To the editor: The Los Angeles Times reports that the L.A. police sustained just three of 4,878 bias allegations over a decade (“Thousands of complaints, few punished: How LAPD handles claims of racial bias,” July 24). Either the Los Angeles Police Department has achieved near-human perfection, or its system is remarkably good at finding nothing wrong.
The consequences are not merely institutional or theoretical. In just two fiscal years, Los Angeles paid more than $543 million in liability claims, settlements and judgments, with a large portion of that sum coming from cases involving police. That is money not spent on firefighters, street repairs, animal services or other essential public needs.
Los Angeles should stop pretending these payouts are simply the cost of doing business. Officers themselves often know which colleagues habitually cross lines, frighten partners or appear to be unraveling. The city should give every sworn officer a safe, confidential way to identify potential threats, then investigate patterns rather than dismissing each allegation in isolation.
Due process must remain intact. But silence should not be the city’s most expensive policy.
Gary K. Michelson, Brentwood
This writer is founder, president and chair of the Michelson Center for Public Policy and International Affairs, a social welfare organization that aims to propel legislative change.