PERSPECTIVE ON POLICE : LAPD Furor Calls for Broad, Special Probe : An independent panel could restore public confidence and recommend ways to make the chief accountable.

In 1970, a police officer named Frank Serpico came forward with reports of widespread graft and corruption in the New York Police Department. Frustrated by the failure of his superiors to act on his reports over a period of years, he finally took his story to the New York Times. The story stunned the nation as the charges of police corruption and subsequent departmental shake-ups became front-page news across the country.

New York Mayor John Lindsay soon announced the formation of an independent commission, a “citizens’ group,” to be chaired by federal Judge Whitman Knapp, at the time a Wall Street lawyer, and including Cyrus Vance and other prominent New Yorkers. Its task was to review the city’s procedures for investigating corruption.

The Knapp Commission had a great and positive psychological impact on the public. Various attempts to deny it funding, to limit its subpoena power or to otherwise frustrate its mandate failed. When city funds eventually ran out, federal funds allowed it to complete its work. It conducted its own investigation that extended to the systemic causes and nature of police corruption and therefore went beyond the scope of grand jury proceedings. Its public hearings were an important and tangible symbol to the community. Over time, the commission came to be viewed on a local and national level as a forum with integrity.

In determining the appropriate response to the crisis facing the Los Angeles Police Department, it is necessary to see beyond the day Chief Daryl Gates holds office. With or without Gates, important questions need to be answered if we are to make meaningful progress in finding a long-term solution to the problem of police brutality. The deep emotional fissures in the community dictate that these questions be presented and resolved in a formal and public manner. The formation of something similar to the Knapp Commission would be one way of dealing with this in a comprehensive fashion.

We strongly recommend that Mayor Tom Bradley form such an investigative body, granting it a mandate that includes investigating specific instances of police harassment and brutality, the institutional causes of any pattern of harassment and brutality that may be found to exist, and the issues of public accountability and tenure of the chief of police. An investigative commission would represent to the nation and the community a bold response by local government to the need for accountability within our police department. America is watching as Los Angeles decides whether and to what extent a democratic society can place so important a state function as chief of police beyond the reach of elected civilian government.

Neither the grand jury process nor the Police Commission is the appropriate forum in which to address these issues. The grand jury’s scope is generally restricted to investigations of specific criminal actions and it conducts its business in secret. An investigative commission would not be so restricted and, more important, it would provide a public forum and a measure of community participation. With all respect to the Police Commission, it has neither the resources nor the time to engage in the type of detailed investigation required. In addition, it might present a conflict of interest to have such an investigation carried out by the very body responsible for helping to manage the department.

The mere formation of an investigative commission would have several positive effects. It would focus attention on identifying and implementing long-term structural change within the department. It would permit the development of a comprehensive factual record regarding allegations of police misconduct and mismanagement. And it would provide insight into the manner in which the City Charter should be changed to ensure that the chief of police is made more accountable to the public.

The highest law-enforcement priority in a democratic society is protecting the public from civil-rights violations carried out under color of law. Forming an investigative commission is a necessary first step in satisfying this priority. It would be important for Los Angeles, for the country and for civil rights.