The ACLU of Southern California, Asian Pacific American Legal Center, Japanese American Citizens League and NAACP Legal Defense Fund are urging the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Lee Baca to retain crucial information regarding officer misconduct. At issue is how long the County will retain data tracking employee performance on its 'Personnel Performance Index' (PPI). This agenda item is scheduled to be discussed at 11:00 am Tuesday, December 21 before the Board of Supervisors.

The PPI is the Sheriff's Department's master system for keeping track of employee performance. As County Special Counsel Merrick Bobb has explained, the PPI is 'a repository of powerful data' regarding complaints of officer misconduct. It was set up to fulfill the 1992 recommendation in Judge Kolts' 1992 report that the Sheriff's Department set up a computerized tracking system to report data on employees' use of force, citizen complaints, administrative investigations, lawsuits, and disciplinary history.

Tuesday's agenda item was carried over from last week's Board of Supervisors meeting, as the result of a disagreement between Sheriff Baca and Special Counsel Bobb regarding how long information should be kept on the PPI profile. As expressed in a report issued last month, Bobb's office was 'concerned and alarmed ... because the LASD is currently considering backtracking on the PPI and the key Kolts commitments....' Bobb has urged that information regarding founded complaints of a serious nature (including sexual harassment, discrimination, and misuse of force) be kept on the PPI profile indefinitely, and that other founded complaints be kept on the profile for at least 10 years.

The civil rights groups will urge that Bobb's recommendations be followed, so that Sheriff's Department officers may be held accountable. 'The PPI was set up to create a mechanism by which the Sheriff's Department can track the performance of its officers, including those who may present a danger to people in the community,' according to ACLU Staff Attorney Dan Tokaji, who will testify before the board on Tuesday. 'It is essential that this system be kept strong, and that information regarding complaints against deputies be rigorously maintained. The recent scandal at LAPD's Rampart Division demonstrates the disastrous consequences of allowing officer misconduct to fester unchecked. The Sheriff's Department must not be allowed to backtrack on its commitment to keep its eye on officers who may present a danger to the community or to their fellow officers.'

The ACLU of Southern California applauds the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for today's vote in opposition to Proposition 22, known as the Knight Initiative. The measure, which will come before California voters in March of 2000, would require the state of California to discriminate against same gender couples legally married in other states, should such marriages ever become legal. The ACLU, which has long opposed the measure as 'mean-spirited, divisive and unfair,' was represented before the board by Reverend James M. Lawson.

'The ACLU and its more than thirty thousand members stand in opposition to this hateful ballot measure,' said Rev. Lawson. 'The ACLU has long championed civil rights for all. The Knight Initiative will affect every Californian, not just our friends and loved ones who are gay or lesbian.'

Rev. Lawson continued, 'This initiative is couched in the language of morality and tradition, but is in fact founded on prejudice. This state simply cannot weaken the rights of any one person - or any one group - but must ensure that all people enjoy every right. We know that when similar laws have been passed in other states, the measures have been used to attack anti-discrimination protections. 'California must be above wedge politics. We applaud the Board of Supervisors for rising up against discrimination and voting 'No on Knight.''

Reverend Lawson, himself the son of a Methodist minister, served as a close advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for more than 10 years. In 1974, he became the pastor of the Holman United Methodist Church and subsequently the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Los Angeles. In addition to serving as a board member, Rev. Lawson has worked with the ACLU to desegregate the schools of Los Angeles. He currently is president of the Fellowship for Reconciliation, serves on the boards of the Interfaith Task Force on Central America, the ACLU-SC and the Coalition Against Police Abuse.

Today's vote against the Knight Initiative follows the County Human Relations Commission's request the Board of Supervisors oppose the Knight Initiative, citing the 'deleterious' effect it would have on human relations in the County. Numerous elected officials and government bodies have already stated their opposition to 'Knight' including Vice President Al Gore, the Los Angeles City Council, the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors and U.S. Representative Tom Campbell.

At a press conference in front of the Los Angeles Police Department's Parker Center, civil rights leaders today announced the formation of the Coalition for Police Accountability.

The mission of the coalition is to 'improve the policies and practice of the Los Angeles Police Department, and to restore the legitimacy of and the people's faith and trust in the LAPD and the criminal justice center.

Three months ago, scandals within the CRASH Unit of the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department jump-started the formation of this Coalition for Police Accountability, said ACLU Executive Director Ramona Ripston. 'It is clear that no one group can bring about this desperately needed reform alone. Today we invite all concerned groups and individuals to join the Coalition for Police Accountability. Step by step, we can succeed together in our demands for reform.

Organizers of the coalition stressed three goals:

-- To create as broad a coalition as possible to protect and serve our city by stemming the tide of injustice resulting from current LAPD abuses.

-- To insist that real accountability be hard-wired into the criminal justice system through independent and thorough investigations of allegations of police misconduct. 'Independent' means outside of the police department.

-- To study how other cities have successfully addressed lack of police accountability

-- We will insist upon more civilian control of the department and we will call upon the community to join us in our efforts,' said attorney Carol Watson, speaking for coalition member Police Watch.

The goal of the coalition is to hold the LAPD and political leaders accountable to the people of Los Angeles. Substantive civilian overnight is essential to ensure thorough investigations into and disclosures of abuse of authority, criminal activity and corruption within the department.

To protect against law enforcement abuses, to safeguard cherished individual liberties, to ensure that the LAPD respects the civil rights of its community members , and to promote a better working relationship between civilians and the police, the coalition seeks to evaluate and implement reforms establishing greater civilian oversight of law enforcement policies and practices and independent investigations of civilian complaints of police misconduct