Local News in Brief : New Airport Police Chief

Veteran police officer Gilbert Sandoval has been appointed chief of the long-troubled Los Angeles International Airport police bureau, the city’s Department of Airports announced Monday.

Sandoval served for more than 30 years with the Los Angeles and Compton police departments before accepting a position two years ago as the top assistant in the consulting firm hired under a three-year, $1.7-million contract to whip the bureau into shape.

He has been serving as acting chief of the 285-member bureau--one of the largest police agencies in Southern California--since last November.

The bureau’s problems include internal conflict and dissension dating back a decade or more--problems that came to a head in 1984 when airport commissioners began receiving anonymous letters charging racial discrimination in the mostly black department, which at the time was largely commanded by white officers.