Zine Sues Over Removal of Police Board Member

Police union director Dennis Zine filed a lawsuit Tuesday against LAPD Chief Bernard Parks, alleging that he acted unfairly in removing an officer hearing charges that Zine had sexually harassed a female officer.

Darryl Mounger, an attorney for Zine, said he would pursue the legal challenge even though Superior Court Judge David Yaffe denied his request Tuesday for a temporary restraining order that sought to prevent the removal of former Deputy Chief Art Lopez from the Board of Rights hearing Zine’s case.

Zine, who is an elected Charter Reform Commission member from West Hills, said Lopez was a fair board chairman who had heard the testimony of the female officer before Lopez took a job as chief of the Oxnard Police Department.

Any replacement would have to read transcripts of the officer’s testimony, which would hinder any judgment of the credibility of the officer, Zine claimed.

Zine’s lawsuit alleged that the past practice of the LAPD was to allow disciplinary board members to continue serving in cases where testimony has begun, even after they leave the department.

However, Cmdr. Dave Kalish, a department spokesman, said he knows of at least four cases in which the chief replaced members of disciplinary boards because they had left the department.

“It would be inappropriate to ask the chief of police of Oxnard to come back to serve on the board,” Kalish said.