Harbor Residents Give Chief Gates a Rousing Welcome : Police: Wilmington crowd voices its support. Gates calls for ‘divisive debate’ over King beating to end.

It was billed as a public forum. But when Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates spoke to a standing-room-only crowd in Wilmington late last week, the event seemed more like a testimonial.

Never mind that the outspoken chief and his department face their greatest public scrutiny in years because of the March beating of a motorist stopped for speeding in the San Fernando Valley. Or that in Wilmington, an ethnically diverse community with its share of crime and gang problems, the one thing residents always seem to want is more police.

No, those things didn’t seem to matter so much Thursday night when Gates appeared at the Banning Park Recreation Center. What mattered, it seemed, was that Gates was there. That he had been under fire. And that among the harbor-area residents who crammed the center, his hard-line views and Harbor Division officers are well regarded.

Although troubled by the Rodney G. King incident and by the need for more local police, residents turned out Thursday night to praise Gates and Harbor Division officers in what several in the audience described as a “love fest.”

“I’m a little nervous,” said Ray Miller of Wilmington as he stood anxiously at a microphone, staring at the chief. “But I just want to say thank you for the great job you’re doing.”

The comment by the longtime Wilmington resident was echoed time and again when nearly 250 harbor-area residents attended a Wilmington Home Owners meeting that normally draws fewer than 100 people. The crowd was the largest ever for the group--more than have turned out at the hall to hear Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores or anyone else.

“I don’t think what has happened with the department has had any impact on the respect people have for Chief Gates in Wilmington,” said WHO President Joan Wysocki, who pointed out that Gates drew nearly as many people two years ago.

Gates’ one-hour address, which began and ended with a standing ovation, was interrupted several times by applause and included several calls for Gates to run for mayor.

During a speech and a cordial question-and-answer session, Gates spent much of his time urging an end to the “divisive debate” over the King affair, telling the crowd that the time has come to put that incident behind the city and the “shame” it has brought to the LAPD.

“We need very much to get on with our work . . . and providing the service to you that you deserve and need,” Gates said to applause.

Providing that service, Gates said, may be more difficult in the coming year as the LAPD faces a hiring freeze that could mean the loss of as many as 450 officers from the 8,400-member force. The freeze, part of a budget-balancing proposal by Mayor Bradley, will hurt the policing of Los Angeles, Gates said. He urged the crowd to tell City Council members to oppose the plan.

Mindful that he and Bradley have pledged a truce after weeks of public feuding over the King affair, Gates shied from sharp criticism of the mayor, even when urged on by speakers. “Peace. Peace,” he said to the crowd at one point, raising his fingers in the peace sign of the ‘60s.

Still, Gates did not altogether avoid criticism of Bradley and his management of the city.

“I cannot explain why we are in this (budget) position,” Gates said. “I’m trying to be very nice because the mayor and I are trying to have some peace. But it is very hard for me not to be critical of this yo-yo management where you are up one year and down the other.”

The gibes at Bradley did not seem to trouble the crowd, which applauded several speakers who praised Gates and criticized the mayor. Among the speakers was Joe Mendez, a Wilmington activist and organizer of a community drive for cityhood.

“I’m not a fan of Mayor Bradley,” Mendez said to applause. He told Gates: “And I’m probably not one of your greatest fans. But I do support your hard-line stands against crime and gangs and drugs. And my suggestion to you is to retire whenever you want.”

Before and after Gates’ appearance, local residents said they expected Gates to be warmly received, notwithstanding the community’s concern about the King beating.

“I think the incident was absolutely atrocious,” said Tony Kay, vice president of Wilmington Home Owners. “And I hope that not only the people who did the beating, but the people who stand behind them, get everything they deserve.”

At the same time, Kay and others said their community has enjoyed an improving relationship with the LAPD’s Harbor Division in recent years. That relationship, they said, went a long way toward explaining Gates’ warm reception at the homeowners meeting.

“I really expected more fireworks,” Mendez said. “But I think a lot of people are happy with the Harbor Division officers . . . and their treatment of the chief was testimony to that.”

The explanation did not trouble Gates, who left the event carrying a gift of flowers for his wife and paying tribute to several patrol officers standing outside the meeting hall.

“They’re the ones who deserve the credit,” Gates said, pointing to the officers as he left the meeting hall.

Still, the chief did claim that the event--and his reception--signaled a recent turnaround in public attitudes about the LAPD.

“What it says is that people are now saying, ‘Enough is enough. . . . We’ve had enough of the rhetoric,’ ” Gates said.