Bell Officers Group Decries Memo On 'Baseball Game' Competition
BELL (CBS) — The Bell Police Officers Association is firing back after a memo surfaced in a published report outlining a baseball game-themed competition to tow more cars.
The memo, which was published by the Los Angeles Times, was titled the "Bell Police Department Baseball Game" and uses baseball terms to describe tickets, impounding cars and felony arrests of drivers. The memo comes as the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether Bell police violated the civil rights of residents by aggressive towing of cars and code enforcement.
Eight current and former Bell officials have been charged with public corruption, including former City Administrator Robert Rizzo, whose $800,000 salary made him the face of the salary scandal. The city's former police chief, Randy Adams, who earned a $400,000 salary himself, resigned in the wake of the scandal and has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
Bell's Police Officers Association claims that the memo was a parody of Rizzo's push for quotas during Adams' stint as chief.
"Bell police officers consistently protested the 'towing policy' and many were reprimanded for their disapproval," the Bell POA said in a statement.
Its not clear who actually wrote the memo or it was ever implemented.
Bell's population of a little over 36,000 has a median family income of $30,504, according to Wikipedia, yet records showed Bell's revenue increasing thanks to fees and taxes. In 2008-09 alone, Bell made nearly $1 million in impound fees, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Through his attorney Tom O'Brien, Adams later released this statement:
"When Chief Adams took on the position of police chief, it was brought to his attention that this baseball game issue had been a joke that had been made between several patrol officers...and that police supervisors had previously learned about it and already put a stop to it. Chief Adams made it clear that that type of behavior would not be permissible under his watch."
