City Panel Backs Yamaki for Police Commission

A Los Angeles City Council panel recommended Monday that criminal law attorney Michael R. Yamaki be appointed to the city’s Police Commission, which has been riddled with controversy since trying to remove Chief Daryl F. Gates last month.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, endorsed Yamaki’s appointment, which will be considered by the entire council on May 22. Councilmen Nate Holden and Hal Bernson, also members of the committee, did not attend the meeting.

Yamaki, chairman of the Asian advisory committee to the Police Commission, told reporters that he views himself as a peacemaker on the troubled commission. “I am not looking to come to the commission to lay blame on anybody,” Yamaki said. “I would like to go forward and find solutions.”