The panel that oversees the Los Angeles Fire Department voted Tuesday to give the agency’s internal watchdog “unfettered access” to the disciplinary files of its firefighters, nine years after voters created the post to assess the agency’s handling of misconduct complaints.
The Board of Fire Commissioners unanimously changed its policy to give the watchdog, known as the Office of the Independent Assessor, the power to obtain unredacted interview transcripts, evidence and other records generated over the course of a discipline case. Still, the commission stopped short of allowing the office to review unredacted personnel files that are unrelated to discipline. Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas recommended that the panel, made up of appointees of Mayor Eric Garcetti, look at that issue in the future — after conferring with the firefighters’ union and the city’s lawyers.