Police Fail to Find Support for Charges of Gun Part Thefts

Allegations that Los Angeles police officers stole parts from hundreds of confiscated guns and sold them at swap meets and gun shows have not been substantiated by an internal investigation that is near completion, a police official said Monday.

Cmdr. George Morrison, speaking for Police Chief Daryl F. Gates at a meeting of the City Council’s Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee, characterized the allegations as “a rehash” of old charges that the Police Department has looked into before and found to be untrue.

Morrison acknowledged that two previous audits of the department’s firearms and explosives section had found numerous “deficiencies,” including violations of procedures, inadequate space for and improper storage of weapons and personnel shortages. But, he added, “there is no evidence of criminal activity.”

“We have problem areas, and we’ve got to clean them up,” Morrison told reporters after the meeting.

The internal investigation, he said, could be over by the end of next month. A third audit, begun by his office last summer, is still under way, he said.

Contacted later by phone, the police officer whose complaints sparked the department’s investigation accused police administrators of trying to cover up the situation.

Cover-Up Charged

“It’s been an ongoing cover-up since it was first brought out,” said Lt. Jimmie J. Finn, a 23-year police veteran and former commander of the firearms and explosives section. “The mayor, the City Council and the Police Commission have not been able to cause this department to conduct a thorough investigation of these charges.

“If the City Council really wanted to become actively involved, I’m certainly available to talk to them, and there are other officers who are available,” Finn continued. “Instead, the City Council allows a member of the chief’s personal staff to come over to refute it. I don’t call that an adequate airing.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of committee and the only member present Monday, said after the meeting that he did not believe that police were covering up anything. He saw nothing improper in the Police Department being allowed to investigate itself, he said. He will recommend that the full City Council put the matter aside until both the audit and the investigation are complete, he said.

Police sources last month told The Times that Finn’s allegations centered on a handful of officers and detectives, including a nationally known firearms expert, who reportedly stripped the parts from guns destined for destruction. Neither Alatorre nor Morrison would answer questions Monday about the details of the internal investigation, citing the privacy rights of the accused officers.

Section Audit

Finn said Monday he first began complaining to his commanding officers about the activity in February, 1987. Those complaints led to an audit of the section by Gates’ office but not an investigation into criminality. Action was taken on the gun-stripping allegations, Finn said, only after he took them to a police commissioner last November.

The City Council asked for a response to the allegations from Gates last month after a Times story about the investigation.