Whistleblowing, a.k.a. Lamplighting - Long Beach, California
Dr. Kardasz: The following story alleging retaliation against Whistleblowers, a.k.a. lamplighters, from the Long Beach, California Police Department is interesting. For more information about Whistleblowing see my page: http://www.kardasz.org/Whistle_Blowing.html
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Beyond `Lobstergate'
Police: Officers say their lawsuit speaks to deeper issues of leadership in LBPD.
By Tracy Manzer, Staff writer, Long Beach Press Telegram
10/21/2006
Long Beach, California - For the officers who blew the whistle on fellow Long Beach cops allegedly caught diving for lobsters while patrolling the Port of Long Beach, the problem runs much deeper than unauthorized fishing trips.
For Sgt. David Gage and Officer Warren Harris, the mention of "Lobstergate" - and all the jokes and snickers that accompany it - trivializes what they feel is a deeper, darker problem.
"This isn't about Lobstergate, this is far more serious," Gage said. "This has shown me that the leadership within the Long Beach Police Department failed to fulfill its duty when it was presented with a problem, that there is no honesty, integrity or respect in this administration."
Now Gage, Harris and Officer Craig Patterson are embroiled in a legal battle for their careers and reputations. The three - all veterans of the force - have sued the city, claiming they suffered retaliation and personal threats for calling attention to the illegal actions of fellow officers.
In their suit, the officers said that in 2004 they were working for the Police Department's Port Security Unit - a team assembled in the aftermath of 9/11 and funded partially through government grants - when they reported a group of fellow officers in the unit had used a police boat to dive for lobsters in the Port of Long Beach.
"You've just scratched the surface," Harris said in a recent interview. "There is so much more going on here than some unauthorized dives."
Police Chief Anthony Batts, who is attending a national police chief's conference in Boston, could not be reached for comment. Deputy Police Chief Tim Jackman said Thursday he could not discuss the allegations because they involved personnel matters and pending litigation. "We will litigate this case through the courts, not through the newspaper," Jackman said.
All three officers involved in the lawsuit said they were told by superiors not to discuss the case because of an ongoing investigation by the Police Department and because of their pending litigation. But two of the three spoke briefly about their experience in trying to get police and city officials to deal with the problem, as well as their concerns that the police chief and his command staff conspired to cover up the wrongdoing of the other officers to save the department and city from embarrassment.
"I can't discuss (specifics of) the case, but I will tell you that every time I tried to get someone to deal with the problem, they chose to cover it up," Harris said. "This started out as such a simple problem, but it's so much more now."
The unpermitted scuba dives, which occurred in the fall of 2003, resulted in transfers and letters of reprimand for at least four Long Beach police officers. An internal investigation was completed in January 2005. Initially, three officers and a sergeant were suspended, but those suspensions were reduced to letters of reprimand. The attorney who represented the accused officers said the shift in punishment was due to the allegations being blown out of proportion.
But in a four-page letter Gage sent to newly elected Mayor Bob Foster on Sept. 13, the sergeant alleged blackmail by one of the accused officers.
"The most alarming thing in this entire case was the fact that one of the accused officers made a statement to fellow accused officers, that nothing was going to happen to anyone because he had taken a crime report listing a high-ranking police official as a suspect and if he was embarrassed by this investigation, he would embarrass the Police Department and the City of Long Beach," Gage wrote.
Despite his efforts and conversations with city and police officials - including Deputy City Prosecutor Sharon Panian, Deputy City Attorney Christina Checel, City Prosecutor Tom Reeves and Deputy Chief Ted Hulsey (now retired) - he said little was done to address the illegal actions of the accused cops and nothing was done to stop the threats and retaliation suffered by Gage, Harris and Patterson, who testified against the accused officers in an Internal Affairs investigation. Panian and Hulsey declined to comment on the case, and Checel and Reeves could not be reached for comment.
Although they had been considered among the department's best and brightest when they were chosen to serve in the newly formed port unit, the three officers became the subject of negative reviews and were passed over for transfers and promotions, they claim in court papers.
Patterson currently serves in the Management of Criminal Investigations Unit in the Detective Division. Officers familiar with the MCI unit say it's the closest thing to Siberia that can be found in the department. One officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, compared the work to that of a file clerk.
"They can't do any investigations themselves, they only take all the other detectives' work and put it all together to hand off to the DA," he said. "If there's a black hole, MCI is it."
Gage was placed on medical leave due to knee problems, and several members of the Police Department said he will retire once his leave is up. "That was news to me," Gage said Thursday. "I never said I was retiring."
Harris said Thursday that he put in for a dozen transfers after the case blew up and life in the unit became unbearable. He was passed over for every one, he said, and ended up taking a job in patrol in the South Division. The last four years of his career, he said, will be spent in a patrol car working nights despite extensive experience in investigations.
Among his professional accomplishments, Harris said, was his work to write the arrest warrants in the murder case of Officer Daryle Black. Harris was also among a team of officers who were part of a task force with LAPD designed to crackdown on the Asian Boyz Gang. The task force, he said, resulted in 16 high-ranking gang members going to prison.
Harris said police and city officials chose to ignore the retaliation he and his colleagues suffered. At one point, he said, he was asked by Lt. John Lembi, in Internal Affairs, what it would take to solve the problem. "I asked for three simple things that wouldn't cost the city a dime," Harris said.
He told the administrative lieutenant he wanted a letter of apology from the department for his colleagues and himself. He wanted the city to adopt a policy that would protect not just police officers, but all city employees, against retaliation if they report unethical or illegal acts by fellow employees.
And he wanted Chief Batts to read the new policy on the city's TV station, to publicly take a stand against such behavior. Harrison said he was told, "It will never happen."
"I told Lembi that they forced us to sue, that the only way they deal with anything is if it hits them in the pocketbook," Harris added. "He said, `It ain't my pocketbook, I don't care what you do."'
Asked to comment on the allegation, Lembi said he could not discuss the case because the conversation took place during an Internal Affairs investigation, and that information is confidential.
For his part, Gage said he was ordered by Jackman not to discuss the allegations made to city and police officials in person and to the mayor in his letter.
The letter, he added, was sent via certified mail to Foster. He does not know how it got passed on to the Press-Telegram. "You have the letter, it's all spelled out there," he said.
"I am embarrassed. I regret getting Officer Patterson and Officer Harris involved in this," the sergeant said. "If you thought they were getting the cold shoulder before, if you thought it was bad before, it's going to be like frost-bite now."
Tracy Manzer can be reached at tracy.manzer@presstelegram.com or (562) 499-1261.
Retrieved October 23, 2006 from http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4531354