In my experience, Olympic Community Police Station has become deeply compromised under the command…read moreof Captain Rachel Rodriguez. I believe she uses not only citizens, but her own staff to obtain self-serving goals. Since she became captain, I have observed a pattern of conduct that I believe reflects bad faith, self-protection, retaliation, and a troubling lack of meaningful accountability. I have reported her and Chief Jim McDonnell to the West Bureau.
I filed complaints concerning officers at this station, including Detective Carlos De La Rosa. Instead of creating a process that appeared independent, Captain Rodriguez orchestrated a meeting in which the very detective I had complained about was seated next to me, while City Attorney Claudia Martin was seated on my other side who spoke about my cases in a dismissive and devaluing manner. She even laughed in a mocking manner which is highly concerning for any attorney let alone a City Attorney. I was also not told that the detective I complained about or the City Attorney were going to be in the meeting.
Additionally, I was also placed under significant pressure to sign documents after that meeting despite making clear that I did not want to sign. I believe the way that meeting was structured was coercive and designed to protect officers and the station rather than properly address my complaint.
I have also experienced serious concerns with how police reports were handled. One matter involved approximately nine months of evidence. A sergeant confirmed to me that the conduct warranted a report, yet the matter sat for roughly two months without being filed, and I repeatedly had to pursue answers myself. In my view, that is not a minor administrative issue. It reflects a serious failure in basic police responsibility and accountability. Detective Chi confirmed that Captain Rachel Rodriguez had confirmed not filing the report was acceptable. He later filed it after I went to the station.
More recently, I received a disposition letter from Chief Jim McDonnell regarding my complaint. The letter was extremely vague. It did not clearly identify which officer or officers had actually been investigated, did not meaningfully address several of the facts I had raised, and then directed me back to Sergeant Carlos De La Rosa - the same officer whose conduct I had complained about. I find that astonishing. A complainant being referred back to the subject of her own complaint is exactly the kind of circular, bureaucratic process that causes people to lose confidence in internal police accountability.
I also find it highly telling that, during Captain Rodriguez's command, officers and supervisors I personally found professional, responsible, and genuinely concerned about citizens have left the station quickly, while officers who have been the subject of complaints have been promoted. One lieutenant whom I believe she used to obtain my signature has left the station after working there for many years. The same sergeant whom I regarded as outstanding and conscientious who instructed his officers to file the report with nine month of evidence - and later that same report was stopped by Detective Chi and Captain Rodriguez - left shortly after she became captain as well.
I believe that pattern is highly telling.
In my experience, this station has repeatedly relied on internal procedures that protect the institution while leaving the citizen to chase answers, challenge vague responses, and repeatedly document conduct that should have been addressed the first time. I have cited specific laws, LAPD policies, complaint procedures, and civil-rights concerns in my correspondence, yet I continue to receive responses that avoid the substance of what I reported.
I believe Captain Rodriguez has misuses her authority and has fostered a culture in which serious complaints are minimized, redirected, or handled in ways that protect the station itself. I also believe some of the conduct I have experienced has been retaliatory after I filed complaints against her and other personnel.
People should understand how this station handles complaints before assuming that filing one will result in an independent or meaningful review. My experience has been the opposite: a circular system in which the same people connected to the complaint remain involved in the process, accountability is difficult to identify, and the complainant is expected to keep pushing simply to get direct answers.
This is bureaucracy at its best.
As long as Captain Rachel Rodriguez remains in command, I personally have no confidence in the integrity of Olympic Station's internal accountability process. In my experience, the station has become a place where protecting the institution appears to take priority over protecting the public.
