Plan Would Give Police Watchdog More Power

City Councilman Jack Weiss and former LAPD inspector general Jeff Eglash on Monday proposed reforms to boost the power and independence of the police watchdog’s office, including a recommendation that it report periodically to the City Council.

Eglash, who resigned in December, told the council’s Public Safety Committee that the Police Commission limited his ability to talk to civil rights attorneys, prosecutors, the press and a monitor appointed by a federal judge to oversee the LAPD’s implementation of reforms.”I think that sometimes the commission views having a strong [office of inspector general] as a challenge to the commission’s own power, whereas I see having a strong OIG as an important way to assert and extend the commission’s authority,” Eglash said in a report submitted to the council panel.

He and Weiss said the office of inspector general should be modeled on Los Angeles County’s Office of Independent Review and its special counsel, who reports to the Board of Supervisors on issues involving the Sheriff’s Department.

In particular, Weiss and Eglash said the inspector general should be involved in police investigations of officer misconduct, and not just review the LAPD’s investigative reports after the fact.

“When we get the file the case is essentially over,” Eglash said in his report.

Joe Gunn, the executive director of the Police Commission, said the inspector general is employed by the Police Commission. Requiring the watchdog to report to the City Council is “ludicrous,” he said, because the council has no authority over department policy. Gunn also said the inspector general can talk to prosecutors, outside attorneys, the independent monitor and the press, but only after following procedures meant to preserve the integrity of the system.

The council panel asked its staff to review the proposals and report back with recommendations.