Comments on: LAPD Has “Wrong Door” Team to Fix Damage From Botched SWAT Raids

By: The Briefcase » Friday wrap-up

The Briefcase » Friday wrap-up — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:05:06 +0000

[...] The Good News: The Los Angeles Police Department has a special unit to fix the doors of houses that the police break down in raids where they’ve gotten the wrong house. The Bad News: The Los Angeles Police Department needs a special unit to fix the doors of houses that the police break down in raids where they’ve gotten the wrong house. [...]

By: SusanK

SusanK — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:46:11 +0000

I think this rises to the level of “evil genius”

By: Dave Krueger

Dave Krueger — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:05:50 +0000

From SusanK

…repair the damage and the wronged parties are not likely to find a lawyer to sue them. Plus, if they do, the city can argue they already accepted settlement by allowing the repairs. $65,000/year to prevent multi-million dollar lawsuits being filed by truely harmed and sympathetic plaintiffs is a bargain….

And the cops get a news article making them look as though they are doing a community service on the same level as rescuing abused puppies or helping destitute tornado victims.

By: Max Deployment

Max Deployment — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 05:08:44 +0000

Did someone say “SWAT” and “politically correct?”

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-parry16mar16,0,3411363.story

By: SusanK

SusanK — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:55:00 +0000

First of all, what is a “civilian carpenter” and who are “civilian employees”? Outsiders?
Second of all, it’s a brilliant plot by the city - repair the damage and the wronged parties are not likely to find a lawyer to sue them. Plus, if they do, the city can argue they already accepted settlement by allowing the repairs. $65,000/year to prevent multi-million dollar lawsuits being filed by truely harmed and sympathetic plaintiffs is a bargain.
Finally, I take it that they don’t fix your door if you deserved to be arrested. I seem to have missed the part of the criminal code that imposes property damage as punishment for crime.

By: armleg

armleg — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:11:43 +0000

“”I heard back in the day of (former Police Chief Daryl) Gates, they had 75 in one year, if I’m not mistaken. Right now, things are a lot more politically correct than they were back in the ’70s and ’80s,” he said.”

Politically correct? Because if we weren’t so concerned with crazy ideas like diversity and ethnic profiling, we’d be kicking doors down every day like we used back in the good old days. It would be too naive to hope it was civilization.

By: primus

primus — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 23:47:26 +0000

aside from the need for a repair guy to fix wrongly damaged doors is the question of whether this is the right way to spend the city’s money. Observe that he makes $31.25 per hour, plus the cost to the city of his benefits, so the cases for medals which he is building cost the city $250 plus materials EACH. Equivalent cases can be easily purchased for a quarter that cost, or less. Another example of rampant stupidity in the police department.