Now every time I see you, Im going to arrest you, Daniels recalled. 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. 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. One year later, Tomsic was one of several officers involved in a deadly altercation with Deautry Ross in the Del Amo Fashion Center, according to district attorneys records. 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. If you have questions about this request or suggestions, we would be happy to discuss them with you. Records operates on a round-the-clock basis, performing numerous tasks aiding our department, other law enforcement agencies, and the general public to gain access to necessary records. Torrance recorded fewer violent crimes in 1993 than many neighboring cities of comparable size, according to the FBI. Without that officer, you couldnt prove that case.. Those people spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could candidly discuss an ongoing investigation. When the motorists asked why they were stopped, they claimed that officers would reply, We do a routine check on new faces in town.. Dont ask me where that lump on her forehead came from though.. 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. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires. The council and Hart appear to have full faith in the oversight power of the state oversight board, though. 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. From: Alexander Cartwright and Jennifer Dirmeyer, Subject: California Public Records Act Request: Torrance, CA PD Citizen Complaints. Please include the type of complaint (i.e., use of force, abuse language, unwarranted search) and the result of complaint (i.e., sustained, exonerated). Im not going to tell you were not going to take some heat from time to time, but I think even good departments do that, Mayor Dee Hardison said. And he wrote De Ladurantey a letter after the incident. If citizen complaints are not taken seriously, it does increase the sense of impunity that officers who are inclined toward misconduct have, he said. 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. . . Torrance also reported fewer rapes, robberies and other violent crimes. If you submit your complaint on paper, we recommend that you staple a copy of We are aggressive, and sometimes we get some lawsuits, he said. . This isnt just a lone wolf, this is a huge group.. I questioned whether there was any other things that would lead us to believe that this is not sort of a single crime event, he said. The city indicated the forms previously only available at the Police Department can now be found in the City Clerks Office and City Hall lobby as well. 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. The accountability measures are very clearly laid out, and has benchmark measures that the police department will have to meet, he said, noting that the TPD will submit complaints dating back to 2020 to the state board. And several jurors laid blame for an above-the-law attitude on then-Chief Donald E. Nash, who resigned a year and a half later, six months before his planned retirement. In Torrance, the Police and Fire Departments costs make up 65% of the citys general fund budget. In court documents recently filed by the government, former officers--some of whom are minorities fired after probationary periods--said two epithetic slogans are commonly used within the department. Both the department and residents cite relatively low crime statistics as evidence of the departments success. There are no results that match your search. One of the suspects arrested there owned a Silver Hyundai Elantra parked on Maricopa. The department has also hired an Sgt. The governments current inquiry into allegations of racial harassment of the public is simply an effort to bolster its discriminatory hiring case against Torrance, one Justice Department official said. 3300 Civic Center Dr.
Gascn said the texts are proof that some Torrance officers hate the communities they were hired to serve. Please provide a link to any and all publicly available reports containing the data above. Web47 6 [email protected] 042-532028 , 042-532027 Attorneys for Weldin and Tomsic did not return messages seeking comment. We are located at: 3300 Civic Center Dr. Torrance, CA 90503, 3031 Torrance Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503 | P: (310) 328-5310 | Contact | Login. Some include all discharges and some exclude missed shots. What is the total number of citizen complaints (allegations of misconduct) made against your departments officers annually for the last 10 years? Dunn also received a text message from Weldin apologizing for the damage, the affidavit said. Prior to joining the Press-Telegram, she served as the Daily Breeze's lead city hall reporter. Ex-Torrance police officers move to suppress, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Ex-Torrance police officers move to suppress use of offensive texts, Hermosa Beach Police arrest 2 men suspected in shooting attempt, LA County serial rapist sentenced to 310 years in prison, Man wrongly imprisoned for decades declared innocent in killing of woman in Inglewood, Gov. WebThe Torrance Police Department is happy to assist you in obtaining or reviewing any records, documents, or reports to which you are legally entitled. But theyve hit a snag, Review: A reimagined Secret Garden fails to flower anew at the Ahmanson Theatre, A $150,000 executive protection dog? Gen. Community Affairs: 310-618-6392. I am in receipt of your request and I am attempting to locate the information requested and will attempt to have it to you as soon as possible. 1. The city also pointed towards Harts recently established Chiefs Advisory Board which aims to serve as a forum for discussion to foster understanding between the police department and the community as another means of oversight as the city awaits the investigation results and the official establishment of the state oversight board. Torrance Police Department mission is to preserve public safety and quality of life within the City of Torrance, to respond effectively to the changing needs of the community, and to promote mutual respect between the Police Department and the people we serve. If power is supposed to be accountable to those affected by its exercise then those affected have to be consulted, Armour added. in journalism from the University of Southern California. Anyone can request public documents in California, and a purpose does not have to be stated. This is a brand new process for the state of California, and I think we have to see how it plays out, Councilmember Heidi Ann Ashcraft said in an interview Wednesday. The department has also hired an outside law firm to conduct a review of the scandal, he said. Civil rights activists and police watchdog groups claim that the department is among the most racially biased and militaristic in Southern California. The complaints against Torrance allege a more intense racism. Police officials say they were investigating Daniels claim and could not comment. If you would like to file a formal complaint for an officer that is not yet listed, please contact us and we will add that individual immediately. It is really a surprising abdication of their responsibility as elected officials to respond to their constituents and to express the will of their constituents, said Jody David Armour, a lawyer and professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law in an interview Friday. 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. If your department logs complaints in a database, spreadsheet, or other log, a copy of those logs is fine instead. In addition to Weldin, Tomsic and Chandler, The Times has reviewed district attorneys records detailing racist texts or images shared by six other police officers: Blake Williams, Brian Kawamoto, Joshua Satterfield, Omar Alonso, Christopher Allen-Young and Long Beach Police Officer Maxwell Schroeder, who is a former Torrance police recruit. maybe its something else. They were stopped, they say, because two of them are black. - William O. Douglas, Associate Justice (1939 - 1975), Peace Officer Standards & Training [POST] Departments, Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training, Supreme Court of the United States [SCOTUS]. Lopez had been fleeing police in a truck, and the officers said he attempted to ram them when they opened fire, according to a district attorneys office memo that determined the fatal shooting was justified. Please fill out, sign and mail or submit at our station lobby. Beverly Hills attorney Howard Price, who represented many of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits, said Friday that the nature of the phone texts made it appear that racism was ingrained in the department. Chavez, Williams, Satterfield and Tomsic all opened fire on Michael Lopez in 2017 after a vehicle pursuit that started in Palos Verdes Estates. So we totally racially profiled his ass, haha Shopping at 7/11 while Black, he didnt know the rules lol, Tomsic wrote, according to the records. They just go too far over there., Adds David Lynn, a Venice-based private investigator who specializes in police misconduct cases: As far as harassing minorities . You dont hang the star, someone wrote back. Census figures at the same time said 1.7% of Torrance residents were black, 10% were Latino and 22% were Asian. Still, in the span of one week in November, the Los Angeles County public defenders office received about 300 letters from prosecutors disclosing potential misconduct by officers implicated in the scandal, said Judith Green, an office spokeswoman. Los Angeles, Randall Emmett, Ambyr Childers settle domestic violence restraining order dispute, Column: Supreme Court conservatives may want to block student loan forgiveness. 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. Civil rights activists and police watchdog groups claim that the department is among the most The car owner arrived two days later to pick up his Hyundai at the yard and found the back bumper was spray painted white, a side mirror also was painted and a swastika and smiley face were drawn on the upholstered seats. Part of our responsibilities includes interpreting federal and state laws, as well as departmental policy in determining the release and retrieval of confidential criminal information. The other cities have reached agreements with the government, offering payments to a few African Americans and Asian Americans who were denied jobs. Good job sticking to the script, he wrote. Another officer then sat on Ross legs before others were able to bind Ross arms and legs with a hobble restraint.. Gascn has hired a special prosecutor to review for possible criminal charges. Non-Emergency Police Response: (310) 618-5641 3300 Civic Center Drive, Torrance CA 90503 Animal Control: 310-618-3850 Community Affairs : 310-618-6392 Transparency of (a) police departments internal operations starts with an effective citizen complaint process, the report found. 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. All the while, the city contended officers were innocent and that all the allegations were fabricated, including one that officers had squeezed the testicles of three teenage Latino detainees. Want the latest investigative and FOIA news? Maybe its a taillight out . What those text messages revealed was an extraordinarily hostile attitude toward people of color, people who are nonbinary, people who have different sexual orientations, said Walter Katz, a former independent police auditor in California who now serves as a vice president of criminal justice for research firm Arnold Ventures. He eventually went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead at a hospital a short time later. I am writing to ask for some clarification regarding the data on officer-involved shootings you provided us with. It creates a tremendous amount of concern for me. Judge Amy Carter will decide whether to suppress evidence from the personal cellphones of ex-officers Corey Weldin and Christopher Tomsic. 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. The text messages were not on one continuous thread, according to two of the sources. The warrant was obtained in March that year with an affidavit that lays out the genesis of the text debacle that has made national headlines. Katz said the text messages call into question the credibility of the officers accounts of any past use-of-force incidents involving Black or Latino suspects. with conspiracy and vandalism for allegedly spray-painting a swastika inside a vehicle. 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. If I were a citizen, youre damned right Id want people stopped . . . 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. Daniels, who is black, moved to Torrance from Michigan this summer to pursue an acting career, and claims that he was pulled over seven times in three months yet never cited. But the blow that many believed would force change in the department came in 1989. Weldin and Tomsic got the call and rushed to the scene. 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. 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. Johao Miguel Chavarri, 26, threatened the victims through social media platforms if they refused his request for explicit photos or videos. A Torrance police officer has been charged with assault for his role in a 2018 shooting. I dont know that we can take anything theyve said at face value.. SB 2 is far reaching and it is another model towards police accountability that we didnt have before in the state, Hart said. One (Torrance officer) said, The white people pay us to keep Mexicans out, said Esparza, a night student at Inglewood High School. The exact number of officers involved in the scandal is unclear. Simpson case, the downfall of Orange County Sheriff-turned felon Michael S. Carona and the use of unauthorized drugs by Olympian Carl Lewis. In Torrances 2021 Strategic Plan a report that gathers data from city departments, local businesses and residents via randomized surveys and focus groups to determine what issues to prioritize found that creating an independent oversight commission was listed as a key concern for residents. I dont want to have a board that is nothing more than a place that people come and give their complaints.. The invisible line arcs southeast across the top of Torrance, a theoretical border separating the crime-addled heart of Los Angeles County from the relative peace of its coastal suburbs. WebPOLICE DEPARTMENT DAILY CRIME LOG February 2023 Date Incident Reported Complaint # TSU - MPD Location Offense Classification Date/Time Incident Occurred on or Between Item(s) Stolen (Torrance Parking Lot) Destruction-Damage-Vandalism 2/14/23 14:00 2/14/23 13:45 Sentra At certain levels noises are Thank you very much for providing the information we requested. 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. The city prevailed. 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.. 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. TheCalifornia Public Records Actdoes not regulate the use of records obtained from public agencies. Schroeder initiated contact with the man because he was sleeping in a park after it closed, the records show, and used the choke to take him down after an altercation. 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