Misconduct reports spur session

The Glendale City Council will hold the first in a possible series of study sessions on establishing a city police commission next Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the council chambers.

Mayor John Drayman called for the discussions in reaction to a series of recent citizen complaints alleging police misconduct. Drayman said he expects such a commission, if established, to be a forum for public discussion and not a police review board as exists in Los Angeles. He said he didn’t know how his colleagues would react to the proposal, and hadn’t yet made up his own mind.

The issue was aired again Tuesday, when City Attorney Scott Howard rebuked a speaker for reading from the transcript of a court case filed against the city.

Howard said the speaker, frequent council critic Richard Espiritu, went “beyond the pale” in reading parts of a plaintiff’s statement.

“The case resulted in a verdict for the city,” Howard said. “The jury didn’t believe the plaintiff. The comments read were wildly out of context. The transcript was clearly marked as a verdict for the defense with no appeal.” It was a rare display of emotion for the usually stoic attorney.

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— By Charles Cooper