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In Los Angeles, police officers who work in gang and narcotics units will soon be required to disclose private details of their personal finances. It's an attempt to fight corruption within the ranks. Crooked cops have been a big problem for the LAPD in the past, but the police union says this new policy is not the right solution.
NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO: A federal judge handed down the financial disclosure requirement as part of a consent decree responding to the LAPD's infamous Rampart Scandal. In the late 1990s, anti-gang unit officers in the city's Rampart Division were found to have been planting evidence, framing and even shooting alleged gang members.
Mr. JOHN MACK (Police Commissioner): These are the officers who handle cash money. You know, they are the ones who have contact with drug dealers and operators, and a lot of cash gets exchanged.
DEL BARCO: Police Commissioner John Mack chairs the civilian oversight committee that monitors the LAPD. He says the requirement would apply to such officers throughout the department.
Mr. MACK: The thinking of the court was that it's important to determine if some officers may have some unexplained wealth.
DEL BARCO: For example, Mack says, the anti-corruption plan would look into officers with salaries of $50,000 to $75,000 a year, who seem to be living beyond their means. They'd be asked to reveal details about their bank accounts, mortgages and credit cards.
But Tim Sands who heads the L.A. Police Protective League says the plan is ill-conceived and intrusive.
Mr. TIM SANDS (President, L.A. Police Protective League): And it will not prevent corruption because if I'm a dirty cop, I'm not putting that money in my checking account.
DEL BARCO: The police union has already filed a lawsuit against the department to stop the financial disclosure requirement. Now, Sands is running dramatic-sounding radio ads.
(Soundbite of radio ad)
Mr. SANDS: Imagine if your boss demanded that you give him all of your personal financial information, even when you had done nothing wrong, including all your bank account numbers and those of your spouse, your children, and even your grandchildren. He then told you that there would be no guarantee who the information would be seen by. Would you agree to work under these conditions?
DEL BARCO: Sands says the LAPD already has tools to weed out suspicious cops -polygraph exams, investigations, subpoenas. And while the police commission promises to store the financial information in the police chief's office, Sands says many are afraid their records could get into the wrong hands. It's part of the message he talks about in the radio ad.
(Soundbite of radio ad)
Mr. SANDS: It will make the men and the women who put their lives on the line vulnerable to yet another kind of crime - identity theft. More than 500 officers are willing to leave their units rather than take the financial risk of sharing their personal information.
DEL BARCO: The police union says officers feel they'll be vulnerable to some of the criminals they arrest. But Police Commissioner John Mack isn't buying their arguments.
Mr. MACK: That's a threat that they've been throwing out there. Frankly, I think it's a scare tactic.
DEL BARCO: Mack admits the requirement is not foolproof. There are those who could beat the system. But he says most officers shouldn't fear the requirement.
Mr. MACK: It is not the end of the world. Their lives are not going to be turned upside down. And assuming that most of them, I'd like to assume all of them are honest, they have nothing to hide.
DEL BARCO: The plan will soon take effect for new hires into the anti-gang and narcotics units, and in two years, for officers already there. But as their lawsuit proceeds, the police union continues to lobby L.A. city officials to reverse the plan.
Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.