Andre Birotte

Andre Birotte, Jr., is no ordinary man.

Birotte is a black man—the son of Haitian immigrants—who serves as the tip of the spear when it comes to civilian oversight of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).

Birotte (pronounced BEE-ROH) has served as LAPD’s Inspector General since 2003, when he became the first minority to hold the post, a job that puts him front and center when it comes to taking a hard look at the conduct and policies of the agency.

“When there are controversial incidences, I am there at the meetings, spending hours and days with community members, getting their concerns, calling community members and saying this is what we are doing, this is the status of this investigation,” says Birotte. “So it’s a team effort here—we work with the police department to ensure that the investigations are the best that they can be, as well as with the community to hear their concerns and issues to make sure all of those things are taken into account in deciding these criminal cases.”

The Office of Inspector General also conducts extensive community outreach, informing residents of its own role and explaining the purposed of the Police Commission and the operating procedures of LAPD. Those efforts come on a periodic basis, with additional emphasis as needed in the wake of high-profile use of force incidents and other developments of particular interest to the community.

The efforts of Birotte, his colleagues, and concerned members of the community paid off recently, when a judge lifted a consent decree that had kept LAPD under intense federal scrutiny for eight years. The federal order came as part of the fall-out and follow-up of the Rampart scandal of the late 1990s, which revealed police corruption and other problems within the agency. The consent decree aimed, among other things, to ensure that LAPD’s operating procedures gave proper deference and respect to the civil rights of residents of the city. The order also aimed to ensure that the city’s civilian Police Commission and the Office of Inspector General had a grip on overseeing the agency.

Earlier this year, U.S. District Court Judge Gary A. Feess decided that LAPD had met the goals of the consent decree and that the police commission was providing effective oversight.

Count that as a win for Birotte.

“I think that was a memorable moment for our office,” he says. “In some ways that was a Good Housekeeping stamp of approval that we were doing what we needed to do to give the community some comfort that someone else is watching and providing a fair and objective analysis of the LAPD.”

It didn’t come easy. A recent report from the Police Commission noted that the Birotte’s office prepared more than 1,400 case reviews, took more than 1,600 complaints, produced 30 quarterly discipline reports, reviewed and provided analysis on 870 Categorical Use of Force cases, and prepared 130 audits and audit reviews over the course of the consent decree.

Birotte is in charge of a staff of 32, and he says the city’s elected officials have been supportive of his unit’s work—help that he expects to remain in place as LAPD enters a post-consent decree transitional period.

“We have been fortunate to have the support of the City Council and the Mayor’s office, and obviously the Police Commissioners, with respect to the needs of our office,” he says. “We have a responsibility under a transition agreement that is an extension of the consent decree to provide certain services, and they have been very sensitive to that, given the economic climate.”

Birotte’s success at Inspector General amid a major phase in LAPD’s history is the latest chapter in a life that began in New Jersey, where he was born to Haitian immigrants. He attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he majored in psychology.

“My father was a physician, and it looked like my path into medicine was carved out,” he says.

Then came a job working as a ‘gofer’ at a law firm in Essex County, New Jersey, a low-level position that he calls “the defining moment for my career path.”

“There were a couple of lawyers that saw my potential and took interest and showed me how to research a case,” he says.

The experience led him to fly west and pursue a law degree at Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu. He began his legal career as a public defender in Los Angeles, representing indigent client, and soon went on to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where he investigated and prosecuted numerous violent crime, fraud, and narcotics trafficking cases. Birotte then spent several years in private practice before taking the job as Inspector General for LAPD.

Birotte says that he believes the stepping-stones to a productive journey in life come from working hard, developing solid working relationships, and having very good mentors from early on.

“There are people who have the same interests as you and are able to shed light and help you through your path,” he says. “You do not have to re-create the wheel all the time.”

Birotte encourages youngsters to seek out mentors and get involved in alumni associations and other organizations that hold the potential to bring new perspectives and contacts. He also encourages all of the residents of Los Angeles to remember that the LAPD’s Office of Inspector General is in place to serve them.

“We are here as a resource,” he says. “We would like to think that we are a bridge between the community and the police.  Everyone working together to do what we all want—that is to have a police department that everyone can have confidence in.  We would like to think that we play a significant role in that.”

Contact the OIG at: www.oiglapd.org.