Homicide Perspectives: Sal LaBarbera, homicide detective

Los Angeles Police Det. Sal LaBarbera is a 20-year homicide veteran who heads the Watts homicide squad in LAPD's South Bureau. Photo by Carlos Chavez/LAT

HR: Family members of victims in your area sometimes say their cases are shelved with little investigation, and receive less attention than high-profile cases. How do you respond to that?

LaBarbera: It's not true. This is a small group of detectives--10 people--and we investigate, on average over the last 20 years, 85-plus cases a year here, and with a decent clearance rate. These detectives--they do it for themselves. When it comes down to it, they are the ones who actually care about these cases, regardless of who the victims are. These detectives work 16- to 18-hour days, and review tapes at home. They give up weekends to be on call, and are on-call without compensation during the week. It's a lot to ask, and it's offensive for someone to suggest they don't care. They need to sit down with these detectives and see what they do. They are devoted, really devoted.

And you know, often the victims here are not angels. Some have criminal histories. They're in and out of the [prison] system. They're gang members. But we investigate those cases as we do any other. The way we look at it is this: We investigate each as if it were our own family member murdered.

HR: Does the city place an adequate priority on homicide?

LaBarbera: It's a big city. Each neighborhood has its own concerns, and it's a balancing act.

HR: Would you balance things differently?

LaBarbera: I think homicide throughout the city should be the priority. It's someone's life, and you can't replace it. You can replace a stolen car stereo.... This year the chief [LAPD Chief William Bratton] has combined all the South Los Angeles homicide detectives into one unit, and that should help, but there are still not enough homicide detectives. This group is still handling 10 to 15 cases per team, and that goes back years. I see my detectives leaving here with stacks of blue binders in their arms. Each of those binders is life lost. They are forced to prioritize--to go after the hot leads, and take a step back from the lukewarm leads.

HR: What's your biggest frustration?

LaBarbera: Lack of proper equipment and manpower. Equipment-wise, we are in the early 1990s. We have no laptops. The detectives use the cameras and tape recorders and cellphones they purchase themselves. The department doesn't furnish those. We use our cellphones as our business phones: The phone on my desk doesn't work. It's is a prop.

HR: Is your job like the television program "Law & Order"?

LaBarbera: I've never watched "Law & Order." I watch Fox News.

HR: In the show, detectives go from witness to witness, and learn all about the case.

LaBarbera: It's not like that here. Here, in most cases, we identify a suspect right away--usually within hours. And then, the next days and weeks we spend trying to coax witnesses to come forward. It's very rare for anything to happen to a witness, but they are still afraid. The police aren't driving down their street 24 hours a day. But the gang members are standing out there 24 hours a day. The police and the community here have to come together and force those gang members off the streets and into jail. We need the community's cooperation to do that.

HR: How long have you been saying that?

LaBarbera: 20 years.

HR: Has it gotten any better?

LaBarbera: No. It's worse.

HR: How bad is the witness cooperation problem?

LaBarbera: It's the main issue in most cases. The majority of cases are solved with witness testimony combined with circumstantial and physical evidence, but the witness testimony is the hardest part. If you look at this year's cases, except the domestic homicides, witness cooperation is an issue on all of them. Witnesses don't believe the police can protect them.

HR: How do you protect them?

LaBarbera: By relocating them. And by arresting the bad guys.

HR: What's the oldest case your squad solved this year?

LaBarbera: We solved a 1996 case this year. Two years ago we solved a 1978 case.

Years ago, [Det. John] Zambos and I had a goal to investigate a case older than we were. We solved a case from the 1950s. The suspect had been dead for four years. We found his grave.

HR: Some readers objected to the support you voiced for the family of Timothy Johnson (a November homicide victim and also the named suspect on another homicide case). Is it true you are friends with the Johnson family?

LaBarbera: I didn't say I was friends with them. I said I knew them. And I do. I have known the Johnson family through good times and bad. I was part of a team of investigators that put his brother on death row. I have been there to investigate, and I have been there to grieve. It is part of what it means to work in this neighborhood. You meet the same people over and over--as victims, witnesses, and suspects--and sometimes all three at the same time.

This is a prime example of what I was talking about before. This is a family that has been on both ends of the spectrum: as victims, and as also subjects of investigation. We treat them all the same. People can say Timothy Johnson's murder was long overdue, and if we thought that, it would be easy for us to put the book on the shelf. But we don't. My detectives have been working many hours on that case.

HR: How's it going?

LaBarbera: We need witnesses to come forward.

(Above right, the whiteboard at LAPD's South Bureau homicide office, scrawled with LaBarbera's admonition to detectives.)

See also Perspectives: Kenny Mitchell, and Perspectives: Derrick Bell

Comments

[Mark]

Detective LaBarbera, let me be the first to say "Thank You For The Job You Are Doing"!

[a.one]

You have to respect these guys and what they do. I wonder if they'll do episodes of theFIRST48 in L.A.

[susie]

your hands are tied by the same people and politicians that has kept this
community from going forward, this is a forty year problem that no one
wants to investigate. this community is a money maker for the wrong
reasons and it is kept divided for the wrong reasons until some of these
power calling community leaders are stopped, noting will change for this
community.

[unico]

wow, your wise wise words just made you a hundred times more attractive!!! thanks for your dedication. you speak genuninely. thats admirable and attractive.

[RayDeluxx]

I'd like to be the second to says thanks Detective. Is there a way for the public to donate items such as computers or cameras to the police dept?

[ruben]

I would love to see them do an episode of First 48 on LAPD, to really see who and how they work. This guy sounds like a stand up guy i applaud you detective.

[ONO7]

Thank you for all your hardwork.

It must be tough, to be needed and hated at the same time. Frustrating it must be? I come from both sides of the world, not a hard core criminal but I did my own damages. Now I am a 100% law abiding citizen, working everyday, have my own home and respecting the law. I know when I need an officer's assistance they come running, regardless of what it is. there was a time when it look like the southbay would become a lawless area but it has not. it still has its own problem however the quick reaction by the law has helped keep things pretty calm. I do not want to go into a long write up here< i just want to say thanks for all that you are doing. It's hard but you have some people who apprerciate you. Take care and have please be safe. One thing I have a nephew who recently joined the LAPD and I am so proud of him.

[DLH]

I to would like to thank Detective LaBarbera and all the other detectives in South Bureau Homicide. They are trying to do the best job they can sometimes under very difficult circumstances.

[Boo]

I am so sorry that I can not say I appreciate anything. My baby sister was murdered on 12-24-07. It seems as though no one is doing anything about it. My step mother do not know if anyone is still working on the case. No one has any answers, I will help them If I have to. I am having nightmares. Waking up out of my sleep crying and wiping tears, I have no answers. I knew nothing about my sister boyfriend. I need some answers. I have no closure. This is crazy. I do not feel that anyone care since the comment was made" And you know, often the victims here are not angels. Some have criminal histories. They're in and out of the [prison] system. They're gang members. But we investigate those cases as we do any other. " give there all to a case where the person was a gang member or had a so called job that was illegal. "The way we look at it is this: We investigate each as if it were our own family member murdered." That is hard to believe. If that is the case, why is it that my family did not get a press conference? Why did I not see anything shown on television? I did not see anything on the news on 12-24-07 or 12-25-07 or any day after that. I guess because of the life style my sister boyfriend had, fit the category listed in the comment and that is why no one really knew about it and nothing was done and nothing will be done. I need to find out what I need to do to get this issue resolved. It is really killing me that there is only 10 detectives. I already know that my family and I will suffer with no answers since my sister boyfriend was not innocent. I was told my baby sister was asleep. How is she not innocent? Maybe if I had more information, I would feel better but, at this moment, I have nothing to go on. I was informed that this guy was not innocent but my sister had nothing to do with whatever he was into, wrong place at the wrong time type of thing. I was suppose to meet her new boyfriend for the first time on christmas day. I feel that my sister side of the family has to suffer because the detectives do not want to investigate due to the life style her boyfriend lead. This case will be swept under the rug like many others. I wish there was something I could do.