Comments
LAPD - In May of this year, LA City Mayor Karen Bass stated that she wanted input from Los Angeles city residents and stakeholders on who should be named the next Chief of Police for the city of Los Angeles. According to the Los Angeles Times, the list had been narrowed down to ten candidates.
What a joke! As if John Q. Citizen would have the knowledge to determine the best candidate.
Many years ago, all of the candidates would attend community forums held at various locations within the city of Los Angeles, where residents and stakeholders could meet each candidate in person and ask them various questions.
I remember attending a candidate forum for the Chief of Police position in Northeast Los Angeles. The location of this forum was at Occidental College, Thorne Hall facility.
At that time, there were 13 final applicants: LAPD Assistant Chief David Gascon, LAPD Deputy Chief Margaret (Peggy) York, LAPD Deputy Chief David Kalish, LAPD Commander George Gascon, LAPD Commander Jim McDonnell, LAPD Commander Sharon Papa, Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker, Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez, Philadelphia Commissioner John Timoney, Santa Ana Chief Paul Walters, Cambridge, Mass. Commissioner Ronnie Watson, Sacramento Chief Arturo Venegas, and former Commissioner of Police for both New York City and Boston Police Department William Bratton.
As we all know, William Bratton was subsequently chosen and appointed as the next Police Chief for the City of Los Angeles.
After Bratton left LAPD, we had Chief Charlie Beck. That’s when we saw and heard about the "Good Ole Boys Club." It was under Chief Beck's tenure that we began to see large amounts of misconduct and unacceptable behavior by male LAPD command staff members, as well as by rank and file members whose family members had strong ties to Beck or were themselves retired LAPD command staff members. This type of unacceptable behavior continued tenfold under Chief Moore.
Just take the time to review all the LAPD command staff members who should have been fired for misconduct but were simply given a pat on the back and promoted.
Does Mayor Karen Bass honestly believe that the residents and stakeholders of the city of Los Angeles are aware of the select group of LAPD command staff members involved in open marriages, wife-swapping, extramarital affairs, or male command staff members having questionable relationships with their female subordinates?
Example in point of command staff misconduct: Does anyone know the outcome of the investigation when Chief Moore, accompanied by his wife and Assistant Chief Moreno and his wife, went on a fact-finding trip to Paris, France? I have been told that Chief Moore was not present when Moore's wife, Chief Moreno, and his wife, when one of the females made a serious allegation that a French citizen stole Moreno's wife's cell phone. (Review the LA Times article.) As it turns out, the female in question had the phone the whole time. What was the outcome of the investigation? Can we say "Code of Silence"?
We just recently read about Assistant Chief Labrada being demoted to the rank of Commander for unacceptable behavior. (He was seen as a strong choice to be the next Chief of Police for LAPD.) Labrada recently had a Board of Rights hearing and was found guilty of the multiple allegations before him. He then retired from LAPD with all of his pension rights. The truth is, Labrada had a long history of being a male with a roving eye on female police officers. He was promoted many times, not because he deserved it, but because he was part of the Good Ole Boys Club.
It is widely rumored that Bass already knows who she wants for the next Chief of Police. Does she want someone who can actually do the job, or is she going to pick someone who will do everything she wants them to do (lie about crime stats, cover up investigations by elected officials, and cover up other internal problems within the LAPD)? Is Bass going to pick someone based on race and diversity instead of someone who knows and has a complete understanding of the job? Is she going to pick a female over a more qualified male?
Right now, the Los Angeles Police Department is in a world of hurt. The overall morale within the rank and file, and even with some command staff members, can best be described as being in the toilet. Police officers are leaving LAPD for other law enforcement agencies. Many who are on the DROP program are choosing not to complete their five years and just leave.
Many others are not even applying for the DROP program and, once they reach the age of 55 years, are just retiring.
This can be attributed to the now-past leadership of Chief Moore and his cronies.
Now I ask: How can John Q. Citizen pick our next police chief when they have no knowledge of all the dirt and crap behind the scenes of the LAPD? It is long noted that the more you mess up as a male command staff member, the more promotions you obtain within the LAPD.
This is to say that some female command staff members did obtain their promotions by having questionable romantic relationships with their bosses.
Back in 2017, there was a horrific hurricane named Harvey, which caused mass destruction of property, displacement of 20 million people, and more than 100 deaths in and around the area of Houston, Texas, including Harris County.
The Houston Police Department was severely impacted by this devastating event.
Civilian volunteers and LAPD officers associated with the Community Police Advisory Board assigned to the Los Angeles Police Department Northeast Division then decided to make up hundreds of both male and female hygiene kits for the Houston Police Department to include their police officers and their families, civilian employees, and residents of the immediate Houston area. These civilian volunteers all gathered in the backyard area of the home of Rosa Rivas, a long-time community supporter of the LAPD Northeast Division. There, these volunteers made up the hygiene kits and placed them all in brown lunch bags, which were placed in large shipping boxes.
These unselfish volunteers also packed more than 500 bath towels, hand towels, and washcloths.
These volunteers reached deep down into their own pockets to pay for all the donated items.
The shipping boxes were subsequently taken to the local UPS office located in South Pasadena and mailed off to the attention of Chief of Police Art Acevedo of the Houston Police Department.
One can truly understand not immediately receiving a letter of acknowledgment or appreciation for the donated items that were sent to his police department.
However, Police Chief Art Acevedo left the Houston Police Department in 2021 to become the police chief of Miami, Florida.
During the time that the donated items were sent off to Police Chief Art Acevedo and his departure from the Houston Police Department, Art Acevedo never took the time to thank the LAPD officers and the members of the LAPD Northeast Division Community Advisory Board.
It was noted that each sent-off box of donated items had a return address of the LAPD Northeast Division and the noted Community Advisory Board.
Now, how can Art Acevedo, in good conscience, want to be the Chief of Police for the City of Los Angeles?
Rumors have it that he is one of Mayor Bass's top picks.
Let's hope that Mayor Bass takes the time to ask Art Acevedo why he failed to say thank you to police officers employed by LAPD and to the volunteers for helping his officers in their time of need and support.
I say no to picking Art Acevedo for the next police chief for the city of Los Angeles.
Another person who should not be considered is Emada Tingirides. First, for years, she has taken credit for things that she had no direct input on. One is the excellent work that police officers assigned to LAPD Hollenbeck Division did when working with the youth programs within the Ramona Housing Project.
Also, one has to take the time to review all of the Los Angeles Superior Court records surrounding the amended lawsuit by Nicole Mehringer (public records). Review the LA Times article dated 08/09/2023. If one reviews all of the submitted court documentation, you can see the name of Emada Tingirides. As per court files, it is noted that Emada Tingirides had a romantic relationship with her then-boss, Phil Tingirides. Can she honestly state that she did not obtain her climb up the ladder (promotions) if she had not had the relationship with her then-boss, Phil Tingirides? Did Emada violate the rules and guidelines as set forth by LAPD? It is known that Phil Tingirides was, for a period of time, part of the Good Ole Boys Club.
Why do so many LAPD female officers feel that they need to sleep their way up the ladder to obtain a promotion? What a shame.
But even more important is the fact that (review the news article from January 16th, 2024, Street Blog by Sahra Sulaiman) LAPD, namely several high-ranking LAPD command staff members and officers, including Tingirides, made attempts to cover up when a female LAPD officer operating a marked police vehicle, which was traveling at a high rate of speed committing numerous driving violations with its overhead light (red lights and possibly sirens on) without justification and authorization, hit a male pedestrian resulting in his death.
Word from many officers off the record is that the female officer was rushing to pick up an outfit from the cleaners so that a young female could be in a parade function.
As of this date, Emada Tingirides has failed to give an honest explanation surrounding the facts of this horrible tragedy. What was the outcome of the investigation surrounding the female police officer? Was she charged with vehicular manslaughter? Did George Gascon cover up this investigation?
During an interview with KCAL News, Emada Tingirides stated her love and commitment to the City of Los Angeles. If this were true, then why, soon after receiving her promotion from a Captain 1 position to the rank of Deputy Chief, did she apply for a Chief of Police position in the state of Texas? At least Texas knew that she was not qualified.
In fact, she was only promoted from a Captain 1 position to the rank of Deputy Chief to appease the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Emada is now the Deputy Chief of South Bureau, and just take a good look at what is going on in South Bureau.
People are being assaulted, shot, or killed on a weekly basis, if not daily. There's a massive increase in hit-and-run accidents resulting in death. And let's not forget about all of those street takeovers.
Emada has done nothing to improve the quality of life in the South Bureau area.
I say no to the selection of Emada Tingirides as the next Chief of Police for the City of Los Angeles. Based on information I received, if she is appointed, there will be a massive exit of both rank-and-file LAPD officers and command staff.
(Caroline Aguirre is a retired 24-year State of California law enforcement officer, LAPD family member, community activist and Neighborhood Watch captain. Aguirre is a CityWatch contributor.)
