Review comes amidst allegations of excessive force, racist text messages, and other discriminatory misconduct. Country: United States Address 1: 340 Blount Ave City: Guntersville State: Alabama Zip Code: 35976-1106 County: Marshall County Phone #: 256-571-7571 Fax #: 256-571-7570 Police1 is revolutionizing the way So, I started asking if we had checked for text messages.. California Atty. Civil rights activists and police watchdog groups claim that the department is among the most Some supervisors point out to new officers during their probation periods the difference between street niggers and upstanding black citizens, one former officer said. A survey of records at Police Watch, a nonprofit Los Angeles group that monitors Southern California police agencies, revealed numerous complaints by minorities alleging that they were pulled over by Torrance police for no reason. The officers hit Ross with a Taser and handcuffed him, but he continued to struggle, according to the report, which then described two officers kneeling on Ross shoulders. Certainly, 1994 brought more unwanted attention to the department. In another message reviewed by The Times, Alonso complained about the idea of having to work with a gay officer, and said hed straight punch a member of the LGBTQ community, using a common slur for gay men. In total, Torrance police have confirmed 15 officers were placed on administrative leave as a result of the scandal. Within weeks, Torrance police provided the district attorneys office with more than 200 gigabytes of data, which showed the officers had been exchanging racist messages since at least 2018, according to Teran, the advisor to the district attorney. Katz, the former independent police auditor, described those statistics as concerningly low.. Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. Through interviews with sources with direct knowledge of the investigation, public records requests and a review of district attorneys office records, The Times examined some of the contents of the until-now secret texts and identified a dozen Torrance police officers under investigation for exchanging them. If you submit your complaint on paper, we recommend that you staple a copy of Every investigation, therefore, is undertaken with the dual objective of opening channels of communications between the department and the community, and maintaining an on-going review of Department Services and Policies. The officers did not necessarily testify in each case, so its unclear how many of those cases could be affected. Anyone can request public documents in California, and a purpose does not have to be stated. Black Lives Matter activists have attended nearly every City Council meeting since the fatal police shooting of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell in 2018 to demand Torrance establish an oversight commission. George Gascn. That board wont begin work until early 2023 and the nine-member panel will be tasked with the review of innumerable complaints lodged with police departments across the entire state of California including complaints lodged throughout 2022. Additionally, they say, investigators allegedly reviewed confidential attorney-client messages on the phones as well as the officers medical information. Webbyot port allen how common is a false positive herpes test; free teen tubes stnr disposable not charging; asriah queen sue lightning lost stream; legolas and thranduil fanfiction lemon The complaint form and process should not in any way intimidate or discourage potential complainants, the report said. The complaints against Torrance allege a more intense racism. district attorneys office memo that determined the fatal shooting was justified. Torrance police sustained 35 out of 43 internally generated complaints of officer misconduct from 2016 to 2020, Ponegalek said. Jeremy White and Eugene Pesikov sued Torrance and several individual police officers last year. When the motorists asked why they were stopped, they claimed that officers would reply, We do a routine check on new faces in town.. The text messages might have remained hidden if not for the alleged bizarre actions of Tomsic and Weldin in January 2020. Sincerely,Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer. Tomsic answered, Yeah it was Weldin, dude, I know.. SB 2 is very expansive, Hart said, noting that the American Civil Liberties Union of California recently announced its support for the bills expanded approach to police accountability. Torrance police sustained 35 out of 43 internally generated complaints of officer misconduct from 2016 to 2020, Ponegalek said. They were stopped, they say, because two of them are black. Census figures at the same time said 1.7% of Torrance residents were black, 10% were Latino and 22% were Asian. The first spate of costly lawsuits began in the late 1980s. The most controversial incident involving officers linked to the racist text scandal is the 2018 shooting death of Christopher DeAndre Mitchell. WebThe Torrance Police Department has made vigorous efforts to achieve this status, and it is our desire to provide the means whereby it might be sustained. Saavedra has worked as a journalist since 1979 and has held positions at several Southern California newspapers before arriving at the Orange County Register in 1990. The department has also hired an outside law firm to conduct a review of the scandal, he said. Its one of the most exhaustive reviews that one could ever do in the state of California, and its a very important step for us, he added. Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly. Police officials say they were investigating Daniels claim and could not comment. Some individuals may be reluctant to file a complaint for fear of reprisal from the officer or officers they are complaining against or the police department itself, the grand jury report added. Such claims represent one of the most sensitive areas of police-citizen relations and were cited as a fundamental cause of both the 1965 Watts riots and the broader 1992 Los Angeles riots. Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer, Subject: RE: California Public Records Act Request: Torrance, CA PD Citizen Complaints. Dunn then placed a monitored call to Tomsic, who tried to blame Weldin, saying, Weldin is the instigator of all this. There are no results that match your search. Some critics say the citys most recent vote against a survey is a show of the councils unwillingness to address the concerns of the Torrance community. The grand jury also said that the Torrance warning regarding the civil suit that could be filed if a false report is submitted was found to be unconstitutional in 1999 because of its chilling effect and the court ruling has been upheld on several occasions since then. Thanks so much for your help with this request! . Armour said its unlikely that misconduct reminiscent of the TPD texting scandal would ever make it to a state oversight board without a more localized oversight commission that is equipped to keep a close watch on the departments policies and procedures. 4. In the texts, the officers showed little concern about getting caught and even less about the citizens they were assigned to protect, routinely joking about using force and mocking internal affairs. Even if the results of investigations are inconclusive, tracking complaints can provide an early warning system to identify and take corrective actions to improve employee conduct.. The Torrance Police Department has made vigorous efforts to achieve this status, and it is our desire to provide the means whereby it might be sustained. Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed. With fallout from the Rastello case still raining down, 27-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran De Ladurantey was brought in. The city has doled out millions of dollars in recent years to settle lawsuits charging officers with everything from using excessive force to orchestrating massive cover-ups. Changes need to be made in the Torrance Police Department, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said this week in announcing an independent investigation into the text messages. Whenever it appears that somebodys chipping away at that crust, were going to rise to the occasion.. Torrance also reported fewer rapes, robberies and other violent crimes. Youll get pulled over.. WebNon-Emergency Police Response: (310) 618-5641 3300 Civic Center Drive, Torrance CA 90503 . When Gascn charged Officer David Chandler with assault in late August for allegedly shooting an armed man in the back, sources told The Times that Chandler was also under investigation as part of the scandal. Gen. For assistance please contact our Records Division at (310) 618-5529, or you may place a request, pursuant to CPRA, directly to the Torrance City Clerk located in City Hall, 3031 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503. You can also visit their webpage to make a Public Records Act Request online. The inquiry is an expansion of a probe that began in 1993, when the government sued Torrance to stop what it described as racially biased hiring practices in the citys police and fire departments. Schroeder used a carotid restraint hold sometimes referred to as a blood choke to subdue a homeless Black man in a park in November 2018, according to Long Beach police records The Times obtained through a public records request. It is not unusual for minorities to complain that police harass them with pointless stops in an attempt to discourage them from driving through certain white neighborhoods. Torrance was one of four cities surveyed that were not in compliance with that policy, which the state penal code requires. Torrance did indicate it would comply with most recommendations made by the grand jury though, including: Five of the police departments surveyed Torrance was not one of them did not use complaints to identify potential problems, which the grand jury concluded was the entire point of an effective complaint system. Usually, conversations always seemed to circle back to vile insults or depictions of violence against Black people. SB 2 would create a nine-member Peace Officer Standards Accountability Advisory Board within the existing Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). A knife was recovered at the scene. According to a Times review of public records, Concannon has shot only one person during his career: Christopher DeAndre Mitchell. We had to [expletive] her up because we knew he wouldnt, one officer wrote in one exchange about an altercation with a female suspect. Gen. The council, however, is opting instead to rely on other models of police oversight including Police Chief Jeremiah Harts recently established Advisory Board, an ongoing Department of Justice investigation into allegations of TPD officer misconduct, and a soon-to-be established statewide oversight board which they said will provide ample opportunity for departmental reform moving forward. The department has also hired an In Torrance, the Police and Fire Departments costs make up 65% of the citys general fund budget. Many of the officers under investigation as part of the scandal also have use-of-force histories involving the communities for which they expressed hatred. Records operates on a round-the-clock basis, performing The city prevailed. GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. . Every time I turn around, somebody has a complaint against them, said Royce Esters, president of the Compton National Assn. The officers also shared instructions on how to tie a noose and a picture of a stuffed animal being lynched inside Torrances police headquarters, according to the documents. Community Affairs: 310-618-6392. The picture above it showed several Black men who had been lynched. Saavedra has covered the Los Angeles riots, the O.J. Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. Emergency Services: 310-618 Judge Amy Carter will decide whether to suppress evidence from the personal cellphones of ex-officers Corey Weldin and Christopher Tomsic. In December of 2011, a Superior Court judge ruled that the California Assembly must also disclose budget records of individual lawmakers, after some California newspapers filed a lawsuit accusing legislators of flouting the states open records laws. Dont ask me where that lump on her forehead came from though.. About 13 Torrance officers are on paid leave as the city and the state attorney general investigate the offensive texts, which include jokes about lynchings, gassing Jews and shooting Black men. Any police department mirrors the community, said Wally Murker, head of the departments detective division. The Times did not independently view documentation of racist text messages sent by any of those four officers, though the newspaper did review a document that showed Concannon sent messages that are part of the investigation. Public records in theCalifornia Public Records Actare defined as any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the publics business prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics. There is a separate category of purely personal information that, although it may be in the custody of a government agency, does not fall under the act. Mark Ponegalek, a Torrance police spokesman, could not confirm or deny the identities of the officers involved, but said 15 have been placed on administrative leave in relation to the scandal. That number did not include Tomsic, Weldin, or Schroeder, he said. We dont have the money to do it at the level they (California) do, Ashcraft said. Gascn said he first became aware of the situation in July, when he was given a briefing about the pending vandalism charges. Hutchings holds a B.A. And new officers, according to claims in the court papers, are often instructed by their training supervisors to stop and question black motorists without cause. Attorneys for Weldin and Tomsic did not return messages seeking comment. Animal Control: 310-618-3850. Web47 6 thatphanom.techno@gmail.com 042-532028 , 042-532027 In the mid-1990s, Torrance was hit by a spate of civil rights lawsuits and complaints, including one that contended a Black employee found a hangmans noose dangling above his desk. . WebIt is hereby declared to be the policy of the City to prohibit unnecessary, excessive and annoying noises from all sources subject to its police power. Our members have a right to due process and should be protected from illegal and unnecessary intrusion into their private lives.. As an expression of that Right to Know, we have coordinated valuable information from a number of resources into a single, public-facing, searchable database. Some City Council members said they went outside the department for a chief because of unhappiness at the number of suits against the city. He declined to offer a timetable on that review and would not say whether the officers involvement in the text scandal would affect that probe. Gascn said the texts are proof that some Torrance officers hate the communities they were hired to serve. In total, the officers were listed as potential witnesses in nearly 1,400 cases in the last decade, according to district attorneys records The Times obtained through a public records request. . Please enable JavaScript in your browser for a better user experience. 2. City officials report an exceptionally high level of public support for the departments practices, saying that politically conservative Torrance expects and even demands a hard-line approach to law enforcement. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, New: California Attorney General to investigate Torrance Police after racist text scandal, Ex-Torrance police officers charged with spray-painting swastika on car, How the theft of 44 firearms from an L.A. gun store exploded into an LAPD scandal. Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. Torrance, CA 90503-5056. Atty. The findings were outlined in a grand jury report titled Policing the Police that investigated how the public could make complaints against police officers in a dozen county cities, including Inglewood and Culver City in addition to Torrance. Concannon and Chavez pulled in behind him, exited their vehicle and yelled police! Mitchell initially placed his hands on the steering wheel, according to the memo, but when the officers approached him, they noticed his hands move toward his lap where Concannon saw what he believed to be a firearm. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. A Long Beach officer who was a Torrance recruit has been suspended without pay. The officers comments spared no color or creed: They joked about gassing Jewish people, assaulting members of the LGBTQ community, using violence against suspects and lying during an investigation into a police shooting, according to district attorneys office records reviewed by The Times. I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 25, 2017. Torrance recorded fewer violent crimes in 1993 than many neighboring cities of comparable size, according to the FBI. 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Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, Left-handed pitchers offer gold-like value for high school teams, Column: How I finally learned to care about Orange Countys crumbling coastline, Shipping firms to pay pipeline company nearly $100 million in O.C. City officials say they are highly skeptical of both stories. First, three officers were suspended, and now face firing, for allegedly socializing--in uniform and on duty--with strippers at a private Torrance residence. . As such, we do not have access to facts of the underlying investigation, or the alleged inappropriate materials. The Records Division is a service support unit within the Services Bureau. After a grueling six-week trial, a jury awarded the family of a young motorcyclist $5.9 million after he was struck and killed by an off-duty sergeant who had been drinking. If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead. The officers described the weapon, later determined to be a break barrel air rifle, as pinched between Mitchells legs, though neither alleged he grabbed it or pointed it at them before they opened fire. Although the officers actions were found to be justified in each case, experts say those cases should be reexamined in the context of the hateful messages. James Queally writes about crime and policing in Southern California, where he currently covers Los Angeles Countys criminal courts and the district attorneys office. The ACLU observed the law was the only one of its kind in the nation to give police officers a special right to sue complainants, the jury said. However, Jackson rejected the grand jurys request to initiate an appeal process if the complainant is dissatisfied with the disposition of an investigation. The text messages might have remained hidden if not for the alleged materials... 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