3 Congressmen Call for the Resignation or Removal of Gates : Police: The Valley Democrats are the first non-minority elected officials to urge the chief’s ouster after King beating.

Three prominent San Fernando Valley-area congressmen have called for embattled Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to either resign or be removed as a result of the March 3 beating of black motorist Rodney G. King.

Reps. Henry A. Waxman (D-Hollywood), Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) told The Times this week that Gates should step down. The liberal lawmakers are the first non-minority elected officials to call for the chief’s ouster.

“When you have a lack of impulse control with police--just like with criminals or abusive parents--it’s not a one-time incident,” Waxman said in an interview. “We need a chief who sends a clear signal to every man and woman under him that beating suspects and falsifying reports are grave crimes and will be treated as such.”

The congressmen said they were appalled at the videotape made by an amateur cameraman that showed white Los Angeles police officers--four of whom have been indicted--clubbing the prone King 56 times with batons and repeatedly kicking him after a high-speed car chase. Berman and Beilenson also cited radio communications by police after the incident that were marked by joking, references to other violent encounters, and remarks that some have construed as racist.

The congressmen said Gates, who has been chief 13 years, should be held responsible for creating an environment in which such things could occur, apparently with impunity.

“If he makes it clear that he simply will not condone acts of brutality of this sort, then I have to believe that they will not happen,” Beilenson said. “There’s got to be an understanding or a feeling among some members of the department that this sort of behavior would go, if not unnoticed, at least unpunished.”

Gates, a Republican who considered making a 1990 GOP gubernatorial bid, wrote a letter supporting Beilenson’s Republican opponent last year. Beilenson said the letter had nothing to do with his call for the chief’s ouster.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), whose 21st District includes part of Los Angeles, said that a rush to judgment is unfair. Gallegly, who dealt with allegations of police brutality as Simi Valley mayor, deplored the King incident, but said that ongoing inquiries should determine whether the beating was an aberration, as Gates maintains.

“I still have seen no evidence that this is a normal, accepted procedure,” Gallegly said. “I don’t know if you can hold the chief responsible for every act that every one of his officers does individually, unless he excuses it or ignores the responsibility of dealing with it.”

Berman, within whose 26th District the King beating occurred, emphasized that the fundamental problem is not Gates himself, but rather the recruitment and training of police officers and “the establishment of expected behavior which says, ‘This is not allowed to happen.’ ”

Berman said responsibility for such failures extends beyond the chief to those who oversee the department: the Police Commission, the mayor and the City Council.

“Somewhere, they have failed in creating a standard that people would either want to observe or would be fearful of not observing,” said Berman, who sits on the House Judiciary Committee.

Members of the Police Commission, a civilian panel, asked the city attorney’s office this week to advise them on how they could censure, discipline or remove Gates from office if they decide to take any of those steps.

No Los Angeles City Council member has publicly called for Gates’ resignation. Mayor Tom Bradley said Wednesday that “the only way” for the Police Department to recover from the controversy is for Gates “to remove himself” from office. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) have called for Gates to resign. All three officials are black.

Beilenson said the high-profile incident has been a frequent topic of conversation among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

“It is embarrassing for those of us who represent the area to face colleagues of ours from around the country and have to admit that in the 1990s that sort of behavior takes place in Los Angeles,” he said.

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