UPDATE - Sunday, May 1, (12:46 p.m.) - Interim general manager, Amir Sedadi, said in a statement that the LAPD, City Attorney and LADOT Personnel Department will work together in the investigation of two traffic officers who allegedly appeared in a pornographic film while on the job.
Full Statement: LADOT Interim General Manager Amir Sedadi (PDF)
City officials failed to discipline two traffic officers who appeared in a pornographic film while on the job, NBC4 LA has found.
Updated Article (Monday, May 2): Councilman: "No Limits" to Investigation
The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has opened an investigation into the behavior of two uniformed, on-duty officers who appear in the sexually explicit movie. The investigation was prompted by the NBC4 LA exposé.
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"It's absolutely disgusting," said Amir Sedadi, general manager of LADOT, after viewing a copy of the movie shown to him by NBC4 LA. "Immediately, we will conduct a full investigation. This is not acceptable to me.”
The video, which is available on a popular adult subscription website, tracks the interactions of a porn actress as she approaches men in a range of work environments.
Various men in the film appear to grope her and perform a range of sex acts with her. In one scene, the actress jumps into the arms of an LA traffic officer, who spanks her and then fondles her bare breasts.
A second traffic officer takes a few spankings from the woman, then allows her to get into his official city car, where she performs lewd acts on herself.
In an interview, Jimmy Price, the city’s parking enforcement chief, acknowledged that his employee’s behavior rose to the level of misconduct.
"In my mind, and legally, yes that's misconduct," Price said.
Price knew of his employees' behavior more than two months ago, according to an internal memo obtained by NBC4 LA.
Documents: Code of Conduct Memo (PDF) | Department Disciplinary Action Penalties (PDF)
In the Feb. 21 memo, addressed to his superiors and his employees, Price wrote about a "recent incident" involving "an inappropriate website" where a city uniform and car appeared.
Price said "city and department policy prohibit this kind of misconduct, on and off the job," and "failure to meet the standards of conduct will result in "disciplinary action, up to and including discharge."
Price did not discipline the officers.
When asked why, Price said he had only seen some still photos of the officers from the video, and “we were not able to positively identify the individuals as employees."
LADOT parking enforcement employees who originally gave NBC4 LA a copy of the movie say Price has seen it and knows the identities of the officers.
One of the officers who had a prominent role in the video declined to comment. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, when asked about his participation. The veteran officer jumped into his city car, and sped off.
Sedadi said the officers’ behavior “is not tolerable.”
