200 N. Main Street, 7th Floor
City Hall East Los Angeles, California 90012
Mail Stop: 400
(213) 978-4640
(213) 978-8216 (FAX)
Risk Management and Legal Affairs Division’s (RMLAD) overall mission has three objectives:
1) To work closely with the City Attorney’s Office to bring about successful outcomes in defending civil liability claims and lawsuits filed against the City and/or the Department involving LAPD personnel; and,
2) To ensure the Department complies with all relevant legal requests for Department records, both from the public and/or other government entities, while protecting the privacy and safety interests of the Department and its employees; and,
3) To develop harm reduction strategies for Department-wide intervention and/or implementation with the single focus on proactively reducing risks that can cause physical, financial, and organizational harms to the Department.
The Employment Litigation Section (ELS) at Risk Management and Legal Affairs Division (RMLAD) assists the City Attorney’s Office in defending employment lawsuits brought against the City/Department by its own personnel for such issues like discrimination, retaliation, sexual harassment, and/or unfair labor practices. It also acts as the Department’s resource for legal advice on duty-related issues and coordinates in-service training as necessary. The ELS has two distinct units: Employment Litigation Unit (ELU) and Legal/Training Unit (LTU).
Employment Litigation Unit
The ELU at RMLAD is tasked with working hand in hand with the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office in preparing a vigorous defense of the Department and City in litigation. The investigators assigned to the unit examine civil lawsuits with assigned City Attorneys to determine the plaintiff’s theory and discuss strategy in preparation of a defense for named defendant officers and the City.
Investigators assigned to the ELU are responsible for: preparing defense strategies, obtaining discovery items, liaising with Department witnesses, providing insight and expertise on Department operations, attending depositions, trials and other general litigation support duties.
Legal/Training Unit
The LTU is responsible for processing requests for legal opinions from Department personnel to the Office of the City Attorney. The process to request a formal legal opinion from the City Attorney is outlined in Department Manual Section 3/218.60. Working in concert with the City
Attorney’s Office, it acts as the Department’s resource for legal advice on duty-related issues for Department personnel. An employee can contact the LTU directly for legal advice when served with a civil lawsuit.
Additionally, the LTU has the following important responsibilities:
The Civil Litigation Section (CLS) assists the Office of the City Attorney in defending civil liability claims and lawsuits brought forth by the public and/or outside entities against the City/Department and its personnel due to law enforcement actions. The CLS consist of five Units: Civil Litigation Unit (CLU)-A, CLU-B, Business Complex Unit (BCU), Litigation Task Force (LTF), Traffic Unit (TU), and Claims Unit (CU).
Civil Litigation Units A and B
These two units, CLU-A and CLU-B, are responsible to assist in handling routine lawsuits pertaining to LAPD personnel who have been sued for police actions taken while they were performing work within the scope of their employment, on or off duty status.
Business Complex Unit
The BCU is responsible to assist in handling more complex lawsuits often involving not just LAPD personnel’s actions but also relating to the City’s Ordinances, the Department’s Policies and Procedures, and/or private corporations identified as the plaintiff.
Litigation Task Force Unit
The LTF is responsible for helping the assigned attorneys prepare to defend the City/Department and LAPD personnel on lawsuits related to protests and civil unrest incidents by gathering and reviewing various Department records and preparing witnesses for depositions.
Traffic Unit
The TU is responsible to assist in handling mainly traffic collision lawsuits filed against LAPD personnel and the City/Department.
Claims Unit
The CU is responsible to investigate police-related liability claims for damage served upon the City/Department, and it represents the Department in Small Claims Court’s proceedings.
PUBLIC RECORDS & SUBPOENA RESPONSE (PRSR) SECTION
The Public Records & Subpoena Response (PRSR) Section ensures the Department complies with court-ordered subpoenas relating to confidential or restricted Department records. It also responds to public citizen and/or outside entity requests for Department records citing the statutes of the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the California Public Records Act (CPRA), the California Senate Bill (SB) 1421/16, and the California Assembly Bill (AB) 748. The PRSRS is comprised of these four units: Administrative Unit, Subpoenas Duces Tecum (SDT) Unit, CPRA Unit and SB1421 Unit.
Administrative Unit
The Admin Unit is the support staff for the Officer-in-Charge of the PRSR Section. It performs the daily administrative tasks of PRSRS and provides guidance and support to other units. It also oversees court-mandated writs and special projects specifically relating to discovery matters.
Subpoenas Duces Tecum Unit
The Subpoena Duces Tecum Unit represents the Custodian of Records. The SDT Unit is responsible to process and coordinate responses with the City Attorney’s Office to both civil and criminal court ordered subpoenas for Department records/documents. State laws require a minimum of 15 calendar days for civil subpoenas and 5 calendar days for criminal subpoenas of service lead time for them to be accepted and processed.
Subpoenas for Department records from the Custodian of Records must be personally served at the following location during normal business hours, which are Monday – Friday, 8 am to 4 pm (excluding Holidays). All Subpoena Duces Tecum must be served in-person at:
LAPD – Risk Management and Legal Affairs Division
Public Records and Subpoena Response Section
Subpoena Duces Tecum Processing Unit
200 N. Spring St., Suite 1900
LA, CA 90012
(213) 847-3615
California Public Records Act Unit
The CPRA Unit is responsible to process and coordinate responses with the City Attorney’s Office to public written requests for Department records, citing the statues of the California Public Records Act (CPRA) and/or the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), submitted to the Department via online through the City’s NextRequest portal, regular postal mail, facsimile, and/or in-person. The Department is obligated by State laws to provide a written response to all CPRA requests within 10 calendar days and may implement another 14 calendar days extension when necessary.
Senate Bill 1421/16 Unit
The SB 1421/16 Unit is responsible to process and coordinate responses with the City Attorney’s Office to public written requests for Department records, citing the requirements of California Senate Bill 1421/16 and/or California Assembly Bill 748, submitted to the Department via online through the City’s NextRequest portal, regular postal mail, facsimile, and/or in-person. Similar to CPRA requests, the Department is also required to provide a written response within 10 calendar days and may implement another 14 calendar days extension when necessary. The unit also complies with public disclosure requirements specified by law.
The Risk Management Section (RMS) is comprised of the Discovery Compliance Unit (DCU), the Risk Management Executive Committee Support Unit (RMECSU), and the Pitchess Motion Unit (PMU). It works within the greater area of risk management to ensure the Department is proactive in its awareness and addressing of risk management concerns regarding employee’s actions or behaviors. It also works to ensure that the Department complies with legal requests for Department personnel records, while protecting the privacy and safety of the Department and its employees.
Risk Management Executive Committee Support Unit
The RMECSU performs the administrative support function for the Department’s Risk Management Executive Committee. This committee comprising of Department executives reviews employees’ performance for risk management concerns and makes recommendations to the Chief of Police for corrective, non-disciplinary steps to address performance, behavioral, or other managerial concerns.
Discovery Compliance Unit
The DCU responds to prosecutorial agency requests to ensure compliance with prosecutorial disclosure requirements related to Department personnel records.
Pitchess Motion Unit
The PMU is responsible for processing and coordinating responses with the City Attorney’s Office to court-ordered Pitchess Motion requests for review of confidential Department personnel records. The court requires service of Pitchess Motions to the Department a minimum of 10 court days prior to a court hearing for them to be considered for processing.