Brewer, No. 2 Man at LAPD, to Retire : Police: Assistant chief says first attempt to join the force was rejected because he is black. Department’s biggest change is improved race relations, he says.

Four decades ago, when Jesse A. Brewer applied for a job as a Los Angeles police officer, he was rejected on a technicality. Convinced that it was a matter of discrimination because he is black, Brewer steeled his nerve and reapplied with the help of then-Sgt. Tom Bradley.

He was accepted.

On Thursday, the 69-year-old Brewer filed his application for retirement, stepping down from the Police Department’s No. 2 slot as an assistant chief of police.

Often touted as a likely successor to longtime Chief Daryl F. Gates, the even-tempered and easy-mannered Brewer said he has no doubts that the most significant change the Los Angeles Police Department has undergone during his 38-year career has been an improvement in race relations among the ranks at Parker Center.

“People can move up in this department now without regard to race, creed, religion or gender,” he said. “If they can hack it and they have the qualifications, they’re going to make it.

“But when I came on, if you were black or a woman or Hispanic, you were limited,” he said. “That barrier is not here anymore. It no longer exists.”

Brewer’s retirement is effective March 1 and comes only a month after another high-ranking police official, Deputy Chief William Rathburn, was selected to become chief of police in Dallas.

The two vacancies also suddenly opened long-awaited promotional opportunities for other top police officials, some of whom have worried that their careers were being stifled under Gates’ long reign.

One of those promotions will go to Cmdr. William Booth, who for 14 years has been the department’s chief spokesman. Booth was informed by Gates this week that he will be promoted to Rathburn’s position as deputy chief for special investigations, Lt. Fred Nixon said Thursday.

Brewer’s replacement has not been named, but some police insiders suggest that Gates may feel obligated to hire another minority for that job, particularly in the wake of two state Department of Fair Employment and Housing complaints that black and Latino officers are being passed over for deserved promotions in the Police Department.

“I believe there will be that kind of pressure,” said George Aliano, president of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the bargainning unit for the 8,400 sworn officers, 13.8% of whom are black.

“But he won’t do it just because of the pressure. He’ll do it by picking the right person that can do the job.”

Joining the department in 1952 after five years as a Chicago policeman, Brewer had a number of assignments, including vice, traffic, homicide, burglary, community relations and training activities. He was promoted to deputy chief in 1981, and was named one of three assistant chiefs--the second-highest rank in the department--in 1987.

He also served on a presidential commission on organized crime and was a technical adviser to the television show “Hill Street Blues.”

Brewer was praised for several law enforcement innovations, such as implementing new officer deployments during the 1980s that came about as the gang crisis worsened. He was widely regarded as a personable, genial and articulate leader.

“We called him ‘The Prince,’ ” said Lt. Tim Halford, who works for Brewer in a new section that handles police litigation.

Added Herbert F. Boeckmann, president of the Police Commission: “He was always courteous and everyone who came in contact with him, none of them would go away with a criticism.”

But it was a roundabout relationship which he developed with the future mayor that landed him in a Los Angeles police blue uniform.

Brewer was unhappy in Chicago, where he said the department discriminated against blacks, segregated black officers from working with their white counterparts and all but refused to promote black policemen to sergeant.

Discouraged, he applied to the Los Angeles Police Department, took the test and was told he passed. But then came a follow-up letter, advising him he was being disqualified because of a medical technicality. “I didn’t know what that was all about,” Brewer said. “It had something to do with medical reasons, about my chest didn’t expand a full four inches when I breathed or something. But I felt very strongly it was racially motivated. I knew there was a limit as to black officers and only some places you could work. I felt they were maintaining a quota system.”

Brewer’s uncle was a Los Angeles minister, who counted Sgt. Bradley among his parishioners.

“He spoke with me when he was rejected because he felt he was being discriminated against,” Bradley said Thursday. “I made some inquiries and he was later admitted to the Police Department.”

Today, Brewer does not believe that the department’s promotional ladder is tilted against minorities, as claimed in the two Fair Employment and Housing complaints.

“If you make the commitment and really study hard enough, you’re going to make it here,” he said. “Our promotion system is really based on merit. The official policy here today is to provide equal opportunity for everyone.”

Acknowledging that he has been a role model for many younger minority officers, he added: “There are some very bright people here. And their future on this department looks really good.”

Brewer also said he wanted to dispel any assertions that he was leaving out of frustration that he would never make chief of police. He said that 10 years ago, when he first was named a deputy chief, “I worked real hard and prepared myself” for the possibility of succeeding Gates.

But he eventually realized that his age and the odds were against him. “In order to be chief of police, you have to have the right timing,” he said, offering no regrets. “And my timing wasn’t right.”