LAFD Makes Progress Following Audit

LOS ANGELES --

The Los Angeles Fire Department has made significant progress since an audit released more than two years ago discovered patterns of harassment and discrimination, but more work still needs to be done, according to an audit released Friday.

City Controller Laura Chick's 2006 audit on the LAFD found that minorities and women were routinely discriminated against and faced incidents of harassment. The findings led to numerous lawsuits and the replacement of then-Chief William Bamattre with Douglas Barry.

"This is the change in leadership that the (previous) audit was calling for. It has to come from the top down. Chief Barry's strong leadership has produced results," Chick said.

Despite progress, the controller called for the department to staff the Professional Standards Division with independent monitors and not sworn captains. She also urged LAFD brass to create a system to track complaints and disciplinary actions.

"Which is better taxpayer dollars spent -- the difficult-to-find dollars upfront to give the resources to the chief that he needs to fully implement the reforms or the back-end dollars that are to lawyers and lawsuit settlements?" Chick said.

Barry took over the department as interim chief in December 2006, and was named the permanent chief in August last year. Since then, he has visited every fire station in the city to articulate how he expects firefighters to behave.

One firefighter is currently going through the disciplinary process for a hazing incident that took place during Barry's tenure, he said. The chief would not elaborate on the case, other than to say the firefighter will likely be suspended.

"The fire department is a microcosm of society. For me to say there will never be a hazing case, never be a harassment case -- I can't tell you that, just like Chief (William) Bratton can never say there won't be crime in the United States," Barry said.

One practice that Barry noticed at some firehouses was that rookies were made to stand, even when seats were available, while veteran firefighters sat.

"There's no value in that," Barry said.

He contrasted that with the practice of making rookie firefighters responsible for raising and lowering the flag outside each station, something that is appropriate for new members to do, Barry said.

Barry said he expects to see the number of new lawsuits involving discrimination and harassment claims to decrease by 50 percent in the next year.

"Many of these issues that will be coming up in lawsuits happened two, three, four years ago, and they're coming to fruition in the next year," he said of ongoing litigation.

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