Why would Examiner.com feature the headline “Internet groups form in support of fugitive ex-cop” as the top news story on the Los Angeles area page today? Our parent company, AEG, has been making large investments to help make Los Angeles the “Sports Capital of the World,” including STAPLES Center, three league championship winning professional sports teams, dozens of youth sports programs and a state-of-the-art stadium planned for downtown Los Angeles. An ironic twist to the Dorner drama is that insurance rates for police misconduct and negligent shooting of innocent bystanders might skyrocket so high, Los Angeles will be forced to fix failures at the Los Angeles Police Department or file for bankruptcy. This would wipe out the huge police pension benefits that are a big part of the city’s problems.
A major challenge to sports success in Los Angeles is the high murder rate -- ten times higher than Germany, Russia and many other countries. Local leaders’ inability to do much about the issues Christopher Dorner has raised or prevent innocent bystanders from being sprayed with bullets in Torrance Thursday is the type of news that makes sports travelers prefer safer destinations like Green Bay, Wisconsin. America only has two percent of the votes on the International Olympic Committee. When the IOC defeated Chicago’s 2016 Summer Olympics bid, it sent an important message that America needs to be a safer place. L.A. Councilman Tom LeBonge is leading an effort for Los Angeles to qualify as host of the 2024 Olympics. Good luck!
The LAPD’s response to the Dorner drama is providing more evidence of two little known facts about the Los Angeles Police Department. First, one of former LAPD’s Chief Bill Bratton’s most flawed policies was to eliminate math testing or any math skill requirement for LAPD recruits. The results speak for themselves; over three hundred active duty military officers lost their homes to improper foreclosure by L.A. area banks because no one in the financial crimes unit of the police force had sufficient math skills to understand the difference between a debit and a credit. Hundreds more lost their homes to improper non-judicial foreclosure that has made Los Angeles the most disrespected city in international finance.
In addition, poor math skills have resulted in almost no one at the LAPD being able to figure out another notable failure of Bratton’s policies that L.A. is still paying for today. The over-engineered information technology systems that Bratton's staff paid hundreds of millions of dollars for do not work and can easily be rendered ineffective by flaws in automatic updates. The core technology is the same type of statistical program that led to the U.S. mortgage meltdown, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, and a large, worldwide financial crisis. In December 2012, researchers at Columbia University in New York shared Department of Defense research that shows sophisticated computer technicians or big organized crime syndicates can infiltrate the software updates with malware. So of course, no one at the LAPD has figured out that if its leaders do not fix the corruption and incompetence issues that this week’s tragic news have spotlighted, big insurance companies will have to force L.A. to fix them.
Intelligent investigators with good math skills would recognize that there is a measurable possibility that Christopher Dornan has been framed. The Los Angeles citywide local election takes place March 5 and early voting has already started. If this horror story scares enough voters from voting at polling places guarded by police, special interests who can mobilize mail-in ballots can rig the election.
The experience of Costa Mesa’s Republican Mayor pro tem Jim Righeimer highlights the widespread abuse of framing by police union leaders and the law firm that has represented them, Lackie, Dammeier & McGill. Righeimer, a taxpayer advocate who supports San Jose’s successful trial of increasing police and fire department productivity, was framed for a DUI by Lackie, Dammeier & McGill operatives last summer. In fact, he had been drinking Coca-Cola. This smear of a top Olympic sponsor was not welcomed by IOC members who will evaluate the Los Angeles - Southern California 2024 bid. Following Righeimer’s personal experience, the “Daily Pilot” reported that “council members from around Orange County say Lackie, Dammeier & McGill and its clients have harassed city officials leading up to elections and contract negotiations.”
The Lackie, Dammeier web site actually publishes a written confession of using tricks. The text for the firm's 2013 training seminar (a great value at only $225) states “You will learn from Mr. Dammeier the tricks and tools he has used over the years to obtain record breaking contracts for his clients.” A Lackie, Dammeier testimonials page is equally revealing. It publishes the private cell phone number of Torrance Police Officer’s Association President Thomas Winchester -- (310) 405-3095. That is not considered a “best practice” for security professionals and does not meet the high standards for an Olympic bid.
This admission of tricks and privacy oversights has resulted in more active involvement by local Republican leader, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. He has referred multiple reports of intimidation of public officials and manipulation of public elections to the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ has not cleared the police unions of these very serious accusations (and the Lackie, Dammeier web site admits them). So serious analysts at insurance companies now assume widespread framing and intimidation of public officials is a factor and have increased local government insurance rates accordingly.
Many Examiners know much more about this topic than I do, but I know something they do not know. Dean Schramm, the husband of LA City Controller and mayoral race front-runner Wendy Gruel, is one my schoolmates from Amherst College. Schramm is also a bona fide mathematical genius. He understands these complex details better than almost anyone in Los Angeles. If Los Angeles is lucky enough to get Wendy Gruel as its Mayor, it will take a big step forward toward making the LAPD deserving of serving the future "Sports Capital of the World."
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