May Day Officers Keep Jobs

None of the Los Angeles police officers accused of using excessive force on demonstrators and journalists at a 2007 May Day gathering at MacArthur Park will be fired, officials said Tuesday.Police Chief William J. Bratton had sought to punish 11 officers and called for the termination of four others by sending them to disciplinary panels for their involvement in the melee, which has cost the city $13 million in legal settlements. On Tuesday, Bratton said that the internal disciplinary boards had concluded their work and that the maximum penalty imposed was a 20-day suspension for one officer..... Under the city's charter, the chief lacks the authority to kick an officer off the force. Instead, Bratton must send the officer before a three-person disciplinary panel, called a Board of Rights. After considering the evidence in a case, the panel can find that the officer should be fired, be punished less severely or be vindicated. The chief can accept the panel's recommendation or impose a lesser punishment, but he cannot seek to increase the discipline.