Gates Shuffles LAPD Brass : Police: The commander of the Valley Bureau--where officers were videotaped beating a motorist--is among those reassigned. A spokesman says the shake-up is unrelated to the incident.

The Valley Bureau--the Los Angeles Police Department jurisdiction in which officers were videotaped beating a motorist last week--is getting a new commander, but police officials said Tuesday that the change has nothing to do with the incident that has led to calls for the ouster of Chief Daryl F. Gates.

After less than six weeks as the top-ranking police officer in the San Fernando Valley, Cmdr. Jim Jones, 49, is being reassigned--part of a reshuffling in which two deputy chiefs and another commander also were transferred.

Cmdr. Robert Gil, himself in only his fourth day on the job as head of press relations for the department, said the changes in top brass assignments had nothing to do with the March 3 beating of motorist Rodney G. King.

“Jones wasn’t being removed for any cause other than the chief wants to get deputy chiefs in all those operational bureaus,” Gil said. “We’ve had two commanders commanding operations in West Bureau and Central Bureau for a number of years. It wasn’t the best way to do business, and the chief knew that.”

But a sergeant in the North Hollywood Division, who requested anonymity, said the transfers “have to be” the result of the beating, which was videotaped by an amateur photographer.

“Why else would they want to transfer all these people, especially when they just transferred them?” the sergeant asked. “Looks like a clean sweep. If Gates sweeps all these people, maybe he won’t get swept himself.”

Other officers in the Valley expressed surprise at the change in command but said they were unsure what it meant. Officers said no announcement of the change was made at roll calls Tuesday.

Those who spoke declined to be identified.

“They didn’t tell us anything,” said one officer. “It has all been passed word-of-mouth.”

Another officer said “it’s common knowledge we’ve had a change in command. Jones is out and (Deputy Chief Mark) Kroeker is in. But it is hard to say what it means.”

Added a desk officer at Van Nuys Division station: “We don’t know what is happening, but we aren’t worried. We worry about what’s in the newspaper every day--not what the command does. It’s all been thrown up in the air and it hasn’t come down yet. We don’t know what it means.”

Gil said Gates wanted to put deputy chiefs in charge of the department’s five operational bureaus “to give them proper oversight by a top level officer.”

The Valley Bureau had been commanded by Deputy Chief Ron Frankle until Jones, who commanded West Bureau for two years, was named to succeed him in January. Frankle now heads the Operations Headquarters Bureau.

Kroeker, the commanding officer in South Bureau for less than a month, will replace Jones in the Valley, police officials said Tuesday. Deputy Chief Matthew Hunt will take over South Bureau. Cmdr. Ron Banks, now in charge of support services in Headquarters Bureau, will go to South Bureau as Hunt’s second-in-command. Jones will move into Banks’ former post.

Gates had intended to have all the new appointments in place by March 1, when the departure of Deputy Chief William Rathburn, who became police chief in Dallas, and the retirement of Assistant Chief Jesse Brewer became effective, Gil said. The chief was out of town then and the appointments were delayed, Gil added.

The beating of King, however, has prompted Gates to take a broad new look at tactics, procedures and “any place where he feels he can improve the system,” Gil said.

On Monday, the Los Angeles County grand jury began hearing testimony about the beating of King.

The amateur photographer videotaped the incident from his apartment balcony in Lake View Terrace, capturing the scene of officers bludgeoning King with clubs as he lay on the ground. The tape was sold to television station KTLA and eventually was broadcast internationally. It has prompted thousand of angry calls to police and city officials and has led to demands that Gates resign.

In an interview with The Times in January, Jones, of Newhall, described himself as a “bouncing ball” who has had 25 different assignments in 27 years with the department. One of his priorities in taking over the Valley command, Jones said, was “to make sure that we keep the culture of our Police Department very positive and very much community-oriented.”

Jones also said he worried about the department’s reputation as being too coldly efficient while making arrests and bringing order from disorder.

Times staff writers Nieson Himmel and Philipp Gollner contributed to this story.