The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) is the
police union
A police union is a trade union for police officers. Police unions formed later than most other occupations, reflecting both a conservative tendency and relatively superior working conditions. The first police unions formed in the United States. Sh ...
representing
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
(LAPD) officers up to the rank of
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...
. LAPPL has a membership of 9,900 sworn officers.
The LAPPL serves to protect the interests of LAPD officers through
lobbying
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
, legislative and legal
advocacy
Advocacy is an Action (philosophy), activity by an individual or advocacy group, group that aims to influence decision making, decisions within political, economic, and social institutions. Advocacy includes activities and publications to infl ...
,
political action
In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ...
and
education
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Va ...
. LAPPL has long supported more traditional law-and-order policies. As of 2020, LAPPL is currently led by Craig Lally, President, and Jerretta Sandoz, Vice President.
History
The predecessor to LAPPL, Police and Fire Protective League, was formed in 1923, to protect the combined pension system for the Los Angeles Police and
Fire Department
A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...
s. In 1973, the Police and Fire Protective League was separated into two unions, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, and LAPPL.
In 2009, the LAPPL launched a free daily electronic news
clipping service
A media monitoring service, a press clipping service or a clipping service as known in earlier times, provides clients with copies of media content, which is of specific interest to them and subject to changing demand; what they provide may include ...
that summarizes the
law enforcement
Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term en ...
and relevant
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
news of the day. LAPPL also publishes an official
blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
featuring information and commentary from LAPPL
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
As of 2020, LAPPL is led by Craig Lally, President, and Jerretta Sandoz, Vice President. Craig Lally was named as a "problem officer" in the
Christopher Commission
The Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, informally known as the Christopher Commission, was formed by then-mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley in April 1991, in the wake of the Rodney King beating.
It was chaired by attorne ...
, an independent panel that proposed reforms in the wake of the 1991 police beating of
Rodney King
Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving whi ...
. The officers were flagged by the commission to illustrate the problem of excessive force in the LAPD.
Controversies
Disciplinary process
In May 2017, the LAPD union backed Measure C, which provides police officers accused of wrongdoing with the flexibility to seek resolution through an all-civilian discipline board, in addition to a traditional board comprising two command officers and one civilian examiner. The measure, despite opposition from the American Civil Liberties Union for its purported weakening of LAPD's disciplinary system, was passed by Los Angeles city voters. The
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
editorial board also endorsed a "no" vote for the measure, characterizing the measure as a "union ploy to go soft on police misconduct."
Employee misconduct
In 2018, LAPPL defended the actions of Kevin Ferguson, an LAPD officer who had fired his gun at teenagers in Anaheim while he was off-duty. The
Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners
The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, also commonly known as the Los Angeles Police Commission, is a five-member body of civilian-only, appointed officials which oversees the Los Angeles Police Department.
Organization
The board is made ...
found that Ferguson actions violated LAPD policy, and Ferguson subsequently resigned.
Influence in local elections
Between 2010 and 2020, LAPPL has directly contributed over $100,000 to
Los Angeles City Council
The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles in California.
The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The President of the Los Angeles City Counc ...
candidates, while its independent expenditure committees, which are not subject to donation limits, have spent millions of dollars. During the 2013 Los Angeles mayoral election, LAPPL-sponsored committees spent over $1.5 million backing
Eric Garcetti
Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...
's mayoral opponent.
In the lead-up to the March 2020 Los Angeles County District Attorney election, LAPPL contributed over to two separate political action committees in order to defeat
George Gascón
George Gascón (born March 12, 1954) is an American attorney and former police officer who is the district attorney of Los Angeles County. A member of the Democratic Party and a former Republican, Gascón served as the district attorney of San ...
, a reform-minded candidate running for the office of Los Angeles County District Attorney. During the election, law enforcement unions, including LAPPL, had instead contributed over 75% of the $2.2 million raised by incumbent District Attorney
Jackie Lacey
Jacquelyn Phillips Lacey (born February 27, 1957) is an American politician who served as the District Attorney of Los Angeles County from December 3, 2012 to December 7, 2020. Lacey is the first woman, and first African-American, to serve as LA ...
. Lacey ultimately lost the race, despite broad financial support from law enforcement unions.
As of June 2020, 11 of the 15 incumbent City Council members have received LAPPL donations. Opponents have argued that such campaign donations distorted elected officials' decision-making, and has prompted incumbent council members like
David Ryu
David E. Ryu (Korean: 유은석; born 1975) is an American politician, who served as the Los Angeles City Councilman for District 4 from 2015 to 2020.
2020 LAPD budget
Amid the ongoing
COVID-19 recession
The COVID-19 recession, also referred to as the Great Lockdown, is a global recession, global economic recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The recession began in most countries in February 2020.
After a year of global economic slowdown ...
and a projected budget deficit that the city of Los Angeles faces, LAPPL argued for a continued need for the city government to adopt a FY 2020–2021 budget that allocates $1.857 billion to LAPD, the single largest line item in the city's proposed budget. The prior year, in 2019, LAPPL had negotiated a 4.8% pay raise for LAPD officers effective July 1, 2020, in addition to an "education bonus" payout of $41 million (equivalent to $ million in ) to LAPD officers with college degrees, effective April 2020. The total impact of these negotiated pay raises was expected to add $123 million to the city's budget, contributing to the forecasted reversal of the city's projected revenue surplus into deficits "between $200 and $400 million in each of the next four years."
In the wake of the
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internati ...
, the size of LAPD's planned budget has received significant widespread scrutiny and public outcry. On June 5, 2020, Garcetti publicly announced his intention to reduce LAPD's budget by up to $150 million, a reversal from his prior budget, which had proposed an increase of 7% to LAPD's budget, including the aforementioned package of negotiated raises and bonuses for LAPD officers. The following day, LAPPL officials denounced Garcetti's plans to cut LAPD spending and characterized him as "unstable," with the LAPPL vice president Jerretta Sandoz characterizing Garcetti's announcement as "one of the most craven, disingenuous political sleights of hands we have seen in some time." LAPPL officials also announced they had no intention of renegotiating the pay raises.
Affiliations
LAPPL is affiliated with the National Association of Police Organizations (APO), the California Coalition of Law Enforcement Associations (CCLEA), Southern California Alliance of Law Enforcement (SCALE), and United Coalition of Public Safety (UCOPS). It is also informally affiliated with BIG 11, representing the 11 largest sworn law enforcement associations in California, and with BIG 50, comprising the 50 largest law enforcement associations in the United States.
Finances
LAPPL is a
501(c) organization
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
. In 2019, the union had million in revenues, and million in assets. LAPPL also runs a political action committee dubbed the Los Angeles Police Protective League Issues PAC.
Footnotes
See also
*
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...