A
Los Angeles police official is defending a decision to suspend fewer officers
for misconduct.
Deputy
Chief Mark Perez told the Police Commission on Tuesday that officers who got
warnings for drunk driving, using excessive force and other misconduct were six
times less likely to be repeat offenders than officers who were suspended
without pay.
The
officers were warned that they could be severely disciplined and even fired for
repeated misconduct.
The
Police Commission ordered LAPD officials to come up with a formal policy for
issuing such warnings.
The
Los Angeles Times says during a four-month period last year, 12 officers were
suspended for a total of 128 days. That's well below the 60 officers who were
suspended for 558 days during the same period in 2009.