Dont Be Discouraged
Having assembled an ever-growing vault of corruption and misconduct allegations to make one more run at prosecuting authorities, the officers repeatedly urge the Grand Jury to be prepared to shovel deeply into the law enforcement turf. They warn the prospective investigators that a vast palette of condemnatory evidence awaits them if they can marshal the will and the patience to authorize a lengthy search that promises to be debilitating at times. The suspects the officers hope will be interviewed are wily experts at manipulating investigations, say the officers. With the cooperation of City Hall, one source told thefrontpageonline.com, they have fought off inquiries for years. They are very good at discouraging investigators. Even without mentioning names, the targets of the accusing officers are obvious in some instances. One example of a cover-up, they charge, came in a potentially volatile case concerning the possible sharing of confidential Dept. of Justice information with members of the King Fahad Mosque and the (subsequent) failure on the part of two retired Culver City police chiefs to order a comprehensive internal investigation into the matter. The accusers target specific persons within the Police Dept. on a less grand scale. They question the psychological fitness for duty of a retired supervisory officer who is still authorized to carry a concealed weapon.
Retaliation Charged
Officers say that whistleblowers in Culver City have been punished by their supervisors. They claim there is a pattern and practice of reprisals of sworn Culver City Police Dept. personnel for their reporting of unethical acts and misconduct. (S)everal cases have resulted in past and current civil litigation. Many of these actions have resulted in extreme financial hardship for the individuals involved. No fewer than 40 fellow officers, current and retired, were identified for the Grand Jury as persons who have experienced reprisals or who can provide information, or who may be named to call and testify in a Grand Jury proceeding. The officers also name seven present or former executives in City Hall, leading off with City Manager Jerry Fulwood. They also name the five members of the City Council, five members of the immediate past Civil Service Commission, two Superior Court judges, and five members of the County District Attorneys office, starting with Chief Deputy D.A. Sergio Gonzalez.
Postscript
Filing the complaint has not boosted his spirits or made him more hopeful of what he called a just outcome, one officer said today. My confidence in any government agency, he said glumly, is very low.
