of making a verbal threat. ..."

Read the entire article here:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...home-headlines)

At least they knocked CHP out of the headlines for the weekend.:noidea:

[AyatollahGondola]

Maywood city council has turned this city into a break-away, third world community governed by fiat. They declared themselves a sanctuary city for illegal aliens and dictated that their police department stop enforcing traffic laws so that illegal aliens (and anyone else for that matter) would not have their cars impounded according to state law. Our group held a protest of their policies recently, and a few of the officers we encountered were not too supportive of city council's decisions either. for one, just changing the city charter structure worried some of them over their retirement entitlements.
I could see where things like this would make it difficult to recruit top quality people to work there

[ORI# 1976]

My best friend works for Maywood PD, and from my first hand observations, there are alot of hard working guys at Maywood. They still continue to due some great police work even with zero city support.

About a year ago, the city ordered the PD to disband the traffic division and told the officers that "if a vehicle was impounded for 30 days (14602.6(a) CVC) within the city of Maywood, that officer would receive strict disipline." How a "city" can justify telling an officer not to enforce a California Vehicle Code leaves me clueless. :hitwall:

[PapaBear]

Maywood police reforms promised

Acting chief responds to a Times investigation into officers with troubling records.
By Scott Glover and Matt Lait, Times Staff Writers
April 2, 2007


The city of Maywood's interim police chief Sunday announced a series of reforms aimed at improving background checks of potential new officers and ensuring better investigations into police misconduct.

Chief Richard J. Lyons unveiled the changes after a Times investigation published Sunday disclosed that the Maywood Police Department had become a haven for misfit officers pushed out of other agencies for crimes or serious misconduct.

"In response to recent public scrutiny, the Maywood Police Department is in the process of implementing changes," Lyons said in a prepared statement.

The Times story also revealed that a lieutenant in charge of internal affairs said some citizen complaints are handled "casually" in the lobby of the police station instead of being investigated; that officers accept free meals from area restaurants; and that officers carry leather-wrapped, lead-filled hand weapons, known as saps, which have been prohibited by many other agencies because of the brutal injuries they can inflict.

Some officers were hired by Maywood after flunking out of training programs elsewhere.

Lyons addressed several of the allegations in his Sunday statement.

"Areas of departmental policy that have been reviewed include, but are not limited to, internal affairs investigations, background investigations and the use of a sap as an impact weapon," he said.

Lyons said the department "will utilize a reputable private investigations firm" to conduct future background checks of officer candidates.

"Although there is no perfect system for background investigations, the department is confident changes … will raise the standard for future applicants," Lyons said.

The chief also said the department had stopped conducting internal affairs probes and was also turning that job over to a private investigations firm.

The Maywood Police Department has 37 officers and patrols a square-mile city of 30,000 residents south of downtown Los Angeles. It also contracts its services to the nearby city of Cudahy. In recent months, critics have accused the department of being corrupt and heavy-handed.

The Los Angeles County district attorney, the state attorney general and the FBI have active probes into Maywood's department.

"The Maywood Police Department is committed to professionalism and has been fully cooperative with the Los Angeles County district attorney's office and the California state attorney general's office," Lyons said. "The public should view the Maywood Police Department as a whole and note the positive and hard work performed by officers on a daily basis."

The Times investigation revealed that at least a third of the officers on the Maywood force had either left other police jobs under a cloud or had brushes with the law since going to work for Maywood.

Among those currently on the job: a former L.A. County sheriff's deputy terminated for abusing jail inmates, an ex-LAPD officer fired for intimidating a witness and a former Huntington Park officer charged with negligently shooting a handgun and driving drunk.

Even Lyons has a criminal past. He was convicted of beating his girlfriend and resigned from the El Monte Police Department before going to Maywood. The conviction was later overturned on appeal because the defense was not allowed to exclude a juror who had worked with domestic violence victims. Lyons ultimately was convicted of a lesser offense of making a verbal threat.

In an interview before publication of Sunday's story, Lyons was asked about Maywood's reputation in law enforcement circles as a "second chance" department.

"It's OK to give a person a second chance if you learn from your mistake," Lyons said.

Maywood City Councilman Sam Peña said that before reading the Times article, he had not known the department had so many officers with checkered pasts.

"I was surprised, to say the least," Peña said. "The thing that's going through my mind is what was the police administration thinking when they allowed these people to go through. That's what I want to know. And that's what I'm going to be asking."

scott.glover@latimes.com

matt.lait@latimes.com

[x MAIT]

Personally, I would find if very difficult to take any story published in the LA Times as being accurate and factual. As I have mentioned here before, while working in Southern MAIT and trying to get the Times to correct a story they published about a CHP Officer killed in a traffic collision, I was told that they were more interested in getting the story than in getting the story right. I have found that the most accurate portions of the LA Times are the sports scores because I can verify them via the net, and they also seem to get the page numbers correct. Otherwise,..........:cool: