Portland Press Herald
PORTLAND, Maine — The police department next week will send 15 officers to Los Angeles - former home of Chief James Craig - to learn how the large urban police force does everything from special weapons and tactics training to internal affairs investigations.
''I am always looking for ways to elevate our effectiveness, and the best way to do that is look at best practices across the country,’' said Craig. He will not be accompanying the officers.
Los Angeles developed a reputation for excessive force and corruption in the 1990s after the videotaped use of force in the Rodney King arrest and revelations of misconduct in the department’s Rampart Division.
But those abuses led the Justice Department to investigate the LAPD and ultimately compel it through a federal consent decree to adopt and implement the best practices available in policing.
The LAPD is now used as a model for many departments in the U.S. as well as overseas.
''They look at themselves as a teaching department,’' said Portland police Commander Michael Sauschuck. He noted that earlier this month, 80 police officers from Egypt were training with the LAPD. ''It gives them a chance to show off what they do,’' he said.
The Portland group plans to fly out Sunday, spend three days observing, researching and riding along, and then return Thursday.
''It is not a junket,’' Sauschuck said. ''It’s job training on best practices.’'
Sauschuck said he has created teams of officers to focus on different areas of the LAPD. He and other command staff will focus on headquarters issues, such as how internal affairs investigations are handled, grants are pursued and Homeland Security functions are carried out.
Staff will study how Los Angeles uses the CompStat model, the goal of which is to use crime statistics to more efficiently apply police resources.
Others will look at community policing initiatives like the senior lead officer program that Craig recently transplanted from Los Angeles to Portland.
The trip, which will cost about $20,000, is being paid for with a federal training grant.
Craig said officers will give presentations when they return that will be open to fellow officers, members of the community policing advisory group and the media.
''When private industry wants to look at how to be successful in an industry, they research top companies,’' Craig said. ''We won’t necessarily implement everything they learn. Some of it is cost-prohibitive.’'
Copyright 2010 Portland Press Herald