Second in a series.
Re: “Bixby Admits Error in Red-Light Camera Gaffe”
With patience and clarity, Police Chief Scott Bixby detailed what happened recently when his photo enforcement officer compounded his first error with a second one – neither of which a veteran officer should commit.
Wrong from the start, the Unnamed Officer thought he recognized the actor Steve Tom as a red-light camera violator on June 15 at the intersection of Sepulveda Boulevard and Green Valley Circle.
The Unnamed Officer thought his friend (?) Mr. Tom’s presence in Fox Hills was logical since Mr. Tom’s former wife lives in Fox Hills. Wrong again. Mr. Tom corrected the record yesterday. He said she lives in Las Vegas.
The Unnamed Officer’s third consecutive mistake was handing off the ticket to a colleague. As Chief Bixby later learned, the Unnamed Officer dumped his responsibility “because he knows (Mr. Tom). He thought it would be better if somebody else issued the citation.”
Three strikes, and the Unnamed Officer was out, triggering a serious of embarrassments for the Police Dept. of Culver City.
Mr. Tom, logically and obviously, was upset at being wrongly accused by the Unnamed Officer.
Mr. Tom brought his case to the Los Angeles Times.
What followed was not sun shining on a Police Dept. that has been pin-neat in recent years.
Strike Four was next.
The Unnamed Officer was so confident the driver of a white Land Rover was Mr. Tom that he shrugged off the required verification procedure.
Said Mr. Bixby: “Instead of verifying and doing the background check on the registered owner, they went ahead and issued this thing.
“Frankly, I felt bad for Mr. Tom. He came in and said, ‘Hey, this is not me. This is not me.’
“Our officer was so sure that it was Mr. Tom that frankly (the wrongly charged driver’s protest) kind of fell on deaf ears.”
(To be continued)
