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Two Los Angeles police officers are under investigation over a private weekend boot camp for troubled teens that they run in Hollywood, prompting California lawmakers to push for regulation of such camps.
The military-style boot camp was run by LAPD officers Ismael Gonzalez and Alex Nava, since February, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. Based on video footage of the camp posted to YouTube, it involved aggressive tactics, including screaming and taunting the kids.
At one point, the video shows children being forced to drink water until they throw up; at another, one boy is yelled at while carrying a tire around his neck; and in at least one instance, a child is challenged to a fight.
Much of the remaining footage shows the children struggling to complete sets of push-ups and other endurance exercises.
Most of the camp's participants appear to be teenagers, but one child believed to be as young as 6 was also at the camp, which prompted the internal affairs investigation, KTLA reported. There have been no criminal charges related to investigation.
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Although the program was run by LAPD officers, police spokesman Cmdr. Andy Smith, said the Police Department didn’t know about it.
“The problem is, when someone represents themselves as a Los Angeles police officer that may be leading the public or the parents to believe this is a sanctioned program, overseen by the Police Department, when in fact we don’t even know the program exits,” LAPD Cmdr. Andrew Smith told NBCLosAngeles.com.
The program was based in Hollywood and modeled after the LAPD’s Juvenile Impact program, the Los Angeles Daily News reported, which also uses military tactics to scare wayward youth straight. The LAPD says, however, its camp has stringent controls.
The video of the camp, which has been circulating on the Internet, have prompted two Southern California lawmakers to push for more regulation of such camps.
A bill co-authored by Democratic Assembly Member Antony Portantino and state Sen. Carol Liu would require private boot camps to be licensed and accredited.
“This bill is necessary because there is no regulation in place,” Portantino said at a press conference.
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LAPD - the problem police that just keep on giving.
Pacman Camp......
I don't see the problem. Tires around their necks? Pushups? These kids probably are not exactly well behaved. If this style of "scaring straight" works for even half of them isn't it a good thing? They're trying to help the kids, not hurt them.
Physically exhausting exercise - good. Forcing them to drink water until they throw up - not good. There's a line, and it was crossed.
Other than forcing them to over drink water, which is dangerous, I don't see a problem. The name "boot camp" should give you a clue of what it will be. I went through Paris Island in 1971. I am willing to bet that the island was tougher that this. The water drinking does cross the line. You can kill somebody with that. What were they thinking? They obviously didn't have medical support on site, or that wouldn't have happened.
It's called opening the flood gates. They made us do that in basic training while on Paris Island back in 2000. It was never more than 2 canteens and not everybody puked. It was mainly used as a tactic to keep people from getting dehydrated. In order for it to do any real harm it would have to be a lot more than that and over an extended period of time, like an hour or so. This exercise usually only lasted 10 minutes max. It's just a mental game that I'm sure scared the hell out of these kids which is kind of the point. Don't deal crack and/or beat up old ladies and you won't have to do this again.
Good point Travis. I would still like to know if there is medical support. There was always a Corpsman nearby at the island. Do they have that kind of medical support here? Training like this can be dangerous. Marines die in training, and we were in much better shape than these kids. The boot camp is a great idea, but you should have the correct safeguards.
You wanna smoke a blunt and destroy your life? We will send you to a place where you will get water toxicity!!!!
Better send those little angels some "stress cards" so they can be excused if things get too tough for them. I'm sure they were all sent there as a reward from their parents for stellar grades or for behaving themselves.
Oh yeah, because being beaten and tortured by the LAPD because your parents "don't like your attitude" is a totally appropriate response.
Yeah, kids get sent to boot camps because they have a bad attitude. Get real, these kids are in a boot camp because they will not obey their parents and have been in trouble. Enough trouble for their parents to seek out someone that will not feel bad for little Johnny when he throws a tantrum or ignores his parents when they discipline him.
These boot camps exist all over US and they work. It's just that some people that are content with the the idea of these kids becoming thugs in the future are against them.
Just curious about your theory what could that 6 year old have done to get there. This is not some state sanctioned boot camp, it was a private weekend boot camp so I think it is safe to say it was parents who were privately paying for their kids to be there because if it had been licensed it would not have been a weekend boot camp but a actual 6 week to 6 month program that the juvenile court system would be sending kids to and it would have had a medical team, therapists and other qualified child experts on hand for.
No family that has a difficult child could possibly expect get everything fixed in a weekend that takes time and effort from both the children and the parents. I have raised a severally mentally ill child and I know the effort a parent must put in. For years now I have driven up to 4 hours each direction for family therapy as well as visitation and a multitude of other things. Mental illness and behavior issues go hand and hand and take extreme dedication by the parents and children to fix.
Tara, not all children are created equal...I have seen some children, from good homes and good stock, that gave me chills when I thought about what their current behavior will mean when they are adults...like future serial killers and mass murders. (There was a seven year old girl that admitted to trying to cut the family cat's tail off. When asked if she knew it would hurt the cat, her response was something like "Yeah, but who cares, it's a cat)
*shiver*
licensed and accredited by whom?
That's immaterial. First you have to decide it's needed. If you can get past that point, you can figure out the who and how. Unfortunately, there are too many with their noses in this business--politicians and corporations alike--who have no concept of how to run these types of camps to be successful for today's youths.
To be fair, they do understand how to make a profit. Just like privately run prisons (where I have also had the displeasure of working) it's all about making money. These are private companies who saw a way to prey on other's misfortunes. My question in regards to this particular program is: Who is funding it? If it's the parents or guardians of these kids, then I think the wrong people are inside the fence. I can't imagine any responsible parent sending a child into a situation where someone is in complete control over them without any oversight. But I'm sure it markets well.
Its one thing to have an accredited course/camp for these youths to learn (I assume) better values, respect for themselves and others, physical fitness, endurance and whatever else the program is trying to teach these youth but when a bunch of normal everyday officers get together and decide that there going to try and do the same thing but with a whole different approach and maybe even a different set of values that isn't anywhere near what should be taught that's so wrong period. What happens if this group of unaccredited police officers teach the wrong things? Do we tell these kids that everything they just learned in the one camp was wrong and to forget it all?
I assume these officers were trying to do a good thing but nowadays it seems everything is just driven by how much money can be made and not the true helping of others which in this case is our young and vulnerable youth.
I would like to hear from this group that started this camp as to why they did all of this and used the name of the police dept without even getting approval from the top brass I'll call it? What would have happened if one or more of these youth's were harmed either physically or emotionally or both? Everyone's lawsuit crazy these days and this is a prime example of why parents go off the deep end when something like this happens. Parents must be diligent in checking out everything that involves there kids because of things like this happening all over.
Camps like this I think are a good thing if done properly and hopefully benefit our youth in the end. Most parents do a good job raising there kids but sometimes it just wasn't enough or we have parents that just don't give a sh1t what there kids are doing and a camp like this just might give the kids a better chance at doing the right things in life instead of becoming lowlifes and getting sent to prison because they made the wrong choices, its a waste of life that could have been prevented.
These police officers that set up this unaccredited camp should have there heads examined just for the fact that they didn't set there camp up properly in the first place and could have hurt any one of these kids. Just because there in law enforcement doesn't give them the right to do as they please.
In the end I just hope these youths can better themselves and become contributing members of society.
Good post, but it's "their", not "there"....
chris65
Tell you what Chris, you try and write while having to take 340M of morphine everyday for the rest of your life and see how well you do.
I am not being graded nor am I in school anymore so if you don't have anything nice to say here or a comment on the story itself go outside and play, people are busy here.
Let's suppose those poor kids learned how to handle being yelled at, which their parents probably shoud have done along with a slap upside the head. We got kids out shooting each other for simply 'looking' at each other.
As someone who had to grow up with disruptive and abusive peers, I am all for military style or behavioral augmentation youth camps. There are plenty of teens out there who need a attitude adjustment and learn how to respect others. I only wish some of those privileged snobs who made my life hells as much as the poor hellraiser would be sent more often like the ones who get caught.
That being said, it's NEVER appropriate to push things too far. Yelling in itself is not abusive, it's what you say. Being demeaned sexually or racially is never right.
Challenging a kid to fight isn't incorrect if the goal is to just show them that they aren't "all that" and that someone can control and beat you if need be. Actually fighting with a teen like you are trying to defend yourself or overtake a adult is.
Drinking water until you throw up? Gone way too far.
In the world it's always stupid people that give things like this program and the police a bad name.
Each kid and each situation is unique, as you say, and so is the solution to the goal in mind... changing the course of a life headed in the wrong direction. Military style direction has merits, and also has reward for hard jobs well done. That's why, even with the lenghtly physical activety, there are rewards-moving up in rank, etc.
But this 'boot camp' is not military, it is LAPD. How many cops are even fit enough to set an example for kids required to do strenuous activity? Seriously, if a tire around the neck for whatever length of time or during activity, is a 'teaching event', boy, I'd like to see the study to confirm that!
They want military style? Then clean something. Peel & cook something. Clear brush or fire hazzards. Dig trenches. The military is tough, not torture. It's rough, occasionally brutal, but not intentionally malicious as part of a training tactic. And, the military deals exclusively with ADULTS.
But, drinking water til an adolescent vomits... so not military... not without an Article 15.
There would be no camps like these if parents these days would be doing their jobs .... Look around everywhere.. Children are running wild and parents demonstrate no control over them at all. It's a tough job being a parent of a child that's learned limits and proper behavour - I think people are just lazy these days, and believe it's easier to let a child go his/her own way... It may be easier in the short term, but you have a child that dzn't respect his parents, or even himself.
What would anyone expect, you are no longer allowed to spank or correct your children and if you do thay can turn you in and have you arrested let a six year old kick his mother in the legs if he does not get candy at the grocery store I've seen that happen more than once. And thay wonder what causes 13 yearolds to do driveby shootings?
Excellent.
Far too many children have no respect for authority, i.e. the little brats that taunted and demeaned the bus monitor. I am all for every single person in this country having to serve in the military for two years, unless physically unable. Discipline and a strong work ethic are both sadly lacking in this country.
I agree. I work in education and the lack of respect that students show to teachers and other students makes me sick. They are disruptive and waste so much of the class period, it's not even funny, it's sad. They make it hard for other students to learn. Some come from families that have no support at home, but there are many that come from families that would be shocked at how disruptive they are. Often the houghtie-toughtie families. Not my boy, Johnnie, he wouldn't do that. Parents need to teach their kids that there is a time and place for fun behaviors and when and where they can and more importantly CAN'T use them. That is a part of parenting that seems to have gone by the way side. It's not hard to teach this skill, you have to demonstrate it in your own lives. My kids had three sets of unspoken rules and now four or five sets of unspoken rules that they themselves impose upon themselves. Kids pickup on your actions, the do as I say not as I do is one of the most hypocritical things that a parent does. Your actions speak so much louder than your words.
While I agree with the problem and the intent, military service is not viable for everyone. I wouldn't be able to participate in the killing of someone else. Even in a kill or be killed scenario, I'd likely be in therapy for years after even pushing a button that dropped a bomb somewhere, let alone pulling a trigger.
Parents need to open their eyes. If your kid is being singled out at school, in sports, in daycare, or wherever, it's likely because they're doing something the adults in charge don't like. By the time a kid is in middle school, the school is likely spending about as much time with your kid as you are, and when put together with their peers, that's when they'll act out. There's no social standing to be gained at home for kicking over trash cans, but there's enormous social standing awarded within some peer groups for that type of behavior elsewhere. Behaviors like non-cyber bullying can't even happen at home (siblings excluded of course).
Boot camps are great for children who have parents that failed to teach them appropriate behaviors for the adult world, and they were unable to find a surrogate somewhere while growing up. It's like a crash course in what society determines to be proper behavior/values/ethics etc., but it has to be especially harsh to undo however many years of poor upbringing that preceded the short time the instructors have the kids. This one may have crossed a line, but for some of the kids, it may have been necessary in order to get the desired results. Then you have to ask yourself the questions of how important is it for these kids to conform to polite societal norms and what are you willing to tolerate to get them there.
Yet another example of corupt, crooked, scumbag cops. Beofre I go to sleep tonight, I will say a prayer fpr those children, and all the other people being abused by law enforcement, and hope that they catch one in the head ASAP
Those pigs should be fired, labeled as mentally unstable and never allowed to possess a weapon, thus ending any possibility of working in law enforcement again. Any pension they have earned should be donated to a reputable youth program.
Before you condem them, find out why they are doing it. Just maybe their heart is in the right place and they are just trying to help some families that don't now where to turn or can't afford a private place.
As a former Army Drill Sergeant who trained combat soldiers, I can tell you that boot camps are not the answer as a "correctional" tool. Comparing youth boot camps to the military is like comparing apples and oranges:
1) In today's military, men and women join voluntarily and understand that boot camp is part of the process of becoming a soldier. Even though there may be some rebellious or immature "trainees" or "boots" that join, they are surely considered adults, not teens.
2) In the past--during the draft--and still today, boot camp is a way to break the minds of individuals and reshape them in a short period of time for the purposes of being able to handle the rigors and stresses of war and to create an intense environment of continued discipline. When juveniles leave these boot camps, they simply return to the same environment from whence they came. So the stress and discipline they incur are short-lived and only apply in that environment.
3) Boot camps are based on leadership, not abuse. The resulting product should be individuals capable of functioning in teams, not as individuals who must cope on his or her own. The product should be a person who both WILLING and ABLE to be successful, to be productive, well-disciplined, member of society.
Not being privileged to observing these youth boot camps directly, I have done a lot of study on this subject. Many of these youths come from dysfunctional families rife with abuse or inattention or guidance. Throwing more of the same without reinforcing a new set of values and a willingness to do right only causes more harm. Again, the leadership factor: only the most ethical, moral, and professional LEADERS should be involved in running these camps. Without some sort of formal standards, screening, and certification, we are doing nothing more than running our youth further into the hole they are already in.
For sure, there are some success stories, but is anyone tracking these youths afterward and into adulthood? Only then can you determine success.
This camp is an insane, sadistic TORTURE camp - and these children have already been abused enough! A sick society, and the children show the symptoms of a SICK People!
More cops lacking integrity in the news once AGAIN! Its becoming harder to empathize for these knuckleheads when they get taken out.....
It is lack of integrity through all occupations. That is the cancer, and those who do not remove it, become just as black, corrupt. The integrity of the collective has slipped as more and more debasement not only becomes 'normal' it becomes 'equal' to what is right and good. Corruption always breeds corruption.
These children are the product of a Corrupt, Debased society! 30 years of @!$%# at the top, which only allows @!$%# to grow underneath for that is what supports a corrupt system - and yeah - we have society collapsing under Hugh Heffner's Wet Dream Drugged up rEality gone real. This is HORRIBLE Abuse by people who SHOULD NEVER CARRY A POLICE BADGE in the first place!
Pedophiles.