LBPD Releases 1994 OIS Details

On Oct. 2 the Beachcomber published an article headlined “Candidate’s Shooting Details Stonewalled” in which Cindy Allen, a former LBPD officer and current candidate for the Long Beach 2nd District Council seat explained the circumstances surrounding her 1994 officer involved shooting (OIS). This was during a candidate’s endorsement Zoom meeting with the Long Beach Young Democrats club.

Based upon the candidate’s statement reported in that article, the Beachcomber – using research obtained from court records – reported that “several elements of Cindy Allen’s Sept. 29 statement made to the LB Young Democrats club as well as the initial May 1994 information provided to the press by the LBPD are false.”

In that article the Beachcomber also reported that attempts through the California Public Records Act (PRA) to obtain even more detailed information on the OIS investigation were illegally stonewalled by the LBPD.

Five hours following the online posting of the story, the Beachcomber received an email from the city manager’s office stating that the investigative reports related to the 1994 OIS incident would be released – as well as settlement documents related to the civil suit filed by Krone W. Tremain Jr., the unarmed longshoreman shot by Allen and her partner.

The highly redacted OIS investigative documents were received from the LBPD 11 days later, on Oct. 13.

The civil settlement records – which had previously been reported by the city attorney in response to a Beachcomber PRA as “no longer exist” has yet to be produced.

Analysis of OIS

Following review and analysis of 457 pages of documents plus audio and photographic exhibits, this writer wrote the following in an email to CD 2 candidate Allen:

“As you may know the LBPD released the OIS investigation report of your 1994 shooting this past Thursday evening.

“I have reviewed the entire file and – applying my experience as a former police executive and chair of the LBPD’s Use of Force board for many years – I agree with the in policy finding made by the LBPD in your case, especially in light of the LBPD policy at the time.

“In fact I found it commendable that you fired only one shot and stopped firing (her partner fired four rounds) when you saw that Mr. Tremain was stopped from continuing the threat that you reasonably perceived to have deadly potential.

“I was also impressed that the executive review of the OIS prompted a review of “controlled fire” in the academy Firearms Training System (F.A.T.S.) that resulted in an order from the chief of police at the time (William Ellis) to mandate repeated F.A.T.S. training until an officer passes the course.

“What I also found interesting in the review process was that the Chief of Police and Board was critical of the investigation in that it did not clearly address the “state of mind” of the officers prior to, at the time of, during and after the OIS.

“An assessment following the board review resulted in a memo that addressed a causative factor in the “state of mind” issue unique to the LBPD that contributed to this failure in the investigation.

“That issue being the fact that homicide OIS investigators are prohibited from interviewing the involved officers and that the involved officer is required only to write a report describing the circumstances of the shooting and the OIS investigator is prohibited from even asking questions of the officer that may arise from a reading of the report and its comparison to other investigative findings.

“In short, the investigator is unable to clear up inconsistencies via the interview or interrogation process.

“The report memo went on to state that only suspects are interrogated, witnesses are interviewed and police officers are debriefed and that the city attorney has traditionally approved of the practice of requiring officers involved in shootings to write a report and not be subject to any kind of interrogation or interview.

“I personally have a problem with the idea that the city attorney can interfere with the administration of the Police Department’s investigative methods to determine the fact and truth in an investigation just because the practice of interview, as opposed to providing only a written report, makes his or her job of protecting the city from liability easier. “

Questions to Allen

Based on your experience and new responsibilities if elected, would you continue to support this practice or would you urge that officer’s involved in shootings be interviewed as is the practice with all other police organizations across the state?

Do you support the statement that only suspects are interrogated, witnesses interviewed and police officers debriefed?

As you may know, the Beachcomber reported that certain of your statements made to the LB Young Democrats club regarding the 1994 shooting were not in line with the facts known at the time. Review of the LBPD OIS investigation does not change that reporting and in fact clarifies the fact that none of the witnesses had a consistent story – the DA, in rejecting a charge of ADW against Tremain stated, “All witts are prostitutes. They give three very different versions. Insufficient evidence for filing.”

In this case the chief of police also chastised the investigators, supervisors at the scene and reporting officers for taking a crime report alleging ADW by Tremain because the elements of the penal code section were not present.

In light of this – and the fact that your decision to fire at Mr. Tremain was reasonable and found to be a “clean” shooting – why did you feel the need to embellish the circumstances of the shooting when reporting it to the Young Democrats Club?

Why did you choose to report it as being “thrown out of court” rather than merely report that the matter was settled between the city and Tremain after several years of litigation?

The last issue I would like to address is the possession of the POA Badge and ID Card in the wallet holder coupled with the statements by Tremain that he was trying to identify himself as a “good guy” and a long-time supporter of the LBPD and was only trying to get his wallet to show the identification.

Looking back on what you learned after the shooting, do you believe that Mr. Tremain’s possession of the LBPOA badge and ID card was a causative factor that led to the shooting despite the fact that you reasonably believed that he was reaching for a gun rather than his LBPOA identification?

Do you believe that the POA should continue or stop the practice of issuing badges and ID cards to supporters?”

The council candidate did not respond to the questions posed by the Beachcomber.

Police Chief Questions

Beachcomber review of the OIS investigative reports also resulted in this writer making an inquiry related to present day police attitude and policy that was of concern to the LBPD chief and his commanders in 1994.

The following is the content of an email sent to Chief Robert Luna’s media relations unit:

“As a reporter for the Beachcomber – applying my past police experience to such matters – as well as my continuing concerns related to the LBPD’s practice of not interviewing officers involved in shootings – I found one element of the (1994 Shooting Review Board) hearing to be of interest. That being an exchange between the deputy chief of detectives and a homicide investigator following instruction by the shooting review board that directed the “Homicide Detail to reevaluate interrogation of officers involved regarding state-of-mind.”

The follow-up response to this OIS Board instruction took the form of a memo from Sgt. Bell of Homicide to the Deputy Chief of Detectives.

The Sgt. wrote: “In response to the above project assignment regarding the officer-involved shooting involving Officers D. Williams and C. Allen, officers are never interrogated regarding their involvement in· a shooting. Officers are debriefed. Interrogation is used for suspects. Interviews are conducted of witnesses, but officers are debriefed. State-of-mind of the officer at the time of the shooting is a prime concern of the investigators. This state-of-mind is relayed to the investigators during the debriefing. Officers are asked during the debriefing to relay their state-of-mind prior, during and after the shooting. That information is put into the reports filed by the officers themselves. As you are aware, the present policy is officers file their own reports, unless circumstances prohibit. This policy has been in effect for many years and is highly approved of by the city attorney’s office.”

The deputy chief responded to the Sgt. with a handwritten note on the memo as follows: “Sgt. Bell, thank you. The issue was particular to this shooting and the investigators could not convey the state of mind during the board. We need to make sure at the board that we can convey the difference in why one officer felt it was necessary to shoot and another did not. This is why the board asked you to review the policy…”

Beachcomber questions to Chief Luna:

Is the LBPD policy of not interviewing officer’s involved in shootings in fact driven by the city attorney’s office or does the LBPD administration believe that it is best practice for officers not to be interviewed and instead only be asked to document their involvement in writing?

Does the LBPD administration today subscribe to a policy that suspects are interrogated, witnesses are interviewed and officers are debriefed as stated in the Sgt. report? If so, why? If not, please provide the LBPD’s present policy and attitude on the subject of how an OIS is investigated and what the objective of the investigation is.

Finally, what is the LBPD’s method of determining the officer’s state of mind before, during and after an OIS?”

The LBPD media relations unit responded to the questions posed by the Beachcomber on Oct. 19 by providing a link to LBPD policy accompanied by the statement, “We are not prepared to provide further comment at this time.”

The policy information provided at the linked website did not answer the questions.

Questions for LBPOA

In that the Long Beach Police Officer’s Association (LBPOA) continues to maintain and promote an “Honorary Members Association” for fund raising purposes, the Beachcomber also sent an email inquiry to Rick Chambers, president of the LB POA, which included the following content related to the 1994 OIS investigation:

“…The investigation report reveals a photograph of the POA Badge and Identification contained in a holder that appears to be very much like an official police badge…

“…He (Krone Tremain) told LBPD investigators that he was trying to reach for the badge in his back pocket and show it to the officers while proclaiming that he was a solid supporter of the police when shot.

“Beachcomber research indicates that the POA administers an honorary donor support system that provides acknowledgement of supporters who donate to the POA.

We would like to know if you still issue the badge and ID card and if so, what kind of instruction do you give to the recipient as to how it should be used – if at all?

If you no longer issue the badge, what form of acknowledgement does the POA make to the donor?”

The LB POA president did not respond.

OIS Victim Interview

One document within the trove of reports provided in the LBPD’s PRA response is the transcript of the 20-minute interview of the shooting victim, Krone Tremain Jr., by LBPD homicide detectives at his hospital bedside about 3-1/2 hours following the shooting.

The transcript – which can be read in full at the LBPD’s SB 1421 web site – included the following statement by Krone Tremain:

“… and I said, wait a minute, get my ID. Its in my pocket. This was after the second shot. There might have been three shots. Two of them hit me and the other one, I don’t know what happened. But I finally crawled up there close to them in the driveway. I says, take my ID. I got my Police Officers Association … badge and my ID card in my wallet. I says, take it. Look. I’m on your side for Christ’s sakes. What are you doing to me?”

The investigation reports establish that a total of six shots were fired, one by Cindy Allen and the others by her partner.

Tremain was hit once in the knee and once in the shoulder. The investigation reports did not establish the weapon-source of either bullet.

Interview of Tremain

The Beachcomber contacted Krone Tremain – now 83 years old – by telephone.

Tremain acknowledged that he is the individual shot by LBPD police officers in 1994 but declined to discuss the incident or its aftermath except to say, “I was never prosecuted. No charges were filed. They screwed up and I sued them, but couldn’t afford to keep paying the lawyer, so I dropped it. I have to go now. Good bye.”

The phone went dead.

The OIS investigative documents and exhibits – including the photograph of the LB POA badge and ID found at the scene – can found at http://www.longbeach.gov/police/about-the-lbpd/lbpd-1421748/ois/

Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach and a retired LAPD deputy chief of police.

stephen.beachcomber@gmail.com