Last year, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) closed over 1,700 complaints accusing Los Angeles police officers of “biased policing,” according to a recent report from the LAPD.
Not a single one of those complaints was sustained.
The report follows a trend that has continued for years.
The LAPD similarly denied all bias policing complaints in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Reports were not filed in 2022 or 2023, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Commission told L.A. TACO.
The LAPD also did not sustain any complaints alleging “unwelcome sexual advance” in the workplace or “inequitable conduct.”
A third of all department employees were referenced in complaints closed in 2024, according to the LAPD report. But only 3.4 percent of sworn officers and 1 percent of civilian employees were cited in sustained complaints.
The most recent report shows that the LAPD continues to rarely sustain complaints of misconduct, even as the number of complaints climbs. More than 4,700 complaints were closed last year, a four-year high for the department.
Within those complaints, community members and LAPD staff made over 15,000 allegations against department staff. But only 4.7 percent (or 701 allegations) were sustained.
The report shows that while allegations of misconduct against officers have increased, the number of complaints being sustained remains very low.
During a Police Commission meeting on Tuesday, LAPD officials presenting their findings to the commission claimed that the increase in complaints actually shows that the department is building trust within the communities they police.
“I will quibble with you, potentially, about whether the rise of the number of complaints shows that there's more trust in the [police department,” Police Commission vice president Rasha Gerges Shields countered. “I think that speaks more towards the results of their complaints, as opposed to the number of complaints.”
During their presentation, LAPD Detective Michael Hackman noted that “an employee” who completed a board of rights hearing—which gives an accused officer one final opportunity to appeal their conviction in front of a civilian panel—was found guilty of engaging in “biased policing,” but the case wasn’t administratively closed until this year, so it isn’t reflected in the LAPD’s 2024 annual summary.
He also clarified that “bias policing” does not include all forms of discrimination; it only includes instances when an officer takes “law enforcement action” based on someone’s race, gender, religion, or another protected class.
For example, if an officer arrests someone because they’re Black.
Complaints can also be filed for “demonstrations of bias” or making “discourteous and improper remarks based on a race, gender, or ethnic basis,” according to Hackman.
The LAPD closed four complaints that were sustained in those categories.
One complaint was for “race-based remarks to coworkers by a sworn employee,” resulting in a recommendation to fire the officer. However the officer resigned before he reached the end of the adjudication process.
In total, 64 employees left the department before they could be punished.
In another incident, another sworn officer made a “gender-based remark in the office,” resulting in the officer being suspended for 22 days.
There was also a complaint of a civilian employee making a “gender-based remark to a coworker,” resulting in the employee being terminated.
Another civilian employee making a “race-based remark to an outside law enforcement agency,’' resulted in a 22 day suspension.
“So the penalties are all very high,” Hackman told the commission. “Which does reflect the department's stance that we take it very seriously.”
The most common form of discipline imposed on employees with sustained complaints was “admonishment” and “official reprimand.”
For decades, the LAPD’s complaint system has been criticized by prominent activist groups, community members, police commissioners, and even the chief of police.
In 2022, then Chief Michel Moore told the Los Angeles Times that “the current means of investigating community members’ complaints of bias policing is unsatisfactory for everyone involved.”
At Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting, community members scolded LAPD officials for not sustaining any “biased policing” complaints, even though data shows that people of color, and marginalized people, are disproportionately arrested by LAPD or ignored when they call on the police for help.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, several people highlighted the shooting of Linda Becerra Moran, a young transgender woman who was fatally shot by LAPD Officer Jacob Sanchez after she called 911 because she was allegedly being sex trafficked.
Community members also criticized the Police Commission for being a “rubber stamp body” to the police department.
L.A. TACO reached out to the current chief of police, Jim McDonnell, to see what he thinks of the LAPD’s complaint system. However, he didn’t respond to our request for comment.
