Full Disclosure Network

Los Angeles, CA: Full Disclosure Network® explores the role and purpose of three civilian police monitoring organizations who have been appointed by the Courts and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to investigate operations of the L. A. County Sheriff’s Department and county jails.

The Full Disclosure® series on civilian police monitors consists of interviews with Mike Gennaco, Chief Attorney, LASD Office of Independent Review (OIR), Merrick Bobb, president of the Police Assessment Resource Center (PARC) and Mark Rosenbaum ACLU Legal Director and Mary Tiedeman Director of the “ACLU Jail Project”. Also included are statements from Roy Burns, former president of ALADS the Sheriff Deputies union.

Highlights from this part-four of the series are:

SHERIFF & BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CREATE “OIR” (Segment #1)
Prompted by the LAPD Rampart scandal and officer involved shootings, another civilian monitoring operation is created called the LASD Office of Independent Review (OIR) Chief Attorney Mike Gennaco describes his background in the Civil Rights Division of U. S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C. focusing on police misconduct and hate crimes. He describes the activities of the six staff attorneys who are located within the LASD Internal Affairs Department. He compares the function of the OIR to that of other civilian oversight commissions that are comprised by volunteers.

THREE CIVILIAN MONITORS FOR THE SHERIFF (Segment #2)
In addition to Mike Gennaco, the Board of Supervisors already was contracting with Merrick Bobb, who describes his goal to make law enforcement “effective”. Mike Gennaco explains that the Board of Supervisors wanted to make certain the Sheriff was doing as good a job as possible and acknowledges there is tension between competing interests regarding the policy. Roy Burns, former head of ALADS describes the impact of the solo foot pursuit ban on the Deputy’s ability to perform their job.

LAWSUITS vs POLICE TACTICS: WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? Segment #3
Gennaco is asked if there is a duplication of efforts by civilian monitoring of the Sheriff’s Department. He points out the ACLU has an “intake” function in their jail monitoring that garners them 16,000 inmate complaints per year. When asked if the Sheriffs and Police Departments have been politicized by public pressure, he says the result is for the better. Mark Rosenbaum points his finger at the County Board of Supervisors, as being responsible for the problems, he says the ultimate responsibility is theirs.

Full Disclosure® program is billed as “the news behind the news“. Hosted by Leslie Dutton who was presented with a local public affairs Emmy Award by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the 2001 series “L.A.’s War Against Terrorism”.