Life of a Whistleblower

Bob Mullally goes to prison for releasing cops� domestic-violence records

Comments (0) By Jim Crogan Thursday, Jun 5 2003

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Mader looked at 227 cases investigated between 1990 and 1997. Her 1997 report found that in more than 75 percent of confirmed cases, the officer’s personnel file failed to mention or minimized the domestic abuse; 29 percent of investigated officers were later promoted; and 31 percent were accused of committing violence at home. Mader also found that 30 officers were repeat offenders.

Mader asked for a toughening of discipline against domestic abusers, that more cases be referred to prosecutors, and proposed that a domestic-violence unit inside Internal Affairs be established. That unit, the Family Violence Unit, began operations in late 1997 and, according to published reports, arrested at least six LAPD officers in the first half of 1998 for domestic violence.

Since then, however, official interest in the issue seems to have waned. The spokesperson for the Board of Police Commissioners says that Internal Affairs’ family-violence unit has not submitted any reports or statistics to the commission concerning its work. Nor, it seems, have the commissioners asked for a report. New Inspector General André Birotte Jr. says his predecessor, Jeff Eglash, did not do a follow-up investigation. But, he adds, “After five years, I think it’s something that should be followed up on. I plan to talk to the Police Commission about it.”