WHAT YOU SAY IN THE CLASSROOM DOES NOT STAY IN THE CLASSROOM

A 28-year veteran LAPD cop may get fired for making inappropriate remarks while teaching a class to other cops

I have observed many poice training classes in which the instructor got carried away and would say something entirely inappropriate. I have noted something common to many police officers who are called upon to conduct a training class.

The officer will try to get the trainees to like him. He will try to impress them by telling ‘war stories’ throughout the session. He will refer to people using cop jargon, some of which is considered insensitive by minorities. And sometimes, he will get so carried away that he starts expressing his personal beliefs and opinions. That insensitive jargon and those personal opinions, especially when they involve internal department conflicts or politicians, can leave the officer waddling around in deep shit, and may even cost him his job.

That is what’s happening now to a 28-year veteran LAPD cop. In November 2013, Frank Lyga, a detective in LAPD's gang and narcotic division, was teaching a class to other cops when he shot his big mouth off on matters not dealing with the class subject. A black officer made a recording of Lyga’s presentation and gave it to Internal Affairs because he was offended by what he felt were racist remarks. Last June, the 28-year veteran was removed from street duty pending outcome of the investigation. And now, the LAPD Board of Rights has recommended Lyga be fired.

It seems that Lyga got way off the subject when he started talking about shooting Kevin Gaines, a black LAPD officer, way back in 1997. Gaines was off duty and in civilian clothes and Lyga had just come off an undercover narcotics investigation wearing grubby clothes. The two, neither of whom knew the other one was a cop, got involved in a traffic dispute. For some reason Gaines pulled his gun, and Lyga fearing for his life shot him dead. The shooting became controversial when several black cops and community activists claimed the shooting was racially motivated. Lyga was absolved of any wrongdoing.

Johnnie Cochran, of O.J. Simpson fame, and black civil rights lawyer Carl Douglas represented the Gaines family in a lawsuit. Here is how Jasmyne Cannick described part of the recording on her Jasmyne website, in which Lyga tells about a conversation he had with Douglas:

Lyga says, “The last thing I want to say is that Carl Douglas hit me up and said, ‘did you intend to shoot him’?”

With his colleagues laughing in the background, Lyga says he responded to Douglas by saying, “I hit him, didn’t I?”

He says that Douglas asked if it was an accident to which Lyga replied “No it wasn’t an accident.”

Lyga then says Douglas asked if he had any regrets. “I said yeah,” according to Lyga. “No, I regret that he was alone in his truck at the time.”

Lyga then goes on to say to his colleagues, “Figure that one out. Hear that? Alone in the truck at the time. I could have killed a whole truckload of ‘em…and would have been happily doing it–doing so.”

Cannick also reported Lyga as “saying how Capt. Lillian L. Carranza couldn’t find her ass with both her hands because someone else’s hands were always on it and because she’s been ‘tossed around’ a couple of times.” She also reported that Lyga was heard on the recording as referring to Johnnie Cochran as a “crooked-lipped motherfucker” and Douglas as [Johnnie Cochran's] “little Ewok assistant.”

What Lyga said about Carranza, Cochran and Douglas may very well have been true, but those kind of comments have absolutely no place in any classroom presentation.

In his appearance before the Board of Rights, Lyga admitted he made those and other remarks and he apologized profusely. Apparently the board was not impressed with his apologies.

I cannot comprehend what possessed Lyga to make those extremely inappropriate remarks. They were beyond the pale for whatever subject he may have been teaching.

Should Lyga be fired? My heart tells me no, but my brain says yes. It will be up to Chief Charlie Beck whether to fire Lyga or hand out a lesser punishment.

Now here’s my advice to police, parole and correctional officers. If you’re called on to teach a training class, stay strictly on the subject that you are supposed to teach. Save your war stories for coffee breaks. Above all, don’t get into internal department conflicts and keep your damn personal beliefs and opinions to yourself. What you say in the classroom does not stay in the classroom.