In August of 1997 Los Angeles School Police Officer Starlin Jones was assigned to Mount Vernon Middle School. Unfortunately for Jones, the principal did not approve of the way Jones enforced the law. More specifically, the principal did not like the fact that Officer Jones wrote tickets to parents and teachers, even though the citations were clear violations and in some cases hazardous violations. This culminated in a letter in July of 1998 by Jones' principal to Jones' Sergeant. This letter requested that Jones be reassigned, but yet gave no justification other than the principal apparently disagreeing with his issuing of citations. That letter was not acted upon, at least not until five months later.

In November of 1998 Officer Joe Ivankay, the patrol officer working the area of Mount Vernon, drove into the school lot and noticed a vehicle blocking the handicap zone. After consulting with Officer Jones, Officer Ivankay issued a citation to the vehicle. The vehicle turned out to belong to the principal. Three days later Jones was informed by his Sergeants that Assistant Chief Gwenn Perez had ordered he be transferred. Not only did they transfer him, they transferred him to a school that was 20 miles further away from home (one way) than Mount Vernon. Commonly referred to as "Freeway Therapy".

Los Angeles School Police Association (LASPA) president Paul Quezada immediately filed a grievance. Under their Memorandum of Understanding with the District, as well as the Peace Officer's Bill of Rights, transfers for the purpose of punishment require an appeal hearing.

As the case approached the final step, the administrative hearing, LASPA general counsel and LDF Panel Attorney Dieter Dammeier of Lackie, Dammeier & McGill was asked to take over the representation and handle the hearing. As soon as the District learned of this, the first thing they tried to do was get a continuance. Dammeier was aware of this usual tactic by the District to drag things out as long as possible. He contacted the hearing officer and successfully argued against any continuance.

The hearing was held on June 3, 1999. The only witness called by the District was Assistant Chief Perez. Perez claimed that Officer Jones had "shortcomings" which was the reason for the transfer. Under cross examination by Dammeier, Perez admitted that the principal called her shortly after the citation was issued, however, Perez did not recall the citation being discussed, claiming the discussion was about Jones' performance. This completely contradicted the principal's testimony where the principal stated that the reason for the phone call to Perez was to get out of the ticket. Perez could not give any details of what she did to determine if there was a closer school available for Jones to be transferred. It became very clear in the hearing that Perez ordered the transfer due to the citation and that no real effort was made to locate a closer school.

Accordingly, the hearing officer ordered that Jones be transferred to a school within five miles of his home and he be reimbursed his out of pocket expenses due to the unlawful transfer, which included $1,348.80 in mileage reimbursement. This case is a fine example of how even the most vindictive supervisor can be beaten.