The Risk Management Division of the Los Angeles Police Department runs a course called Professional Resources for Officers in Civil Trials, or PROACT. The City Attorney defends officers who are sued civilly for work-related matters, and this course prepares the officers for the process. I recently obtained a copy of a detailed syllabus for the course, which you can download here in the original rich text format and also here exported to PDF if that’s useful. I also converted it to html and you’ll find that version at the end of the post.

This document might be useful for plaintiff’s attorneys suing LAPD officers seeking to understand the advice and/or the preparation that their respondents have undergone. There’s also some found humor here, as in the recommendation for trial attire forbidding “western wear”. The document is only an outline, which leaves some intriguing ambiguities unresolved.

For instance, there’s a section on “Asset Protection” which includes a section on “Fraudulent Transfers.” This doesn’t appear to be telling officers not to do fraudulent transfers, but rather to transfer assets as early as possible so they don’t look fraudulent. Which would be disconcerting if true but, as I said, the outline form makes it hard to be sure:

Timely implement is necessary, when officers hesitate to act they loose sight of their most valuable resource – time.
a.      
Officers have found that neglecting to act necessitates the option, Fraudulent Transfers. (Core Value)
b.      
A transfer found to be fraudulent is avoidable by the creditor.

And the whole thing is really worth reading. It’s transcribed into HTML below. Oh, but before you go there, take a look at this little section on how married cops should “protect” their assets from civil judgments:

1.      
In Transmutation of community property to separate property to protect 50%, beware it has ramifications for subsequent divorce.
2.      
Marital Agreements that are made in advance of problem, are better for long-term protection than undocumented outright gifts.
3.      
A divorce is usually too extreme, and you lose all tax benefits associated with marriage.       

Continue reading The Los Angeles Police Department Risk Management Division Runs A Course To Prepare Officers Who Are Being Sued Civilly For Their On-The-Job Actions If They Choose To Be Defended By The City Attorney — The Course Is Called “Professional Resources for Officers in Civil Trials” — Or PROACT — Here Is A Copy Of The Course Outline Showing Exactly How They Prep These Respondents For Depositions — Testimony — And So On — With Advice On How To Dress — How To Answer Questions — How To Deal With The Anxiety Of Not Being In Charge Of The Situation — Apparently How To Hide Their Assets From Judgments →