Two policemen did run their private little boot camp modeled after the one the LAPD police department run. The same abusive methods are used, but only the two policemen are under investigation. The boot camp LAPD run are left without investigation:
Internal Affairs investigating 2 LAPD officers running military-style 'boot camp' for kidsBy Dakota Smith, Staff Writer, Contra Costra Times, July 30, 2012Two Los Angeles Police Department officers are under investigation by the department's Internal Affairs division for running a military-style "boot camp" for troubled youths at a Hollywood school on weekends.
The camp, in operation since February, employed aggressive tactics, including taunting and screaming at children by Los Angeles Department of General Services police officers, according to video footage posted on YouTube.
One child taking part in a March class looks in the video no older than 5 or 6 years of age, though most participants appeared to be teens or pre-teens.
"We didn't know about this program, this wasn't an LAPD program," said LAPD spokesman Commander Andy Smith, who said the department will investigate both the class and the conduct of the two officers.
The Department of General Services is also investigating the class, said general manager Tony Royster. The program is not affiliated with the department, Royster wrote in an email.
The Hollywood program was run by two officers, Ismael Gonzalez and Alex Nava, both from the LAPD's Central Division. In a brief interview over the weekend, Gonzalez said he modeled the program after LAPD's Juvenile Impact Program, a department-sanctioned boot camp which also uses military-style tactics to scare juveniles straight.
"We saw the program was good and effective, and so we started our own," he said.
Gonzalez and Nava called their class the Juvenile Intervention Program. A LLC for the class was formed last November, while their website states the program is a registered non-profit. They charged $200 - twice the amount charged by the LAPD's program.
The class met once a week, over a 12-week time period, and used a variety of "scared straight" tactics aimed at at-risk and troubled children and teens.
Parents also received counseling.
In an phone interview Monday afternoon, Gonzalez defended the class as one that turns around kids' lives.
"The program is positive not only for our kids, but for the parents," Gonzalez said. "It gives them a bond."
But the video footage and the overall "boot camp" approach disturbs Jorja Leap, an adjunct associate professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She believes there is "borderline psychological abuse" seen in the video of the Hollywood program - as well as in the video of the LAPD-sanctioned program.
"The question to ask: What if this was happening on a LAUSD campus?" she said. "What if this was a coach? What would your reaction be?"
In one shot of the footage, a General Services cop towers over a frightened young boy, and screams: "Where's my essay?" The boy cowers.
In another video, a female instructor belittles a female teenager for not finishing exercises. "It's because she's a cheerleader," sneers the instructor.
Asked about a specific instance of shouting at students, Gonzalez said he couldn't immediately comment and would have to review the video footage.
Commander Smith also declined comment on the criticisms of the LAPD's own program, saying he hadn't seen the footage from that video.
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