保罗·普林格（Paul Pringle）
洛杉矶时报
(MCT)
Leaders of two organizations of Black and Latino members of the Los Angeles Fire Department have called for a federal investigation into what they allege is widespread racial bias and other wrongdoing in the agency’s treatment of employees.
美国检察官办公室对询问的需求如下本周的《泰晤士报》报道在指控LAFD中的一名高级白人官员在据报道在该部门总部值班时受到酒精或毒品的影响后，他获得了优惠待遇。
In a letter Wednesday to acting U.S. Atty. Tracy Wilkison, Assistant Chief Patrick Butler, president of the Latino firefighters group Los Bomberos, wrote that the case involving Chief Deputy Fred Mathis “is just one of many examples that we have come to know, which demonstrates a pattern and practice of corruption and potential violations of civil rights within the Los Angeles Fire Department.”
“We all want and demand accountability and transparency from our civic leaders and government services,” he wrote. “The men and women of the LAFD deserve nothing less.”
威尔基森的发言人说，美国检察官办公室对巴特勒的信没有评论，或者办公室是否会进行此类调查。
Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas did not respond to an interview request. A department spokeswoman issued a statement indicating the agency would cooperate with a federal investigation.
“It’s the prerogative of any member organization to request a review by third party agencies, to which the Department is committed to providing its full cooperation,” the statement said.
A spokesperson for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement: “The Mayor is concerned by this incident, and expects full cooperation from members of his administration in any investigation. The City Attorney, who has both civil and criminal prosecutorial authorities, has already initiated an independent investigation of the matter, and the Mayor trusts the City Attorney to conduct it quickly and thoroughly.”
巴特勒和消防检查员杰拉尔德·杜兰特总统of the Black firefighters group the Stentorians, had earlier asked the Fire Commission for an investigation into how the department’s chief handled the allegations against Mathis. As The Times reported Monday, Terrazas was informed by colleagues that Mathis, the department’s top administrative executive, was under the influence at City Hall East on a day in May when the agency was battling the Palisades fire.
A complaint against Mathis was not filed for three days, records and interviews show, and Terrazas did not respond to an email from The Times asking whether Mathis was required to undergo mandatory testing for alcohol or drugs. In addition, a retroactive entry into Mathis’ timekeeping record showed that he was on sick leave the day he was reported to be intoxicated while on duty, according to documents obtained by The Times and interviews.
Butler and Durant said the department’s handling of the episode amounted to a cover-up and possibly a violation of civil rights and other laws.
Commission President Delia Ibarra turned the initial request for an investigation over to City Atty. Mike Feuer’s office. Feuer, who declined to comment to The Times, subsequently asked a Pasadena law firm to investigate.
Stentorians执行副总裁Butler和Robert Hawkins表示，引进私人公司将进一步避免市政府官员免受公众审查。他们说，LAFD被歧视和掩盖文化所困扰，以至于只有更广泛的联邦调查才能导致改革。
巴特勒和霍金斯列举了早期的争议，他们说，塔拉扎斯和他的执行团队不愿意将纪律和晋升的标准应用于白人消防员，他们与非白人消防员一样。
The assistant chief, who has testified for the department as an expert in disciplinary procedures, pointed to an incident in which a white firefighter was allowed to remain on the job after he was被指控打孔当该男子被束缚在痛苦的时候，头部的黑人被拘留者在头上，拧紧脸上的一条毛巾，使他大喊：“我无法呼吸。”
As an example of harsher treatment, Hawkins said, a Black firefighter was forced to resign after he was falsely accused of lying on a document that stated he attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. The firefighter had to attend the meetings because of a DUI arrest many years ago.
上个月，六名黑人雇员在防火局中负责安全检查和调查火灾的原因，起诉该市，指控LAFD受“优秀的老白人男孩俱乐部”的管辖，该俱乐部歧视了授予晋升。和a Times report本月审查了抱怨，即加塞蒂未能兑现他的诺言，以大大扩大女性消防员和大修的行列，在该部门中，妇女和非白人消防员告诉人们感到被欺负。
On Tuesday, the day after The Times reported on the allegations against Mathis, the Fire Commission’s president sent an email to Butler saying she understood his “concern about disciplinary issues being disproportionately applied to people of color. I personally take that concern very seriously. If there is a racial component to that, then I want to get to [the] bottom of that.”
伊巴拉说，她将要求该部门的独立评估员向委员会提供有关“所有有关滥用毒品的纪律案件，研究种族角度以及该部门如何处理该案件以及该部门如何应用纪律”的报告。
在信中，伊巴拉（Ibarra）也对自己在委员会的工作感到沮丧：
伊巴拉写道：“我非常担心，在过去的一年左右的时间里，人们并没有互相倾听，并且尊重我们所有人在部门中的不同经历，就像有色人种（和妇女）一样。”“为自己说，作为一个拉丁裔女人，来自工人阶级的背景，即使作为委员会的负责人，我也经历了男性的审查水平，白人和富裕的白人也没有经历。
“是的，即使是消防委员会的负责人也是如此。”
在一次采访中，她拒绝评论联邦调查的呼吁，并说她支持Terrazas作为“好领导人”。
加塞蒂（Garcetti）的办公室拒绝了《纽约时报》（Times）的一项要求，要求对马蒂斯（Mathis）指控有关的众多文件。
《泰晤士报》获得了针对Mathis的投诉副本，并从该部门内部的消息来源获得了计时记录。
作为该部门行政局的指挥官，Mathis负责“对事件管理团队负责人的重大紧急事件和其他事件做出回应”，并进行“前学科的听证会，并向消防措施的矫正行动负责人提出适当的建议，agency’s website says.His pay is more than $350,000 a year, city records show.
The complaint, which was filed electronically, states: “It is alleged that on/about Tuesday, May 18, 2021, Battalion Chief Stacy Gerlich witnessed Chief Deputy Fred Mathis exhibiting signs of intoxication, while on duty at City Hall East. Additionally, Chief Mathis is alleged to have admitted to Chief Gerlich that he had been drinking alcohol.”
格利希没有回应面试请求。
Assistant Chief Jaime Moore said in an interview that another employee told him Mathis appeared to be intoxicated. Moore said he went to Terrazas’ office sometime in the middle of that week to relay that information and said the chief “assured me that he would handle it.”
The Times’ copy of Mathis’ timekeeping record shows that he was on sick leave May 18 and May 19, entries that were made May 22.
The LAFD has long been plagued by allegations of racial and gender bias. In 1974, a federal consent decree required that nonwhite people make up at least half of new hires by the department annually. At the time, they accounted for just 5% of the firefighting force.
该法令一直持续到2002年，当时非白人雇员人数达到50％。
今天,部门的一位发言人说,大约54%的the roughly 3,700-member agency’s firefighters and civilian workers are nonwhite. However, just 3.5% of the firefighter ranks are women, and complaints about racial bias beyond the hiring figures have persisted.
In 2013, after Chief Brian Cummings resigned under pressure, Garcetti’s search for a replacement took place against a background of mounting legal claims alleging bias in the agency. As part of one legal settlement, the city agreed to have the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission more closely monitor the LAFD’s anti-discrimination training program for firefighters and their supervisors.
加塞蒂said then that his “prioritiesin bringing new leadership” to the department included “bringing a much-needed change to the culture there.” Terrazas was appointed chief the following year.
这个故事最初出现在洛杉矶时报。
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