Secret SWAT Report Revealed
The report criticizes SWAT for rushing into confrontations with mentally ill people, covering up an illegal use of force, and protecting officers disciplined for misconduct.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
File photo - LAPD SWAT team
View PDF Document of SWAT ReportKFI NEWS has obtained a copy of LAPD Chief William Bratton's secret evaluation of the SWAT team, officially known as Metropolitan division's "D-Platoon," from a source outside the police department.
The report, which Bratton and other police officials say will eventually be made public when it's 'ready,' criticizes SWAT for rushing into confrontations with mentally ill people, covering up an illegal use of force, and protecting officers disciplined for misconduct.
Bratton commissioned the report following the accidental death of Suzie Pena, a toddler who was used as a shield by her father while he engaged officers in a gunfight in South Los Angeles.
Interestingly, the report contains only passing mentions of the Pena case, and instead focuses on other incidents (suggested by Bratton or command staff) that were seen as problematic.
Despite the criticism, the report-writers said SWAT's track record is exemplary, though it's difficult to directly compare its success with other police SWAT teams, because the LAPD has not kept detailed records and other departments were reluctant to share data.
The report urges Bratton to relax SWAT's intense physical fitness standards in order to allow women to join, which quickly drew the anger of many SWAT officers and their wives, some of whom wrote a complaint to LAPD Assistant Chief Sharon Papa.
Friday, the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents LAPD officers, filed an, "Unfair Employee Relations Practice Claim Against Management," accusing the department of sidestepping its obligation to negotiate changes in SWAT selection with the union.
