After sheriff’s chief of staff, former Burbank deputy chief resigns, questions remain

After a top Los Angeles County sheriff’s official resigned amid mounting criticism over emails he forwarded mocking Muslims, blacks, Latinos, women and others while he worked at the Burbank Police Department, local leaders voiced concerns about how Burbank officials handled the discovery of the correspondence two years ago.

Tom Angel, who recently stepped down as Sheriff Jim McDonnell’s chief of staff, sent the emails in 2012 and 2013, when he was the No. 2 police official in Burbank, hired to reform a department reeling from allegations of police brutality, racism and sexual harassment.

Angel’s Burbank emails were first released in 2014 in response to records requests filed by a Los Angeles attorney on behalf of an unnamed client.

Reached this week, attorney Travis Poteat said the request stemmed from a “desire to hold public officials accountable.”

After recently learning of the requests, which sought various records, including four years’ worth of emails to and from top-ranking Burbank police officials containing derogatory language about Islam, African Americans, Latinos and others, the Leader sought the same records.

In an interview before the emails were published, Angel said he did not mean to embarrass or demean anyone.

“Anybody in the workplace unfortunately forwards emails from time to time that they probably shouldn’t have forwarded,” Angel said. “I apologize if I offended anybody, but the intent was not for the public to have seen these jokes.”

City officials said this week that after Angel’s emails surfaced, he was counseled and reminded of city policies, though it’s unclear whether the event was recorded in his personnel file.

“The public deserves to have more answers as to what happened and why,” said Mike Chapman, president of the Burbank Human Relations Council, adding that the city needs a “zero-tolerance policy on discrimination, one that has some teeth, and is consistent from top to bottom.”

Angel should have been removed from his Burbank post as soon as the emails surfaced, said Minnie Hadley-Hempstead, president of the NAACP Los Angeles.

“I don’t care which agency he was servicing at the time, he should’ve been out,” she said.

But some who worked with Angel in Burbank called him a respectful leader who comfortably interacted with different ethnic groups.

“He has very strong leadership skills, and he is very compassionate,” said Josephine Wilson, a Burbank police administrator and Ugandan immigrant.

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When asked about the emails, she said, “I have never heard him once in his speech or otherwise make any such comments.”

Before the emails were discovered, Burbank police officers, detectives and civilian employees were subject to random audits of their email folders and attachments, according to city spokesman Drew Sugars.

The recurring audits, which were conducted by a police sergeant on roughly 25 employees, did not extend to other sergeants or higher-ranked staff, such as lieutenants, captains, the deputy chief and police chief. At the time, Angel served as deputy chief.

After a June 2012 email audit, four employees — three civilians and one sworn officer — were counseled for policy violations. A similar review of emails in December of the following year left five employees — four sworn and one civilian — subject to counseling for policy violations. Sugars did not know the nature of the violations.

No violations were found in a September 2014 email review, so the following year’s audit focused on other areas, not emails, according to Sugars.

An audit scheduled for this year, he said, will include more ranks, including the command staff.

Michael Gennaco, an attorney hired in 2012 to provide independent oversight of the Burbank police agency, was unaware of the emails until recently.

After reviewing them at the request of the Leader, Gennaco asked LaChasse for a meeting to evaluate the agency’s response and ensure that officers are aware of the city’s email policies.That’s on the books for next week.

“Unfortunately, it’s sometimes too easy to compose or forward an email without thinking a whole lot about it,” Gennaco said, adding that the degree of culpability varies, depending on whether the sender composed the message or passed it along.

The uproar echoes recent controversies in other cities. In San Francisco and Ferguson, Mo., police officials who sent racially derogatory emails or text messages were placed on leave or fired.

Guidelines spelled out in Burbank’s technology use policy — dated February 2011 — prohibit using email to communicate offensive messages, including ones that may demean “another’s race, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, medical condition, marital status, gender, sexual orientation or age.”

Employees who abuse the system could lose their email rights or face disciplinary action, according to the policy.

The Burbank City Council this week received a memo addressing the police department’s audit system, as well as Angel’s emails, though that document was not immediately available to the Leader.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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