CommentsTHE GUSS REPORT-Many people distrust the LAPD because it claims that it is not a politically driven law enforcement agency even though it consistently demonstrates that it is, especially when it is in crisis mode.
At such times, the LAPD tells us its Internal Affairs Group, IAG, is "conducting a thorough investigation." But such assurances are met with understandable skepticism given the agency's long history of violence especially with people of color that never results in lasting change at the LAPD.
I understand that skepticism given the LAPD's ceaseless efforts to block, derail and undermine stories told here, and its intermittent threats to my freedom that the agency has unapologetically thrown in this direction for telling them.
At an LAPD Commission meeting, this column expressed concern about various public records that the agency refuses to hand over. A high-ranking official told me to raise the issue with IAG, which I discovered is more interested in diversionary tactics than fixing problems within its walls, including but not limited to an alleged domestic incident at the home of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.
As touched upon in recent columns, the records include Computer Assisted Dispatch records that show information such as which officers it dispatched, on specific dates, at what times and to which addresses. For an agency that coughed up cash for playing fast and loose with this column's personal information, it plays close to the vest with Garcetti’s.
Back on October 29, IAG sent this column its standard introductory letter, which is odd given that we have had a rolling dialogue for quite some time. Why is its tone suddenly introductory? And why, after a series of phone calls and text messages with IAG is it now sending communications via mail?
Oddly, LAPD's letter took more than two weeks to reach my post office box in Sherman Oaks. I mean, come on now, it may be snail mail, but it doesn't take that long for a letter to go from the 213 to the 818. I tested it out three times. It took three days, four days and four days.
Intrepid keyboard warrior that I am, I immediately called IAG upon receipt of its October 29 letter. That’s immediately, as in from the Post Office parking lot on Friday, November 13.
With no response from IAG, I called back on November 27, with no reply now more than five weeks later, including prior to writing about it in this column.
The LAPD isn't looking to root out a dangerous shell game within its walls. It wants only to create a back-dated paper trail to say that it tried to investigate but that it didn't get my cooperation, except that my phone records, billed and from a phone screenshot, prove otherwise.
The LAPD is trying to run out the clock without harming yet another political chum, just as it allegedly did for former LA City Councilmember Jose Huizar during the aftermath of a crash in which he rear-ended another vehicle resulting in a six-figure legal settlement. In Garcetti's case, he is desperate to get out of LA and join Joe Biden's Administration, ludicrous as that might be, given LA's hideous condition at the end of 2020 and throughout his disastrous tenure as Mayor and LA City Council president.
Meanwhile, this column tracked down an alleged witness to the Garcetti incident. IAG, according to LAPD insiders, knows the person's name. This person vehemently denies ever meeting Garcetti but expressed not a shred of interest in why their name is tied to him.
Because that's a logical response, right?
Except, well, let's leave that there for a spell.
So let's switch things up. Having proven that the LAPD expressed the need for this column's cooperation – more than five weeks ago – while ignoring my documented immediate response and follow-up, I am pausing my assistance offer unless and until the Dispatch records are released. . .first.
Oh, just one more thing, to quote Detective Colombo.
Inside the envelope in which IAG sent its letter was a different draft of the same letter that they did not intend to enclose. Perhaps LAPD Chief Michel Moore and the LAPD Commission should convene a meeting with IAG so it can select an alibi and stick with it.
Is it any wonder why people with fewer resources, and no soapbox, distrust the LAPD? And what will become of the LAPD if Garcetti makes the jump to Washington, D.C., and the other huarache drops here?
(Daniel Guss, MBA, was runner-up for the 2020 Los Angeles Press Club journalism award for Best Online Political Commentary and has contributed to CityWatch, KFI AM-640, iHeartMedia, 790-KABC, Cumulus Media, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Magazine, Movieline Magazine, Emmy Magazine, Los Angeles Business Journal, Pasadena Star News, Los Angeles Downtown News, and the Los Angeles Times in its Sports, Opinion and Entertainment sections and Sunday Magazine, among other publishers. Follow him on Twitter @TheGussReport. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of CityWatch.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
