gonzalesleanback A former investigator for the Long Beach Citizens Police Complaint Commission has filed a wide, detailed and potentially very damaging lawsuit—in money and in scandal—charging that high-ranking Long Beach city and police officials harassed and ultimately fired him for uncovering too much evidence of Long Beach Police Department misconduct and pointing out that a lopsided majority of complaints against officers by the poor and people of color were never investigated at all.

Tomas Gonzales, now 62, was officially fired by former City Manager Jerry Miller in the fall of 2005 after six years with the Citizens Police Complaint Commission (CPCC). But legal documents obtained by GreaterLongBeach.com in conjunction with KBEACH.org, the online radio station at Long Beach State, indicate that dissatisfaction with the results of his investigations was increasing among a growing number of senior city and police officials—including City Attorney Robert Shannon, now-former Police Chief Anthony Batts, Assistant City Manager Reggie Harrison and now-former CPCC Executive Director William Ward.

In his lawsuit, Gonzales describes harassment so intense and so varied that he claims violations of his civil rights in areas ranging from workplace retaliation and racial discrimination to violations of the Family Medical Leave Act and the Whistleblower’s Protection Act.

Trial has been set for June 13.

However, City Attorney Robert Shannon has filed legal notice that he will move for dismissal of Gonzales’ suit May 12, basically asserting that Gonzales has no grounds to sue.

“Plaintiff [Gonzales] was an at-will employee who could be terminated at anytime,” Shannon writes in his notice. “Plaintiff was hired as a part-time investigator to investigate claims within the auspices of the Citizen-Police Complaint Commission.”

The Citizens Police Complaint Commission was created by Long Beach voters in April 1990 when city officials either could not or would not take control of a Long Beach Police Department that appeared to be running amok.

Although the LBPD has always had a bit of a reputation for playing hardball, the 1980s featured a persistent parade of incidents in which officers’ misconduct ranged from bullying to violent to deadly. The Press-Telegram published an investigative series that laid bare an appalling situation in which many officers felt free to devise their tactics—seemingly any tactics—without regard for training, discipline or the law.

Eventually, the LBPD embarrassed Long Beach before the nation. Two of its offers were caught in a sting operation conducted by a pair off-duty law enforcement offers from outside the city and videotaped by NBC News.

Don Jackson, a Hawthorne police officer on administrative leave, and Jeff Hill, an off-duty federal corrections officer—both African-American—drove an old car into Long Beach on Saturday night. The television crew’s van followed.
As they motored along Pacific Coast Highway, the two were soon pulled over by a Long Beach police patrol car. They came to a stop outside a furniture store with a big showroom window.

Moments later, the tape shows LBPD officer Mark Dickey shove Jackson face-first into a plate glass window, shattering it, and then throw him onto the police car. The LBPD originally charged Jackson with the crime of obstructing a police officer, although the charge was dropped when the videotapes exonerated him.

The incident rallied the public to support some activists’ longtime calls that the police be subject to some sort of oversight by citizens.

On April 10, 1990, the Citizens Police Complaint Commission was bolted into the City Charter with 57 percent of the vote. It is composed of 11 members, one from each of Long Beach’s nine council districts, who are appointed by the mayor and approved by full council vote.

It’s mission? This is how Shannon, the city attorney, describes it in his recent court notice: “The CPCC was established to provide an independent investigative commission to receive, administer and investigate allegations of misconduct against Long Beach Police Officers. Specifically, CPCC is tasked to investigate allegations of excessive force, false arrest and complaints with racial or sexual overtones.”

However, the CPCC never came close to wielding the kind of power envisioned by its advocates. In 1992, when public support was still strong, the commission looked into more than 200 allegations of unnecessary or excessive force—but sustained only one.

According to a July 1993 story in the Los Angeles Times, civil rights experts already considered the CPCC one of the weaker citizen review panels in California. It was criticized for operating in secret, depending on the Police Department to investigate most claims, almost always siding with the police officer and never using its subpoena power.

Nearly 20 years later, the lawsuit Gonzales has filed is expected to expand and detail those shortcomings. He  will describes a Citizens Police Complaint Commission that has been neutered by changes in by-laws that give most of the decision-making power to the executive director—these days, Anitra Dempsey—who answers to the city manager and a trend appointing commissioners and hiring investigators who either have personal backgrounds or close relatives in law enforcement.

However, Gonzales may first have to remind most people that Long Beach even has a Citizens Police Complaint Commission.

 To hear extensive interview with Gonzales and CPCC executive director Anitra Dempsey that was conducted jointly by GreaterLongBeach.com and KBEACH.org, [CLICK HERE]. It can be downloaded as a podcast.