85% of LAPD Officers Vote No Confidence in Gates in Early Returns

More than eight out of every 10 Los Angeles police officers supported a vote of no confidence against Chief Daryl F. Gates and the Police Commission over delays in ironing out a new contract, early results of a police union petition drive showed Thursday.

The non-binding vote--the first ever against Gates--was intended, in large measure, to influence the city’s Executive Employee Relations Committee, according to Los Angeles Police Protective League officials. The committee is to meet today behind closed doors to discuss issues that have prevented acceptance of a new two-year contract for the 7,000-member Police Department.

The old contract expired in July, 1985, and an impasse in negotiations was declared in January.

“We wanted to tell people that the chief and the (police) commission do not necessarily speak for us on this matter,” League President George V. Aliano said. “We very much want to wrap this up and we’re not the ones who are stopping it.”

Leadership Questioned

As of Thursday, about 1,000 petition forms had been returned from among the 7,000 distributed. Aliano, displaying a foot-thick stack of the forms, said that about 85% of the officers responding thus far questioned the Police Department’s leadership.

“We, the police officers of Los Angeles, express no confidence in the ability of the Chief of Police and Police Commission to effectively manage an organization of this stature and their proposal is an insult to every member of the league,” the petition form states in part.

While Police Commission President Robert M. Talcott and Vice President Barbara L. Schlei could not be reached for comment Thursday, Gates, who is on vacation, said he was “absolutely furious” at the no-confidence vote, which he condemned as “the league’s latest cheap shot.”

“I think each of you knows that I have consistently supported the best possible economic package for you, an economic package that I believe is of principal interest to you rather than the drivel that the league continues to bring to the negotiation process . . .” Gates said in a written message read at officer roll-calls Thursday.

‘Too Many Outsiders’

However, Aliano said the contract dispute does not center on police pay, but rather the administration’s insistence that officers no longer be allowed to seek binding arbitration when appealing transfers, dismissals and other disciplinary action.