Charges Filed for Three Officers Involved in Falsification of Field Identification Cards NR20165ma

UPDATE

October 2, 2020

Early Friday morning October 2nd, 2020, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against three more Los Angeles Police Department officers, in connection with the ongoing misconduct investigation involving the falsification of field identification cards. Rene Braga, Booking No. 6023740. Charged with one count of 134 PC-Preparing a False Document for Evidence and One count of 118.1 PC-Filing a False Police Report. Bail is set at $20,000. Julio Garcia, Booking No. 6023712. Charged with one count of 134 PC-Preparing a False Document for Evidence. Bail is set at $20,000 Raul Uribe, Booking No. 6023730. Charged with one count of 134 PC-Preparing a False Document for Evidence. Bail is set at $20, 000. Currently, there are 18 officers who are subjects of the Department’s continuing internal investigation. Of those officers, 11 are assigned home, and 7 have been assigned to non-field duties. Chief of Police Michel Moore said this morning, “We are committed to continuing our thorough investigation of these troubling actions and have already taken steps to ensure it never happens again. Reverence for the Law and Respect for People are the pillars of our core values. We will strive to live up to those principles by holding anyone accountable who violates them.”

Los Angeles: Earlier today the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed charges against three Los Angeles Police Department police officers. The charges stem from a misconduct investigation conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department’s Internal Affairs Group and monitored by the Office of the Inspector General. Investigators also worked closely with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Justice System Integrity Division.

One of the officers charged today was relieved from duty and the officer’s police powers removed at the end of January 2020 when Chief of Police Michel Moore concluded that the officer’s actions were a serious violation of Department policy. That officer has been directed to an administrative tribunal for the purpose of removal. Of the two additional officers charged today, one has been previously assigned home during the investigation and the other has similarly been assigned home given the seriousness of these criminal charges. Both Officers’ peace officer powers have also been suspended. The LAPD will continue to fully cooperate with the District Attorney’s Office during the prosecution of these cases.

The charges filed today do not mark the end of our investigation. There are currently 21 additional officers under investigation related to completion of Field Identification (FI) Cards. Ten officers are currently assigned to home pending the outcome of the investigation, eight are assigned administrative duties, five remain in the field, and one has retired since the investigation began. This investigation remains a priority for the Department and we will continue to follow the investigation where it leads.

Action was taken quickly to put safeguards in place to ensure this type of behavior does not happen again. These actions included retraining of all Metropolitan personnel on the proper completion of a FI Card and random audits of officer’s body worn video with increased frequency of audits. While we had been using a more stringent criteria in the collection and review of information associated with the California Gang Database; we recently committed to no longer using the database for anything other than removing individuals from it.

LAPD Chief Michel Moore in a statement today said, “Public trust is the bedrock of community policing and these allegations shake that foundation. The actions of these few tarnish the badge we all wear. The Department is committed to continuing this comprehensive investigation in our effort to restore the confidence of the people we protect and serve.”