Document - USA (California): Update on police brutality

USA

California: Update on Police Brutality

In the past year, Amnesty International has raised concerns with California law enforcement authorities across the state about deaths in custody, questionable shootings, the use of OC pepper spray, electro- shock belts and other issues. While the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) have instituted significant reforms over the past few years, problems remain, and there are reports of excessive force in many other California police departments which have not been subject to the same levels of ongoing scrutiny. A summary of key concerns, reported in the press, by local human rights groups and in cases looked into by the organization, are given below.

RACIAL PROFILING

In June 1999 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a civil lawsuit against the California Highway Patrol (CHP) alleging that they were operating a systematic program of racial profiling in stopping drivers on suspicion of drug trafficking [1]. The ACLU is also collecting statewide data - partly through a complaints "hotline"- which they say indicates a pattern of discriminatory police stops of racial minorities (including Blacks, Latinos and Asians) throughout California. A bill which would require California law enforcement agencies to help prevent racism by tracking the race or ethnicity of motorists stopped by the police was passed overwhelmingly by the state legislature earlier this month. However, the bill (SB 78) has yet to be signed by Governor Davis, and a similar bill, passed in 1998, was vetoed by the last governor. Amnesty International believes that the mandatory collection of such data is an important step towards identifying, and thereby eliminating, discrimination in a crucial area of law enforcement. It is therefore joining other civil rights organizations in urging Governor Davis to sign the legislation into law.

Meanwhile, 33 California law enforcement agencies, including the San José and San Diego police departments, are reported to have set up their own systems for monitoring the ethnicity of motorists stopped by police. The San José scheme was reportedly introduced for a period of one year, starting in June 1999, with the preliminary results to be reviewed after six months.

POLICE SHOOTINGS

There are reports of unjustified police shootings - overwhelmingly of racial or ethnic minorities - across the state. In many instances, police actions appear to violate international standards which require that force should be used only when strictly necessary and designed to minimize damage or injury, and that deadly force should be used only when unavoidable in order to protect life. Cases include mentally disturbed or suicidal individuals shot while engaged in acts of self-harm or threatening behaviour, whose behaviour did not appear to merit the use of lethal force. Unarmed suspects have been shot while fleeing non-violent crime scenes or after routine traffic stops.

In some cases public concern has prompted action from police authorities and the federal Justice Department has increased its civil rights investigations. Many cases, however, reflect longstanding and persistent patterns of concern. They include the following:

1. The US Justice Department has opened a detailed investigation into the Riverside Police Department following allegations of a pattern of excessive force and discriminatory treatment of minorities. Cases which prompted the inquiry include the fatal shooting in December 1998 of a 19-year-old African American woman Tyisha Miller, who was shot 12 times by four white Riverside police officers as she sat apparently unconscious in her locked car with a gun in her lap (the officers fired a total of 23 shots into her car after breaking the window). Allegations were also made that officers sent to the scene uttered racial slurs. The officers were cleared of criminal wrongdoing by the local District Attorney but were fired by the police chief in July 1999 for violating departmental policy, following a sustained outcry and demonstrations in the community.

2. In July 1999, the US Attorney in Los Angeles announced that his office was establishing a special task force of civil rights attorneys to deal with an increase in complaints of civil rights violations by law enforcement officials. At the time of writing, the office was investigating at least a dozen police shootings in seven counties in Southern California, including Los Angeles County.

3. In May 1999 Margaret Mitchell, an elderly, mentally ill African American woman was shot dead by an LAPD officer after allegedly threatening an officer with a screw driver. Amnesty International has written to the department expressing concern that the shooting was disproportionate to the threat posed and seeking information on whether the LAPD has introduced any special measures for dealing with the mentally disturbed. (No response has been received to date.) The shooting is one of many reports of police use of excessive force in the case of mentally disturbed individuals in California.

4. Cases of police firing at unarmed suspects in vehicles or at the end of pursuits -a problem highlighted by the ACLU three years ago [2]. - continue to be reported. Jose Campos was shot dead by an officer from the Santa Ana Police Department, Orange County, in December 1998 when he tried to drive off after being stopped on suspicion of driving a stolen car. The officer, who reportedly fired directly into the car striking Campos in the head, was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in May 1999. Civil rights groups expressed concern that he had remained on active patrol duty pending the investigation, despite having been named in two prior lawsuits alleging excessive force [3]. (According to press reports, there have been some 80 police shootings in Orange County in the past 10 years, none of which has resulted in any officers being prosecuted.)

5. Another disturbing case was that of 17-year-old Filipino teenager Sheila Detoy, who was shot dead in May 1998 by San Francisco police who fired into the car in which she was a passenger, after her boyfriend tried to reverse away from police who had blocked his driveway. Other cases include the October 1998 shooting of John Smart, an unarmed advertising executive, shot four times by San Francisco police when, they said, he drove his car at them to evade questioning; the July 1999 fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Alameda County by sheriff's deputies who reportedly opened fire after blocking him in at the end of a brief car chase [4]; and the fatal shooting the same month of a motorist in Richmond who tried to drive off when stopped for speeding by a California Highway Patrol officer. The fatal shooting of African American teenager, Irvin Landrum, during a traffic stop in January this year has also caused widespread local concern.

6. The LAPD's Special Investigations Section (SIS) - an undercover crime squad which has long been criticized for allegedly forcing suspects into confrontations in which they are shot rather than arrested - was involved in another controversial shooting in August 1999 [5]. SIS detectives reportedly watched two suspects steal from a travel agency, then followed their car to a driveway where they boxed them in with unmarked police vehicles. Four officers opened fire when they said the two men - neither of whom were armed - appeared to be reaching for guns in their waistbands. One of the robbers was reportedly hit in the back and another in the neck and chest as he tried to crawl out of his car window. More than a dozen wrongful death lawsuits have been lodged against the SIS in recent years with substantial damages being paid in some cases [6]. The case is currently under federal investigation.

7. California police officers appear to have fired their weapons unnecessarily in other cases, sometimes discharging multiple rounds. For example, in July 1999 Demetrius DuBose, a former professional football player, died after being shot 11 times by San Diego police, including 6 times in the back, allegedly after resisting arrest on suspicion of a burglary. In February 1999 Los Angeles sheriff's deputies reportedly fired 38 shots, killing Ricardo Clos, a suicidal man who had cut himself in the neck and had thrown the knife towards them. Amnesty International wrote to the LASD noting that police had first tried to subdue him with nonlethal weapons (bean bags and pepper spray) but questioning the levels of force used in the case. The March 1998 shooting of Michael Arnold, who was struck by 106 police bullets after behaving irrationally and allegedly waving an air pistol, was recently criticized by the San Bernardino County coroner Frank Sheridan as "an extraordinary case of overkill" and "incredible".

8. In August 1999 a SWAT team [7] from the El Monte Police Department burst into the home of a Mexican immigrant family in an early morning narcotics raid and shot dead Mario Paz, a 65-year-old unarmed man, in his bedroom (he was reportedly shot twice in the back); no drugs were found and the name on the search warrant did not correspond to any of those of the family [8]. The case is one of several controversial shootings involving the El Monte police in the past year.

9. Other agencies where there has been concern about police shootings include the San José Police Department, where six fatal shootings occurred from January to July 1999 resulted in the highest annual total in ten years. In April 1999 the city and police department announced that they would create a new panel to review all police shootings, which would include the civilian complaints auditor and the city attorney. The findings in individual cases, however, were to remain internal, although any resulting policy changes would be made public.

10. The high rate of police shootings of mentally disturbed or suicidal individuals in Ventura County has led to recent meetings being held between county law enforcement and mental health agencies to consider solutions[9]. One proposal is to implement the so-called "Memphis Plan", originally introduced in Memphis, Tennessee, in which specially selected regular officers would form 24-hour crisis response teams, trained by mental health professionals to deal with people undergoing mental health crises and to defuse situations. The Ventura County Mental Health Board has told Amnesty International that the Memphis scheme will initially be introduced in the cities of Oxnard and Ventura and one other city, as yet undecided. Amnesty International is currently seeking information on whether other California police agencies have adopted, or are considering, similar measures.

CRUEL AND DANGEROUS RESTRAINT PROCEDURES

The LAPD banned hogtying in 1997 after dozens of custody deaths of hogtied suspects since the 1980s, but some other departments have continued to use this form of restraint, and at least two deaths have been reported in the past 12 months. The San José Police Department banned the procedure after Brandon Scott Auger died after being placed in a "Total Appendage Restraint Procedure" (TARP) - a form of hogtie - in September 1998. The Department told Amnesty International in August 1999 that it had replaced the procedure with a new device known as "The Wrap" in which vertical splints and canvas are wrapped round both legs of a combative subject to allow safer transport. Dwayne Nelson is another suspect reported to have died in September 1998 after being placed in the TARP by LASD deputies transporting him to jail.

Deaths have also resulted from suspects being placed in other dangerous restraint holds and/or subjected to excessive physical force, including a case in LA County Jail (see below). In January 1999, a mentally disturbed man, Danny Dunn, died in Kern County Jail after being physically restrained by three deputies who knelt on him, pepper-sprayed him and twice placed him in choke holds. The autopsy report established the cause of death as internal bleeding from a torn liver due to "compressive trauma to the abdomen". He also suffered multiple rib fractures. Amnesty International has called for a full inquiry into his death [10].

In March 1999 Amnesty International wrote to the Sacramento County authorities, calling on them to ban the use of a four-point restraint chair in Sacramento County Jail following reports of more than a dozen cases over two years involving the torture and ill-treatment of jail detainees strapped into the chair by Sacramento sheriff's deputies. Cases include a woman held naked and hooded in the chair in full view of male guards for more than 8 hours and detainees threatened with electro-shocks while strapped into the chair [11].The chair was used to punish inmates for mildly challenging behaviour or for complaining about their treatment; in one case a man was strapped for five hours in the chair for asking for his lawyer. No response has been received from the authorities to Amnesty International's letters of concern. The chair remains in use in the jail although the Sheriff has reportedly tightened its procedures. Other cases of torture or ill-treatment of suspects held in the restraint chair have been reported across the USA.

STUN BELTS

Remote-controlled electro- shock stun belts - devices Amnesty International believes are inherently cruel, inhuman or degrading - are used by law enforcement agencies in at least 18 counties in California to restrain prisoners during transportation and in courtrooms [12]. In January 1999, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction barring the belt for use in courts in Los Angeles County, after it was activated against defendant Ronnie Hawkins on the orders of a judge whom he had repeatedly interrupted during his June 1998 sentencing hearing. The federal court ruled that the "chilling effect" of the fear of being subjected to the pain of a 50,000 volt jolt of electricity could deter a defendant from properly participating in his defence. Amnesty International submitted an amicus brief in support of Hawkins' contention that activation of the belt in his case constituted torture in violation of international law. An appeal by Los Angeles County against the ruling was pending at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the stun belt remains in use in other California jurisdictions, where at least two other defendants have reportedly had the stun belt activated against them [13].

OC SPRAY

Amnesty International remains concerned by the use of Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) pepper spray, which is widely used by California law enforcement agencies. Although police agencies have defended use of the spray as a safer alternative to batons or other impact weapons, deaths of suspects subjected to OC spray continue to be reported. Cases include Daniel Ramirez who died in June 1999 some 30 minutes after LAPD police sprayed him with OC spray and restrained him with handcuffs. The cause of death was given as "asphyxia" and "cocaine intoxication" with manner of death an "accident". (Amnesty International is currently seeking further details on this case.)

In 1995 the ACLU of Southern California reported that 26 people had died in California after being pepper sprayed by police between January 1993 and June 1995 [14]. Although none of the deaths had been directly attributed to OC spray, the ACLU pointed to the lack of adequate studies and the potential health risks involved, particularly when the spray is used in combination with other restraints or on people with underlying medical conditions.

The ACLU study was based in part on statistics collected by the California Department of Justice, which required all law enforcement agencies in the state to report on deaths or injuries involving OC spray. Yet, disturbingly, the department has ceased collecting such data. In July 1999, Amnesty International urged Attorney General Lockyer to "institute an effective, statewide reporting and monitoring system for the use of OC spray ... so that standards and practices can be regularly reviewed". Amnesty International reiterated its call for law enforcement agencies to either cease using the spray or to impose strict limitations on and monitor its use, pending an independent national inquiry [15]. No response has been received to date.

Amnesty International is also concerned about the use of OC spray against non-violent demonstrators in California. Cases include police spraying OC spray at close range into faces of student protesters occupying a university hall in Berkeley in April 1997; and Humboldt County Sheriff's officers deliberately swabbing OC soaked pads directly on the eyes of non-violent environmental protesters in 1997 and 1998, treatment Amnesty International has condemned as "tantamount to torture". In October a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by the protesters on the grounds that the procedure caused only "transient pain", a decision which is under appeal. Meanwhile, in December 1998, the federal authorities cleared Humboldt County officers of violating federal criminal civil rights laws in their action, a decision criticized by civil rights activists.

MISUSE OF POLICE DOGS

Amnesty International has received disturbing reports of police dogs being used to maul suspects unnecessarily in several California police departments. In February 1999 Roy Lynn Weeaks suffered severe injuries (including a nearly severed penis) when bitten in the groin by a police dog attached to the Bakersfield Police Department. The police claim Weeaks was running away when the handler released the dog, but witnesses are reported to have said he had surrendered and was lying face-down on the ground when police ordered the dog to bite him. Unresisting suspects have also been bitten by police dogs from the Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department. In one case a mentally disturbed woman suspected of killing her child sustained serious injuries after being mauled by a police dog as she lay, apparently unconscious, in a motel room. A police report confirms that the dog was not called off until after she was placed in handcuffs. The LAPD is reported to have seen a drop in dog bite injuries after changing their policies from "find and bite" to "guard and bark" in the early 1990s, policies apparently not followed by all departments. Amnesty International is seeking information on the canine policies of the above-mentioned departments [16].

GAY MEN ALLEGEDLY HARASSED

Amnesty International has received allegations of selective enforcement of laws and alleged "entrapment" of members of the gay community in various US jurisdictions, including in California. At the time of writing Amnesty International was seeking information on claims that gay men in Estancia, California, have been unfairly targeted for arrest and charged with lewd conduct. According to a US monitoring organization, reported police entrapment incidents increased in 1998 [17].

LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT

The LAPD (the largest urban police agency in California) has undergone both structural and operational reforms since the Christopher Commission reported on a serious problem of excessive force and lack of accountability in the early 1990s. According to information released by the LAPD in October 1998, officer-involved shootings declined by 22% during the previous five years and non-lethal uses of force by 15.7% [18].Payouts by the city in civil lawsuits for police misconduct have also fallen (at least to March 1998), although remaining substantial [19]. The Inspector General, appointed in 1995 to monitor the complaints and disciplinary process, remained critical of aspects of the department, however, in particular its failure to monitor or track officers involved in repeated complaints of misconduct. Since 1998, the department has reportedly attempted to rectify this by introducing a new system for tracking and recording complaints against the police, whether generated by the public or internally. In July 1999, Amnesty International wrote to the LAPD seeking information on the type and number of complaints filed since the system was introduced and the disposition of cases. It also sought information on whether the department actively monitors civil lawsuits or claims filed. No response has yet been received.

There continue to be some problems, as illustrated by several controversial shootings (see above). In May 1999, the US Civil Rights Commission issued a report of its investigation (begun in 1993) into both the LAPD and the LASD. One of its recommendations was for a special prosecutor to be created in Los Angeles to replace the local District Attorney (DA) in police abuse cases, citing the DA's poor record in prosecuting such cases and the possible conflict of interest (a recommendation which has been described as unfounded by both the police and the DA's office but which has support from some civil rights organizations). It also criticized the LAPD for failing to deal strongly enough with the "code of silence" among officers. It commended the LAPD for improving training and diversity but pointed out that the LAPD still fell short of its goal of recruiting 40% female officers.

There has also been conflict over the role and powers of the Inspector General. The first Inspector General, Katherine Mader, resigned in November 1998 after reportedly being critical of the lack of support from the Police Commission for her aggressive investigation of the department and of LAPD restriction of her access to records.

LOS ANGELES COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT

For the past five years, an independent special counsel, Merrick Bobb, has been monitoring reforms instituted by the LASD (the largest sheriff's agency in the USA) since the Kolts report in 1992 found a pattern of excessive force by deputies on the street and in the county jail. Bobb's twice-yearly reports have noted some significant improvements, particularly in the monitoring and investigation of complaints - although he has been critical of a failure to impose adequate discipline in some substantiated cases of excessive force.

In his last report in February 1999, Bobb noted that new force-related lawsuits served for LASD misconduct for 1997-1998 were at an all-time low. There were also fewer shootings in 1998 where a deputy intentionally fired and hit a suspect than in any year since 1991 (total shootings dropped from 55 in 1997 to 36 in 1998).

However, problems continue to be reported in Century Station which in 1994 took over an area formerly covered by the (now defunct) Lynwood and Firestone LASD stations. (A 1990 class-action lawsuit filed against a group of officers from the Lynwood station for racially motivated shootings beatings and other excessive force was settled in 1995 for $7.5m.) Bobb noted that deputies from Century were responsible for a disproportionate number of the department's shootings and criticized the LASD for placing its youngest, most inexperienced deputies in the station, despite the challenges posed by this relatively high-crime district. There have also been repeated allegations that some deputies from the area have formed self-styled gangs with their own macho insignia - a concern which the US Civil Rights Commission has called on the US Justice Department to investigate.

There have also been longstanding problems in the Los Angeles County jail (the largest jail system in the country housing more than 20,000 inmates daily) also operated by the LASD. Some general improvements in the treatment of mentally ill detainees in the jail have been reported, following the opening of a new mental health unit in the Twin Towers jail. However, in 1998 there were disturbing allegations of guard brutality. The death of a mentally ill inmate, Danny Smith, during a struggle with guards on 1 August 1998 was ruled a "homicide" by the coroner who recorded that "probable positional asphyxia" was a contributing factor in his death. Inmate witnesses alleged he was beaten while handcuffed. In September 1998 the Sheriff announced that he had suspended a group of "rogue deputies" at the jail for beating another mentally ill inmate on 10 August 1998. The LASD has since installed audio and video equipment in the cell blocks at Twin Towers. A request by Amnesty International's Secretary General to tour the jail when he was in Los Angeles in October 1998 was denied. Amnesty International continues to seek information on the treatment of jail inmates.

The term of office of the Special Counsel for the LASD is due to expire on 31 December 1999. After that there will be no systematic external monitoring of the department. In its May 1999 report (see above), the US Commission on Civil Rights called upon the County Board of Supervisors to establish a civilian review board with power to investigate and adjudicate complaints of misconduct. Most large city police departments in California are reported to have some form of external review body [20]. No action has been taken on this proposal, to Amnesty International's knowledge.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In its Rights for All campaign, Amnesty International made a series of detailed recommendations to the federal government and to local and state authorities to combat police brutality. These are listed in Rights for All, AMR 51/35/98, published October 1998 and in its most recent report Race, Rights and Police Brutality, September 1999, AMR 51/147/99. Amnesty International's specific recommendations to the authorities in California include the following:

11. Governor Davis should pass SB 78 mandating the collection of racial and ethnic data on traffic stops at the earliest opportunity

12. All California police agencies should review their policies and practices and ensure that their use of force and firearms conforms fully to international standards which require that force should be used only as a last resort and should be designed to minimize damage and injury, and that deadly force should be used only when there are no alternatives to protect life. Departments should tighten their procedures, limiting the use of deadly force in certain high-risk situations, such as during vehicle pursuits or at the end of chases and ensure that these policies are strictly enforced.

13. All police agencies should develop programs for minimizing the use of force in the case of mentally ill or disturbed individuals.

14. Police agencies should review their canine policies, to ensure that these conform to best practice and are designed to minimize any unnecessary injury to suspects.

15. The Attorney General should establish an effective statewide reporting and monitoring system for the use of OC spray by California law enforcement agencies, including but not limited to cases of deaths and injuries and reports of abusive or unnecessary use of the spray, so that standards and practices can be regularly reviewed.

16. Agencies which continue to use OC spray should introduce strict limitations on its use. OC spray should not be used against non-violent suspects or demonstrators and its use should conform to international standards which require that force should be used only as a last resort, be proportionate to the threat posed and be designed to minimize damage and injury.

17. Hogtying, choke holds and other dangerous restraint techniques and electro-shock stun belts should be banned for use by law enforcement agencies.

18. There should be effective, independent oversight of all police agencies, and regular public reporting on incidences of force, including deadly force and on the results of inquiries into allegations of human rights abuses by law enforcement officials.

****

(1) The case was brought by the ACLU and a San Francisco law firm in the case of Curtis Rodriguez, a Latino lawyer stopped by police in June 1999 and kept for an hour before being released without a citation. He noticed other Latino drivers being pulled over on the same stretch of highway.

(2) See ACLU Foundation of Southern California: Not Just Isolated Incidents: The epidemic of police pursuits in Southern California(cited in Rights for All, p. 28 AI Index:AMR51/35/98).

(3) In response to a letter of concern from Amnesty International, The Santa Ana Police Department told AI in August 1999 that it was unable to comment specifically on the work status of the officer during the grand jury investigation due to confidentiality laws, and said that a police administrative investigation was still ongoing. The department's shooting policies state that an officer shall not discharge a firearm at or from a moving vehicle except as the "ultimate measure of self-defense or defense of another when the suspect is using deadly force other than the vehicle" and that, if the vehicle is the deadly force, use of a firearm is discouraged unless it reasonably appears there is no other safe and viable alternative.

(4) San Francisco Chronicle, July 27, 1999.

(5) See Rights for Allp. 31.

(6) The officers in all cases have reportedly been cleared of wrongdoing by the police administrative inquiries, although two remain under federal investigation. Nine civil actions filed on behalf of victims in SIS shooting cases are still pending.

(7) Special Weapons and Tactics, special paramilitary police units used by a number of US police departments to tackle urban terrorism and, increasingly, narcotics crimes.

(8) Reports by Anne-Marie O'Connor in Los Angeles Times 26, 27 and 28 August 1999.

(9) A Mental Health Board spokesperson told AI that Ventura County in recent years had experienced a higher rate of "suicide by cop" incidents (a phenomenon in which severely depressed individuals allegedly provoke police to shoot them) than in other parts of California.

(10) More details of this case and AI's concerns are given in AI Report: Race, Rights and Police Brutality,September 1999 (AI Index: AMR51/147/99).

(11) This case and other cases of women tortured or ill-treated while in the chair are described in USA:"Not Part of My Sentence", Violations of Women in Custody (AI Index: AMR 51/01/99). Nine of the alleged victims (male and female) were awarded $755,000 in damages by the County in settlement of their lawsuit in February 1999.

(12) See AI report: Cruelty in Control:( The Stun Belt and Other Electro-Shock Equipment in Law Enforcement, AI Index: AMR 51/54/99,June 1999). AI believes that wearing the stun belt (which delivers a 50,000 volt causing severe pain at the push of a button) is per secruel, inhuman or degrading treatment as the prisoner is under constant fear of the possibility of a severe shock being administered at any moment, for reasons over which he or she may have no control. It has called for a total ban on stun belts by law enforcement and for all other electro-shock weapons to be suspended following an independent inquiry into their use and effects.

(13) Brian Hill in Oakland in 1998 and Wendell Harrison in Kern County in 1996. Harrison, who reportedly had not displayed any aggressive behaviour, told AI that deputies in court taunted him with the threat of activating the belt the day before a bailiff actually shocked him with the belt just outside the courtroom.

(14) ACLU of Southern California: Pepper Spray Update: More Fatalities, More Questions, June 1995.

(15) Letter from Javier Zúñiga, Americas Program Director, July 7 1999. The letter cited several cases of concern in California, including the June 1997 death in San Quentin of Sammy Marshall after being repeatedly sprayed in his cell.

(16) AI's request for information to the Bakersfield Police Department on the Weeaks case and the department's canine policies was passed to the city attorney who declined to provide any details on the ground that the information was "protected" under state law. The deputy city attorney later agreed to see what parts of the policy could be made public and to provide this to AI, but no information has been received to date.

(17) Committee United Against Violence (CUAV) report 1998 (cited in Race, Rights and Police Brutality, September 1999).

(18) Research by Amnesty International in late 1997 also found a decline in Use of Force incidents, matching a fall in crime, but noted that the proportion of cases in which force was used remained the same; however, injuries were also down.

(19) In the year to March 1998 the city paid out $8.5m in police misconduct cases compared to $18m in 1992-1993.

(20) The LASD has an Ombudsman whose role is limited to looking into individual complaints if a complainant is not satisfied but has no general oversight powers and does not publish reports.