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.
Known among law enforcement circles as a department of "second chances," Maywood's police department is one of nearly 50 independent police agencies in Los Angeles County. The department, whose officers are mainly white and Latino, serves a densely populated city of roughly 30,000 that is 96% Latino. There are no women or African Americans on the force, which also patrols the nearby town of Cudahy.
"Are there things that are bad in our department? I would venture to say that there are," said Maywood City Councilman Samuel Pena. "But I think you would find bad things in other departments if you looked closely at them.... There are bad apples in every department."
Although Maywood's police department has rarely been in the news, in part because it is dwarfed by the nearby LAPD and county sheriff's department, allegations of corruption and brutality have thrust it and city officials into the spotlight in recent months.
