Law Enforcement Officers Labor Relations

The Los Angeles police officers' union is accusing Chief Bernard C. Parks of illegally demoting officers who are the subject of past or pending disciplinary actions. In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Police Protective League charges Parks with violating officers' constitutional rights to due process. At issue is the LAPD's issuance of so-called Brady letters. Under a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Brady vs.

Longtime Ventura County sheriff's deputies--pushing for expanded retirement benefits--already are entitled to more pay in retirement than they earn on the job, a Times analysis shows. A 55-year-old deputy on the job for 30 years can retire now and take home $69,000 in annual retirement pay--106% of his or her active wages. And if the county Board of Supervisors agrees to the latest demand by the deputies union, that same officer would collect $79,000 a year, or 122% of base pay.

Rank-and-file officers of the Anaheim Police Department took to the streets outside Disneyland on Saturday to protest contract negotiations between the city and the police force. About 100 people, including officers, family and friends, joined the march. Police officers have been working without a contract since July, 1992, and have not had a pay raise since July, 1991. The officers are asking for a 10% pay raise divided over two years and additional officers.

Already facing a possible strike by one employee group, Ventura County supervisors are being hammered in an aggressive media campaign launched by sheriff's deputies also seeking better pay and benefits. But two weeks into a $40,000 barrage that includes ads in newspapers, radio and television, a public opinion poll and a financial audit, the deputies' hardball crusade to win over the public may be backfiring.

With almost half the Los Angeles police officers scheduled for midnight to 8 a.m. duty participating in a "blue flu" job action, city officials fought back Tuesday, winning a court order barring officers from continuing the controversial effort to win a pay raise. Dave Zeigler, president of the Police Protective League, said the union's estimated 7,000 members will abide by Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien's temporary restraining order and continue to work pending a Dec.

Former Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher, who headed the blue-ribbon commission on Los Angeles police abuse, has stepped into the city's charter debate to preserve the LAPD reforms he helped initiate. Adding his influential voice to the discussion of one of city government's most controversial topics, Christopher sent letters to the two charter reform commissions, saying he opposes a proposal that would change the way police officers are disciplined.

After nearly 10 months of failed negotiations, the City Council has voted to impose a new one-year contract on its 154-member police union, a decision that prompted officials of the Police Officers Assn. to consider a legal challenge of the new pact. The council voted 3-2 Tuesday to impose the contract on the police officers, who have been working without a pact since December. Much of the new deal is retroactive to Saturday.

The head of the police association on Monday sent city officials a letter declaring an impasse in salary negotiations and asking for third-party mediation. City Manager Kevin J. Murphy and Personnel Director Duane Munson said they do not believe negotiations have reached a standstill. However, both said they would consider non-binding arbitration, although such a process is unprecedented in the city's 22 years of labor negotiations.

One was fired for soliciting a bribe in the form of Dodger tickets; another for threatening to kill his wife and child. One was canned for committing "sex acts" on duty. Yet another was let go for running an illegal pyramid scheme. All in all, 29 Los Angeles Police Department officers have been terminated over the past 18 months, according to a report released Tuesday.

Long Beach Police Chief Lawrence Binkley's temporary removal from his post last week capped years of turmoil in a department that has been so rocked by controversy that it is in danger of being disbanded. Binkley and Assistant Chief Eugene Brizzolara are under investigation after in-house complaints that are swirling around the chief's authoritarian management style, which has so badly demoralized the troops that officers took to scrawling obscene graffiti about him on bathroom walls.

Santa Paula police officers, who began working without a contract Tuesday, have sued the city to force their labor dispute before an arbitration panel. The filing of the lawsuit in Ventura County Superior Court follows months of stalled contract negotiations. The officers are seeking better retirement benefits and a pay hike of 5% annually over three years, saying they want to close a salary gap between their department and other law enforcement agencies in Ventura County.

After six months of contract negotiations with the county, the Ventura County Deputy Sheriffs' Assn. has declared an impasse and agreed to enter into binding arbitration. The union's 800 members have worked without a contract since Jan. 1. Under arbitration, both sides agree to allow a neutral third party to rule on issues of contention. It is unclear how long the process will take.

A bitter labor clash in Huntington Beach took a new turn Tuesday when city negotiators said a $200-a-month deduction in police pay is needed to cover medical expenses but officers called the move an unexpected and unappreciated pay cut. Police said the deduction is being used to bail out the city's "failing" health care plan, but city leaders counter that officers were well aware of the monthly deduction and that the city's medical plan is sound.

The Los Angeles police officers' union is accusing Chief Bernard C. Parks of illegally demoting officers who are the subject of past or pending disciplinary actions. In a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday, the Police Protective League charges Parks with violating officers' constitutional rights to due process. At issue is the LAPD's issuance of so-called Brady letters. Under a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as Brady vs.

The union representing the Los Angeles Police Department's more than 8,000 officers filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block the implementation of a federal consent decree on reforming the LAPD. The petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks to prevent the City Council from approving the consent decree without including the Los Angeles Police Protective League in its discussions with the U.S. Department of Justice.

City officials said they will meet today with representatives of the Huntington Beach Police Officers Assn. and a state mediator to resolve an impasse in ongoing labor negotiations. After more than three months of negotiations, talks stalled Sept. 19. The parties agreed a week later to bring in a state mediator to help get negotiations back on track. Today's meeting begins at 1 p.m., city officials said. The city is offering a 10.

A wide majority of Los Angeles residents approves of the pay raise that was ratified by the police union last week--a vote of confidence that apparently reflects the public's increasingly positive view of the long-embattled force, the Los Angeles Times Poll has found. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed said they back the pay hike for officers, which could amount to as much as 12% over 18 months. But much of the support for the raise is conditional.

Longtime Ventura County sheriff's deputies--pushing for expanded retirement benefits--already are entitled to more pay in retirement than they earn on the job, a Times analysis shows. A 55-year-old deputy on the job for 30 years can retire now and take home $69,000 in annual retirement pay--106% of his or her active wages. And if the county Board of Supervisors agrees to the latest demand by the deputies union, that same officer would collect $79,000 a year, or 122% of base pay.

With a 4-1 vote, the City Council on Tuesday approved a three-year contract with police officers. The contract provides an 8.5% salary increase and improved health benefits, plus a 50% increase in retirement benefits. Councilman Mark Leyes voted against the contract, saying the retirement benefit increase is "too generous for Garden Grove, which is traditionally underfunded." Information: (714) 741-5000.

Just two months since approving $500,000 in raises for police, Garden Grove officials and union representatives are again at the bargaining table negotiating new contracts for 2000. After almost a year of bitter negotiations, the City Council gave a 5% raise to rank-and-file officers and a 3% increase to sergeants in February, both on top of a 5% increase approved earlier in the year.