Scandal strikes as Los Angeles Department of Transportation parking enforcement officers appear in a porn film. Pornography video shows the traffic cops in uniform, while working on city time. The actress masturbates in a city-issued car – and it’s all downhill from there. Both officers are on leave but, interestingly, the guys are still getting paid while on leave.
It all began – the investigation, anyway, when NBC demanded to know why there had been no discipline for the traffic officers caught making a porn film.
Forget the make-believe world of role-playing and sexual fantasies – these officers are accused of the real deal, uniforms and all. They may not have been police officers, but they were wearing their own uniforms, and that was apparently good enough.
It all begs the question: since when were parking enforcement officers considered the stuff of sexual fantasy? Sans the handcuffs, it may be a bit hard to understand what could be sexually arousing about a uniformed parking enforcement officer whose best form of restraint involves putting a “boot” on the car. But the pornography accusation against Los Angeles parking enforcement officers proposes a contender for "best" use of tax dollars to date.
The porn flick became available for viewing via a popular (i.e., highly-trafficked) adult subscription pornography web site – the flick seeming to follow the ‘life and times’ of a female “actress”. The plot line isn’t quite unique: a female porn star approaches men – in this case, men on the street -- in what NBC refers to as “a range of work environments”.
There’s not a lot of surprise or twists and turns in the low-budget attempt, with the exception that parking enforcement officers somehow become involved – the one part that does make it a bit different than the typical porn flick. Polls would probably not reveal high numbers of people getting “hot and bothered” over the guy that usually spends his days throwing tickets on windshields for a living. For those who do get hot and bothered over parking enforcement, they’re probably more likely to substitute “irritated” or even “irate” for “hot and bothered” – rather than sexually aroused.
The producer was either short on actors for the latest porn flick – or betting that viewers may not look too closely at uniforms – the choice seems a bit strange, since these guys couldn’t be considered look-alikes for the “boys in blue”. More like boys in tan. On the flipside, if you’re the guy stuck at parking meters all day long, maybe not much in life is going to equal the excitement of “starring” in a porn film – no matter how low-budget. Apparently it was the time, for the guys typically doomed to rolling around in an equivalent of golf carts, to truly “shine”.
Good things come to those who wait – and the two Los Angeles, California, traffic officers who are now on leave after NBC’s investigative team busted their game, must’ve thought the wait was finally over. Unfortunately, any wait didn’t make things pan out: the “porn stars” of Los Angeles parking enforcement didn’t get to enjoy stardom for long – before Joel Grover came and busted their game.
Well, actually L.A. parking enforcement officers themselves first busted the game of its own members: info on the porn video and officer involvement was apparently tipped to investigative reporter Joel Grover at NBC. Grover took it from there – except, it seems, someone else was aware of the issue and had reportedly sent a memo to Los Angeles Department of Transportation Interim General Manager Amir Sedadi. That someone who sent the memo was Jimmy Price, who seems to head up parking enforcement. In NBC interview, Sedadi seems a bit unsure as to whether he’s seen the memo from Price that was sent roughly two months prior – with Grover questioning Sedadi specifically about the memo because, well, it seems no disciplinary action was ever taken with either involved parking enforcement officer. And Price had kind of said there should be.
Los Angeles Department of Transportation says the officers could face "disciplinary action" if wrongdoing is found – but nobody quite knows when that “investigation” might wrap up. It wouldn’t seem that there’s a terribly lot to investigate, but time of investigation may be the lesser of questions. The better questions may include exactly what “disciplinary action” actually refers to, and exactly why these guys are still being paid.
Many might consider the vague disciplinary action as a slap on the wrist – and a far cry from any “slaps” appearing the officers’ on-screen debut.
The “dumber” part of dumb is that the pornographic video footage starring the L.A. officers was reportedly posted to an adult web site. Which brings up an interesting point as to why, if the Los Angeles officers are so willing to bare their private parts to the world, their names are so readily withheld from public view – particularly when the porn flick involves city property, and paid city time.
While Los Angeles City Hall battles over a $400-million-dollar deficit in 2011, and many city employees face the prospect of extended work hours and additional tasks, at least two L.A. city employees seem to discovered a more interesting way to battle the blues. Working “overtime” apparently means “working” on the taxpayers’ dime, a new form of double-time.
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/City-Workers-Appear-in-Porn-Film...
Footage of the pornographic film shows a Los Angeles the parking enforcement officer spanking the woman, then shown on film while fondling and groping her breasts. The porn film’s stars include random men throughout -- who appear to grope the woman and additionally perform sex acts with her. A second parking enforcement officer appears on-screen, the porn “actress” shown spanking the Los Angeles officer -- then performing lewd sexual acts, including masturbating, in a city-issued car which the parking enforcement officer allowed her to enter.
Aside from the obvious financial aspects that are sure to come under fire from taxpayers and watchdogs, the sexual acts inside of a vehicle used to transport the public raises an entirely different legal issue for the city and its pocketbook – as to whether bodily fluids or public health concerns could lead to potential related lawsuits over the issue. Personal reputation concerns aside, the officers cum porn stars may just have opened a huge legal hole for Los Angeles city.
"We are shocked by allegations that individuals performing their duties in uniform would be experiencing inappropriate behavior," Bruce Gillman of the Los Angeles Transportation Department told NBC.
Snippets of pertinent video footage of the porn flick – involving the two Los Angeles parking enforcement officers -- is viewable at the attached link at base. The investigation now being performed by Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT), investigating the actions of the parking enforcement officers starring in the porn films, is no accident: it probably never would’ve occurred without NBC and Joel Grover’s involvement. No disciplinary action had been taken against the officers for the porn film, for months, despite communication by Price that disciplinary action needed to be taken by LADOT. After seeing the porn video footage, LADOT’s Amir Sedadi responded: "Immediately, we [Los Angeles Department of Transportation] will conduct a full investigation [into the officers’ involvement in the pornographic film]. This is not acceptable to me.”
Sedadi reportedly also called the porn flick and related L.A. officers’ actions “absolutely disgusting”.
Taxpayers will most likely add to Sedadi’s response and description with a few descriptives of their own –most likely including terms like “unethical”, “illegal” and “irreprehensible”.
Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Sedadi added via statement that the LA DOT department “doesn't tolerate inappropriate behavior” – words that probably aren’t carrying much weight with any of the California public right now who are concerned with actions far removed from “inappropriate”. If the allegations are true – and considering that video footage doesn’t usually lie – the porn footage involving city employees, who specifically carry the duty of issuing citations involving or enforcing the law, makes an absolute mockery of parking enforcement officers, LADOT, the city – and even Los Angeles residents themselves.
Sedadi also told NBC that the pornography allegations against the city employees shouldn't be taken as “representative” of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s nearly 600 traffic control and parking enforcement officers.
Heck, no, Los Angeles residents wouldn’t be making assumptions about representatives of parking control. LADOT has obviously made its position clear -- that the department obviously maintains a no-tolerance policy concerning pornographic material and its city employees. Its strict nature and no-nonsense attitude couldn’t be shine through more – considering the fact that the LADOT parking enforcement men, who are under investigation for porn, are continuing to receive pay right now. Apparently that paycheck will last, until the Department of Transportation completely “investigates” the employees’ brief foray into pornography “stardom”.
LADOT seems to know how important it is to treat a city employee right. Funny enough, Jimmy Price, the city’s parking enforcement chief, told NBC -- in the media outlet’s filmed interview with Price -- that he believed his traffic officer employees’ behavior rose to the level of misconduct. Price admits to Joel Grover: "In my mind, and legally, yes that's misconduct.” And yet, somehow, both traffic officers -- who are on a forced leave from LADOT currently, after the porn video was publicly discovered -- are being paid their regular wages while off of work. How very thoughtful of the department.
City residents couldn’t do anything but respect a department that offers such respectful treatment of Los Angeles employees and officers – the same men whom choose to appear publicly in a porn film in city uniform, who seem to believe it ok to use tax dollars in being paid for time they’re apparently not working, and whom involve city property in the making of a porn. How could any L.A. resident not be absolutely assured that abuse of a city position must be a completely isolated incident, with a department that obviously maintains such stringency and strict control over its employees – and which obviously commands such a level of deep respect on behalf of the people it employs?
After all, it only took a huge media outlet like NBC to be able to bust open a scandal that held serious alleged proof – like videotape evidence. Meanwhile, no serious “investigation” has been made into numerous complaints by Los Angeles residents, concerning parking enforcement employees, practices, and what many feel are incorrectly or wrongfully-issued tickets or citations. The complaints about traffic officers, practices and citations kind of fall into that category of ‘virtually impossible to prove’ for the average citizen – whose not Joel Grover.
Here’s what city residents have had to say about L.A. Parking Enforcements – it’s involved complaints, allegations or accusations that:
• Complaints that Los Angeles parking enforcement officers themselves violate traffic laws including making illegal u-turns in traffic in order to avoid the person they’ve just ticketed, and that traffic officers routinely park in red zones while eating or not performing officer or work-related duties
• Complaints that Los Angeles parking enforcement officers essentially stalk meters in efforts to issue parking citations, to issue a ticket set for, literally, the minute the paid meter turns over or is set to expire
• Complaints that the first contesting of a parking citation is routinely declined, causing requirement of an administrative hearing in order to contest the ticket – which then requires the parking ticket to be made in full before being eligible for an administrative hearing. Frequent complaints involve the idea that there is no reason for an administrative hearing to be found in favor of the ticket recipient, since Los Angeles parking enforcement has already received payment in full for the parking ticket in question – and the idea that residents suspect a very low percentage of administrative reviews to actually be found in favor of the driver
• Complaints that – supposedly due to city or budget cutbacks – the parking enforcement agency is no longer reachable by phone in nearly any instance and including being unavailable for any inquiries concerning parking ticket questions or errors, unless filing a ticket appeal by phone
• Complaints that parking tickets are incorrectly or wrongfully issued for vehicles that officers issue citation for being more than eighteen inches from the curb side – but which drivers say are not illegally parked
• Complaints that a citation is incorrectly issued for missing or expired registration tags for a vehicle that bears current registration sticker – and complaints that correcting the parking enforcement officer’s error requires the vehicle owner to pay a fine in order to get the officer’s error corrected.
• Complaints that vehicle owners have visually seen a parking enforcement officer, an employee who has not physically cited the vehicle at the time for any reason – but that the vehicle owner has later received a Los Angeles citation received in the mail, at hte registered owner’s mailing address, instead of receiving a citation at the time for a supposed violation
• Complaints that city parking meters are not accurate, that meters steal change or provide an inaccurate or shortened amount of time credit on the meter – not matching the amount of money and coins which should have been credited after insert
• Complaints that parking enforcement officers physically enter private parking garages, or properties where they do not hold legal right to do so, in order to issue citations
• Complaints of exorbitant towing and impound fees for even same-day pick-up
• Complaints of unclear or nearly-unreadable signs or signage located too far from parking spaces to be clear as to which spaces signs actually pertain, or the presence of multiple and stacked signs which make it extremely difficult to be clear about legal parking hours
• Complaints of receiving a parking citation while paid time is still on the parking meter
• Complaints of Los Angeles parking citations being mailed to out-of-town residents who claim neither themselves nor their vehicles were even present in the city at the time the ticket was issued
• Complaints of receiving a parking citation for being parked in “permit only” parking spaces or areas, from residents who claim they have a permit properly displayed at the time of ticketing
• Complaints or allegations that parking enforcement has issued a parking ticket for time expired, or expired meter, while a handicap placard or tag is clearly visible and displayed
• Complaints that requests to speak to a supervisor by phone – for those able to reach the agency by phone -- are virtually impossible to fulfill and that the department claims it will have a supervisor phone back, no sooner than 48 hours later
• Complaints that Los Angeles parking enforcement has issued tickets to residents whom are actually parking on their own property – and not on public property
• Complaints that Los Angeles residents who choose to pay their parking citation online are charged a two-dollar surcharge in order to pay the ticket
• Complaints that the newer electronic parking meters which only accept credit cards do not provide a receipt, are difficult to read in the sun – to verify whether the parking meter was paid – and make it easy to receive an expired meter citation
• that parking tickets have been received for non-residents of Los Angeles who claim neither they nor their vehicles were even present when citations were supposedly issued and mailed to them
City residents can rest assured in the knowledge that there is at least one Los Angeles parking enforcement city employee who is entirely ethical – at least in the realm of porn and skin flicks – since it was a parking enforcement member who turned in fellow officers.
So it has to be ethics. Either that, or someone’s really jealous.