CRISIS IN THE LAPD: THE RODNEY KING CASE : Officers Welcome News of Council Vote

On their car radios, in station-house conversations, through telephone calls from sympathetic outsiders, Los Angeles police officers got the word late Friday and the word, for a change, was good: The chief, it seems, is headed back.

“People are stopping each other all over the stairs and halls and telling each other the news,” said Lt. Fred Reno of the Bunco Forgery Division. “It’s going by word of mouth and by telephone. We’re really ecstatic over it.

“For those of us still here at Parker Center,” said Reno, a 27-year department veteran, “the smiles are as big as they can be.”

About the time the day shift became the night shift Friday afternoon, the city’s topsy-turvy politics shifted yet again when the City Council took action aimed at reinstating Chief Daryl F. Gates, who was placed on a forced 60-day leave Thursday by the Police Commission. Word spread quickly throughout the department.

Detective Edward Ortiz heard it from his supervisor in the Wilshire Division, and Capt. Jim Whitley, of the Devonshire Division, heard it as soon as he came on duty.

“It’s refreshing to know that the elected City Council is showing good wisdom and judgment,” said Whitley.

Patrol Officer Michael So was writing up a traffic accident report at the Van Nuys station when “a citizen called and said that the chief was put back on duty.”

“I said, ‘Thank God. He’s a great leader and I guess God answered our prayers,’ ” the officer said.

Exactly when or how Gates resumes command of his beleaguered 8,300-officer force still remains to be seen. Mayor Tom Bradley appears ready to challenge the City Council’s legal authority to effectively override an action by the Police Commission, an independent panel of mayoral appointees. It appeared that Monday could deliver a legal showdown, and the possibility of yet another twist muted some of the police cheering.

“I interpret what they’re saying (to mean) that he’s to return to work by Tuesday, that the City Council went against the mayor, but it’s not real clear whether that’s in the bag or definite,” said Sgt. Alan Bollinger of Rampart Division, who snapped on his little TV to catch a news bulletin.

No one was doing high-fives in Bollinger’s station. “We don’t need the sis-boom-bah,” said Bollinger. “It’s business as usual.”

The LAPD itself refrained from commenting on the City Council’s action, saying in a prepared statement only that “the department does not know the full effect of today’s motions or what additional conditions might arise during the settlement agreement” expected in response to Gates’ lawsuit.

Times staff writers Stephen Braun and Patt Morrison contributed to this story.