PERSPECTIVE ON POLICE : A Destructive Rush to Judgment : Daryl Gates’ suspension was a violation of due process; the police chief’s foes are further trying to rig the system.

The savage beating of Rodney King has shamed our city and shocked our collective conscience. The chilling memory of that sickening videotape must now become a force for positive change.

If those guilty of this ugly crime are swiftly brought to justice; if its root causes are determined, and corrective actions taken, then all of us may yet benefit from this tragic occurrence.

Indeed, if it causes each of us to re-examine our own prejudices, reflect upon our own attitudes and behavior and learn to respect the difference in others in our society, then we can also make the rich, multicultural diversity of Los Angeles the true measure of its greatness.

But if, in our rush to judgment, we permit due process to be disregarded, then we will destroy the very system of justice upon which all of us rely.

And if, in our temptation to dispense frontier justice, we tamper with the time-honored safeguards of our Civil Service system, then we will undermine the integrity of city government.

Yet unfortunately, that’s exactly what is happening in our city today.

Although the Superior Court temporarily reinstated Chief Daryl F. Gates on Monday, the Police Commission’s closed-door decision to place him on inactive duty, without permitting him any of the rights normally afforded under the law, coupled with Mayor Tom Bradley’s attempt to take over the Civil Service system by stacking the members of the Civil Service Commission, represent shocking abuses of our form of government and a flagrant disregard for due process.

The Police Commission’s decision to take its unprecedented action in secrecy, without first conducting an investigation, without specifying any charges, without following customary procedures set forth by law and without granting any right of appeal, should shock every civil libertarian, including the American Civil Liberties Union.

What kind of confidence can the public have in a Police Commission that acts in total disregard of the 14th Amendment’s prohibition against depriving any person--including Chief Gates--of life, liberty or property without due process of law?

What kind of confidence can the public have in a Police Commission that first meets secretly in the office of one of its members and then actually types its decision even before it enters the room to supposedly make an “independent decision”?

What kind of confidence can the public have in a Police Commission that intentionally tries to skirt the law by going out of its way to say that its action is “in no way punitive or disciplinary” because it knows full well that it did not follow the procedures, or afford the right of appeal, that state government code specifically requires in “punitive or disciplinary” cases?

Every kid who’s ever been sent to his room knows that removing a chief from active duty for 60 days or more is punishment and discipline. Indeed, even those who have hailed the commission’s actions have done so precisely because they view it as punishment.

Finally, what kind of confidence can the public have in a Civil Service system when the members of its commission are politically stacked?

If anything is sacrosanct in our City Charter, it is the protection of Civil Service against cronyism and corruption. Yet, just days before the Police Commission’s action, an outstanding Civil Service commissioner, Claire Bronowski, was removed from the commission without notice and a close political ally of the Mayor, Larry Drasin, named as her intended replacement.

Tell me that has nothing to do with the fact that disciplinary actions by the Police Commission must ultimately go to the Civil Service Commission for approval. Get the picture? Not since Watergate has anyone tried this flagrantly to let the end justify the means. There’s a big difference between asking the chief to resign and rigging the system to force him out without due process.

And the tragic irony is that such an intentional abuse could ultimately cause as much harm as the Rodney King incident itself. Because it is minorities in particular--whether African-American, Native American, Asian-American, Latino, women, gays, lesbians, seniors or the disabled--who have traditionally sought refuge from discrimination and injustice in the comforting protections of due process and Civil Service.