Council Calls Session on Police Commission

In a rare move, the Los Angeles City Council has called the entire Police Commission to appear at a public hearing next month to discuss whether it is exerting its proper “authority and role” in dealing with a wide range of problems that have beset the Police Department in recent weeks.

The 11-1 vote of the council came amid growing discontent among some council members with the department, including problems of excessive force, Chief Daryl F. Gates’ statement that casual drug users should be “taken out and shot” and new allegations of police misconduct in the “39th and Dalton” case.

The vote also marks the first time in recent memory that the council has asked the full commission to appear at City Hall and detail what is being done to deal with the problems at Parker Center.

Councilman Michael Woo said he questioned “if the commission is being aggressive enough” in its civilian oversight of the department.

“This is a moderate effort to call for greater accountability,” Woo said, adding that the concerns of his colleagues range from “outrage over Gates’ comments to dissatisfaction over commission scrutiny.”

Richard Dameron, executive officer for the Police Commission, and Police Department spokesman Cmdr. William Booth said it is highly unusual for the entire commission to be called before the council. They both viewed the council’s action as an invitation to appear and said that scheduling problems could make it difficult for all the commissioners to attend.

“This is new to us,” Dameron said. “I’ve been with the commission for four years, and I have never known of this commission going over (to City Hall) collectively at all.”

Added Booth: “I’d say it’s something that doesn’t happen very often.”

The council action follows a public war of words between Mayor Tom Bradley and Gates. The mayor ordered a Police Commission investigation into alleged police misconduct after it was learned that an LAPD sergeant had been working with defense attorneys to help acquit four officers accused of vandalizing apartments during a drug raid near 39th Street and Dalton Avenue.

Gates shot back that he thought the mayor’s letter calling for the commission inquiry was “dumb.” He contended that the mayor was ordering the commission investigation to deflect bad publicity Bradley received about a recent 19-day European trip.

Councilman Robert Farrell, who authored Tuesday’s motion calling for the commission to appear before the council, said he was concerned about the “cumulative impact” of Gates’ leadership style on rank-and-file officers.

“Take 39th and Dalton,” said Farrell. “Those were good police officers. But at 39th and Dalton, they crossed the line. How many others will cross the line because Chief Gates says, ‘I’m going to smash gangs and shoot casual drug users’?”

Commission President Robert Talcott was out of town Wednesday, but in a recent interview he told The Times that he believes the five-member citizens panel is properly overseeing the Police Department.

Talcott said the commission is trying to fulfill the mayor’s desire for having “an independent, fair” civilian oversight over the department, and not one that automatically sanctions every management policy set by the chief’s office.

“We don’t take sides,” he said, “but we are here to make sure the department operates properly, openly and correctly.

“Both the mayor and the chief have a general interest in providing the best service possible to the public,” he said. “The chief is a dedicated chief of police and the mayor is a dedicated mayor. I don’t know that their objectives are necessarily disparate.”

For his part, Gates said his relationship with the commission is the best it has been in years.

“There was a time when the commission and I were just at loggerheads, constantly fighting,” he said in a recent interview. “It was not a productive period. It was causing terrible problems within the organization. It was a hard time for me, a hard time for the commission, a hard time for the department, and I think an unproductive time for the people of the City of Los Angeles.”

But he said that “in the last several years, we’ve been doing very well, and it’s not that the commission is any less vigilant, or not paying attention or that they’ve been co-opted by me. It’s just not the case.”

He added that he has heard suggestions that Bradley is considering replacing Talcott and other commission members. But Gates said: “It would be a shame to replace anybody on the commission. Well not anyone, but . . . “

Mark Fabiani, chief of staff for Bradley, declined to comment about whether the mayor may name some new commissioners. But he said, “The mayor does not discuss commission appointments with the chief.”

Some council members, however, voiced concerns about whether the commission is aggressively overseeing the department, and hope to get answers when the commission appears at City Hall on Nov. 6.

“There are some areas where they could be more vigilant,” said Councilman Richard Alatorre, who has been critical of the lack of minority advancement in the LAPD and the department’s policy of turning over illegal aliens to federal immigration officials.

But some council members, such as Joan Milke Flores, continue to back Gates.

“I think the public still has confidence in the chief,” said Flores. “There’s been ups and downs for Gates . . . and unfortunately, sometimes these things come in bunches.”

Flores said she does not interpret the council’s request to hear from the commission as the “(out to) get ‘em attitude that it might suggest.”