LAPD chief seeks to fire officer accused of classifying innocent people as gang members
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore on Friday announced he is seeking to fire an officer who allegedly falsified reports and listed some innocent people as gang members, and the LAPD is referring to the matter to the district attorney's office for possible criminal charges.
The officer, who was directed to an administrative tribunal for removal, has not been publicly identified. Two other officers involved in the incidents remain assigned home pending the outcome of additional investigation, the LAPD said in a news release.
The moves stemmed from an internal investigation of some officers in the department's elite Metropolitan Division who were assigned to South Los Angeles and worked on crime-suppression duties.
MORE: LAPD officers accused of falsifying reports, wrongly classifying people as gang members
"I am committed to continuing the pursuit of a thorough examination of all of the circumstances of this failure including what organizational issues or motivations may have influenced this behavior," More said in a statement. "I have heard clearly the voices of those in our community who believe these actions discovered have existed in our past as well as today.
"And while to date our investigation has found the vast majority of the time our personnel have acted with integrity," the chief said, "we are determined to understand what motivations existed for anyone to commit serious misconduct in the falsification of information on a Department report."
