Anti-Terrorist Unit Leader Replaced in LAPD Inquiry

The commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Anti-Terrorist Division has gone on medical leave and was officially replaced Monday amid a departmental investigation into allegations that he claimed overtime pay while moonlighting as a college instructor.

The investigation of Capt. Robert M. Smitson, 49, comes at a time when the 45-member anti-terrorist unit has been beset by a decline in morale and an increase in transfer requests, former members of the division and other sources said.

Many of the unit’s troubles, the sources said, stem from stringent court-ordered guidelines that it has been forced to follow since replacing its much-criticized predecessor, the Public Disorder Intelligence Division.

Outgrowth of Spy Probe

The former unit was disbanded in July, 1983, after revelations that it had improperly spied on hundreds of law-abiding citizens, including critics of the Police Department.

Former Anti-Terrorist Division detectives contend that considerable tension has developed between the unit and the civilian-run Los Angeles Police Commission, which closely monitors the unit’s activities.

“They have handcuffed the division,” said former Detective Jerry L. Ferrin, who said he had a nervous breakdown in 1984, purportedly because of his job. “You have to fill out a report any time you talk to anybody. The Police Commission people, I’m sure, are very nice, but they just don’t know what they’re doing.”

At least six veteran detectives in the unit have applied for stress-related pensions in recent months or requested transfers to other areas of the department because of frustrations, Ferrin and others said.

Smitson, a 28-year veteran of the department, was replaced Monday by Capt. Walter W. Mitchell, commander of the Devonshire Division.

Smitson, who has declined requests for an interview by The Times, took command of the Anti-Terrorist Division in January, 1985, and went on medical leave Nov. 20, complaining of chest pains and numbness in his left arm.

Overtime Pay Questioned

His departure came about a month after the Police Department’s Inspection and Control Section began questioning officers about overtime pay claimed by Smitson.

The question of improprieties surfaced last fall as Inspection and Control investigators conducted a routine audit of the unit, knowledgeable sources said. Inspection and Control reports go directly to Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

“They asked a lot of questions about overtime he (Smitson) got during the Olympics, and wanted to know whether he was teaching at times when he said he was working,” said one police officer who was questioned by inspectors.

Smitson, a highly decorated officer, helped direct the department’s command post in Exposition Park during the 1984 Summer Games.

He has taught for about 14 years at Rio Hondo College in Whittier, school officials said, serving as physical training director for the college’s police science section. He also has taught classes in how officers can minimize risks in confrontations ranging from traffic stops to shootings.

Smitson is regarded by many police officials as a staunch ally of Gates, who has called on Smitson twice in recent years to clean up scandal-ridden areas of the department.

In 1982 he was named commander of the Hollywood Division after disclosures that some officers had burglarized businesses in the area and that others had sexual relations with girl Explorer Scouts in Griffith Park.

When he took over the anti-terrorist unit, Smitson was faced with newly established guidelines that many believe are the toughest controls on police intelligence activities in the nation.

Under the guidelines, two members of the Police Commission authorize police surveillances, with a second pair of commissioners periodically auditing division records. Commissioners decide whether there is sufficient evidence to initiate intelligence probes, and require written records of everyone who has had a hand in any of the unit’s investigations.

Robert M. Talcott, president of the Board of Police Commissioners, said Monday that he never felt any animosity from Smitson, calling him “a delightful guy.”

But Talcott conceded that other officers in the unit may be unhappy with civilian “outsiders,” such as commission members, overseeing their activities.

“I think it is very difficult for them. It’s a much more circuitous, cumbersome method of conducting investigations,” Talcott said. “I suspect that in some ways, it may dampen their enthusiasm to perform their duties . . . .”

He said he believes the officers think that they receive “undue and unwarranted scrutiny and second guessing, and I think that would make anybody unhappy.”