The Hidden Strength of Chief Gates

Anyone watching the Los Angeles City Council and the police commission meetings Wednesday would have bet Chief Daryl F. Gates was on his way out--and quickly.

Shouts of “Gates must go! Gates must go!” rocked the first-floor auditorium of Parker Center--the police headquarters--as the commission conducted a hearing on the Rodney G. King beating. The commission and Gates sat and listened, the chief expressionless except for an occasional, scornful smile.

This was government by screaming, a day of mobs and media, just like in Tom Wolfe’s novel “Bonfire of the Vanities.” Television camera crews lined up inside and outside the auditorium. As the tumultuous public hearing drew to a close, Channel 7’s reporter went on the air live, ordering his cameraman to give him a close-up of the beleaguered Gates.

A short time later, the noise level was only a couple of decibels lower at the City Council. “It’s not only that Gates must go, but Gates will go!” shouted one speaker. That prediction was made with great certainty.

But know this: Behind the shouting and the televised images, the chief’s position is stronger than it seems.

First of all, the chief’s job, as has been widely discussed, is protected by the Civil Service system. Gates reports to the Police Commission, which is appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. But the commission can’t fire him. It can only recommend firing to the Civil Service Commission, also named by the mayor.

That recommendation is not binding on the civil service commissioners, a small handful of appointees who so far have not been asked to play in this civic drama. This commission must hold lengthy hearings structured to protect the employee, a process shaped by years of court decisions upholding the sanctity of the Civil Service system. Advantage always is to the accused.

When Gates appeared before the City Council on Wednesday, it was clear that in addition to this systemic protection he enjoys some significant political support.

It was not so much what council members said, but what they did--little, telling gestures. Joel Wachs never stated how he felt about Gates’ tenure, but he sure acted like a friend. Wachs asked Gates the easiest of all questions: What will you do to rebuild confidence in the LAPD? That gave the chief the floor for a long soliloquy in defense of his regime.

Add Ernani Bernardi to the pro-Gates ranks. He wondered aloud why the California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles school district police, whose officers witnessed the King beating, have escaped criticism.

The two black members of the City Council, Nate Holden and Bob Farrell, also were reserved, which might surprise those who have seized on the fact that the beating victim was a black man and the beaters were white. Holden told me that he is reserving his opinion until he sees whether Gates has generated a pattern of discriminatory behavior.

Afterward, Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores said she thought it all showed Gates’ strength on the council. Council President John Ferraro agreed. “None of them have said he should resign,” said Ferraro. “By not saying anything, the council is saying he should stay.”

Why the support? Constituents are one reason. Joy Picus, who represents a largely white, fairly affluent portion of the San Fernando Valley, told me most of the constituent calls to her office favored Gates. Council members also are grateful for additional cops provided for trouble spots in their council districts. Any time there’s trouble in Zev Yaroslavsky’s Westwood Village, the streets are lined with blue. Wachs and Valley cops worked closely together to try to clean up streets of drug dealers in Sepulveda. As Chief Gates reminded the council, all of their districts received such help.

“This,” he said, “is a Police Department that has supported you.”

Council support isn’t a matter of votes. The Civil Service system has taken the question of Gates’ job tenure out of the hands of the council and the mayor. That’s what it’s supposed to do. Fifty-four years ago, reformers changed the City Charter to do just that because they didn’t want a police chief made captive to politics.

Rather, council backing, even if it is expressed through silence, serves as a counterweight to the political pressure being exerted by Mayor Bradley and his aides, who are trying to force the chief out. With Bradley mainly acting as cheerleader, his aides and key supporters are trying to so heat the atmosphere that Gates simply will give up.

This is psychological warfare, and Gates appears to have taken up the challenge.

“No one is going to force me out of this office,” he said Thursday on the “Today Show.” Knowing he has friends on the City Council will strengthen that resolve. This fight isn’t over.