Focus on Gates Seen as Blurring Police Issues : Law enforcement: Public attention is being diverted from the need to overhaul department, officials say.

The increasingly intense tug-of-war over whether Police Chief Daryl F. Gates should resign could polarize some Los Angeles residents and community groups and is diverting public attention away from the need to overhaul Police Department procedures, city leaders said Friday.

The pro- and anti-Gates factions have reduced the Rodney G. King episode to “a political litmus test” on the police chief’s fate, said Dan Garcia, a lawyer and police commissioner. “All of this is distracting and potentially divisive because there are serious problems with the Police Department.”

In an interview, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce President Ray Remy called for a “lowering of the rhetoric” surrounding cries for Gates to step aside. However, there are no signs of a cease-fire in the fierce political battle over the chief’s tenure.

The mayor’s office has devised several new strategies to keep the pressure on Gates while the chief’s backers, buoyed by the support of President Bush, Gov. Pete Wilson and the business community, are pressing ahead with a rally on Sunday in Elysian Park.

On Friday, meanwhile, influential Congressmen Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) and Anthony C. Beilenson (D-Los Angeles) declared that Gates should resign as the first step toward reforming the department after the March 3 beating of King. The three lawmakers are among the first elected officials to say Gates should go. The City Council has remained largely silent on the issue.

“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. “It’s a part of a pattern.”

In the last two days, Gates has for the first time indicated a willingness to retire after he restores the prestige of the LAPD. Without setting a firm date, Gates has hinted that he could achieve his goals “in a very short period of time,” possibly within a year. But he made it clear Friday that he has no plans to depart any time soon.

Neither Mayor Tom Bradley nor the minority community appears ready to give Gates that long.

Bradley “has repeatedly made it clear that the chief’s departure would greatly speed the healing process in the community and the restoration of the Los Angeles Police Department’s fine reputation,” said Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani. “A year is an awful long time.”

John Mack, the president of the Urban League of Los Angeles, said: “I’m afraid that the chief has gone beyond the point of no return. At this point, he is a part of the problem rather than the solution. The Los Angeles Police Department needs new leadership at the top and it needs it now.”

Political and business leaders hope to persuade Gates to retire in August when he turns 65, said sources familiar with the effort. The city has no mandatory retirement age.

For his part, Gates continues to make well-timed appearances before sympathetic groups and on national television to drum up support. He was given a standing ovation last weekend in Beverly Hills at the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick’s dinner. On Wednesday, he met with a group of 75 business leaders over dinner.

“It was a good cross-section of academic and business leaders,” said Richard Riordan, a prominent attorney and Bradley appointee on the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission. “They were very supportive of Gates. They also, with Gates, feel that the police are out to repair the damage in the eyes of the community.”

Gates also gave a speech Thursday night to a friendly crowd of about 85 public relations executives at the Valley Hilton in Sherman Oaks, where the chief suggested he may be willing to leave the department by next year.

“The chief of police has become such a political figure . . . that you would almost think he was campaigning as if he were a member of the City Council,” said police commissioner Garcia. “He has carefully orchestrated his appearances in a fashion designed to earn support. I don’t blame him. . . . The question is whether his time as police chief should be spent doing that rather than solving the problems that need to be addressed.”

The public demonstrations and debate over whether Gates should quit has divided community groups, according to interviews with community leaders.

“There are some concerns of potential polarization along racial lines,” said Mack of the Urban League. “It’s clear that the chief is rallying his forces, which tend to be primarily white and primarily conservative, and they are solidly in his corner. However, we are equally strong in our resolve.”

Said Riordan: “The minority leaders are all for Gates’ scalp and the business community as a whole is (saying) lay off a little bit. My worry is that this whole thing is going to create a greater dichotomy between the haves and have-nots.”

Police Commissioner Melanie Lomax, a Los Angeles civil rights lawyer, agreed that fallout from the King incident continues to divide the city.

“I don’t deny in any sense that the chief has his supporters,” Lomax said. “There is an element in this community that is his constituency, and there are die-hard supporters of the Police Department . . . but I think that that gap is closing. I think for the most part Daryl Gates has come to symbolize what is wrong with the department, fairly or unfairly.”

Lomax said that a Times poll released Thursday--which found that a majority of Los Angeles residents say Gates bears substantial blame for the King incident--signals a severe loss of confidence in the chief’s management.

To recover from the crisis, Gates must denounce the use of excessive force by his officers instead of continually referring to the King beating as an “aberration,” Lomax said.

Two-thirds of Los Angeles residents believe police brutality is common, and two-thirds believe racist feelings among police officers are common, according to the poll.

Friday, Gates said in a speech sponsored by the Jewish Federation Council he was not at all influenced by the Times poll that shows 31% of those surveyed believed he should resign immediately.

“That headline could just as easily have said, ‘Sixty-some percent wanted him to stay.’ I’m going to stay,” he said.

In fact, the poll found that, in addition to those who want Gates to resign immediately, another 31% believe he should quit if an investigation finds his officers committed wrongdoing.

The debate over his tenure is diverting attention away from the more pressing issue of crime, the chief told the Public Relations Society of America on Thursday.

“Whether Daryl Gates retains his position is of no consequence, folks,” Gates said. He characterized the United States as “one of the most oppressed nations in the world because of crime” and said that, despite this country’s victory in the Persian Gulf, “we have yet to become successful in dealing with our own oppression.

“And I would like to get back to dealing with that problem,” he said.

Indeed, several prominent business leaders said in interviews that they think it is fruitless to continue calling for Gates’ resignation.

“I don’t think that it is likely that the chief is going to resign and I think it is counterproductive to try to push to get him fired,” Remy said.

Several City Council members also have expressed concerns about too much attention being focused on Gates rather than issues such as restoring public confidence in the Police Department and disciplining officers involved in wrongdoing.

“We can spend all of our time talking about one person and not get to the fundamental issue,” said Richard Alatorre, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

Councilman Joel Wachs added: “It is not right to focus on one person. The focus should be on what we can do to correct the problem and restore confidence.”

But addressing the department’s problem without looking at Gates may not be possible.

“I don’t think you can take a surgeon’s knife and separate the problems with Gates and some of the systemic problems of the department,” Lomax said.

Since he initially condemned the King incident, Bradley has walked a fine line between publicly demanding Gates’ ouster and working behind the scene to force the chief to retire. On Thursday, Bradley said in an interview: “I think he cares about this department and perhaps as these events unfold over the next few days, maybe he’ll take a new look” at the possibility of retiring soon.

“Maybe some of his close friends and advisers will tell him it’s time to stop,” Bradley added.

The mayor’s chief deputy, Fabiani, continues to work behind the scenes to seek Gates’ removal, according to sources familiar with his efforts. The campaign will include calls by more community groups, and possibly some City Council members, for Gates to retire.

A plan by the mayor to appoint a blue-ribbon commission of citizens to investigate police practices is expected next week, possibly with the cooperation of Gates as a first step toward healing relations between police and the community.

“If there is a way where the chief could see the mayor’s independent commission as a potential solution rather than as a hostile problem, then we could be well on the way to recovery,” said one source in the mayor’s office. “I’m not sure that is possible.”

Times staff writers Leslie Berger, Rich Connell, Andrea Ford and Sheryl Stolberg contributed to this story.

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