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Council asks Police Commission to study separating criminal and administrative investigations in LAPD internal affairs
Summary
The City Council unanimously asked the Police Commission to study whether the LAPD's internal affairs function should separate criminal investigations from administrative investigations to protect the integrity of both tracks.
The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ask the Police Commission to study restructuring the Los Angeles Police Department's internal-investigations functions so criminal and administrative inquiries run on separate tracks where appropriate.
Councilmember Chick introduced the motion and invited Merrick Bobb, who served as legal counsel to the Los Angeles Police Commission and now represents the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, to explain a model used in the county sheriff's department. Bobb described a long-standing county practice of dividing investigations: an Internal Affairs unit that handles administrative discipline and a separate Internal Criminal Investigative Bureau (ICIB) that investigates potential criminal misconduct and coordinates with the district attorney. He said the split has helped preserve the integrity of both administrative and criminal casework.
Bobb told the council the sheriff's approach "manages to keep the administrative investigation separate from the criminal investigation, and therefore preserves the integrity of each of those investigations." He also noted that the LAPD already has elements within Internal Affairs that investigate criminal conduct (a Special Operations Section) and that differences in charter timing rules and bargaining-unit issues can complicate a straight transplant of the sheriff's model to the LAPD.
Councilmembers largely supported studying the change but differed about sequencing. Several members urged folding the study into the broader Board of Inquiry review of department practices so the Commission's work would be comprehensive rather than piecemeal. Chick amended the motion to remove a 45-day reporting deadline and to seek a report "as soon as is feasible," leaving it to the Police Commission to decide whether to report separately or as part of the Board of Inquiry findings. The amended motion passed on a unanimous roll call (13-0).
The council record shows the body asked the Police Commission and department to report on how LAPD internal affairs could be restructured to reduce evidence contamination and improve coordination with prosecutors, and to identify collective bargaining or charter constraints that might limit options.
