Gates Wants to Head 2 Police Reform Panels

Police Chief Daryl F. Gates wants to head two committees of city and community representatives that would implement recommendations of the Christopher Commission, the independent panel reviewing Police Department policies in the wake of the Rodney G. King beating.

Gates’ proposal--contained in a five-page memorandum circulated to city officials and obtained Wednesday by The Times--drew an immediate denunciation from Mayor Tom Bradley, who called it “ludicrous and unnecessary.”

Under Gates’ plan, the chief would take charge of two ad hoc city committees--an executive committee and an implementation committee--that would decide how the recommendations would be adopted by the Police Department.

The chief’s plan, signed and sent by Gates in recent days to key City Council members, Parker Center officials and some community representatives, also proposes an 18-month timetable as “the minimum amount of time” needed to enact the recommendations, which are scheduled for release in early July.

But Bradley said he, the council and the Police Commission--and not Gates--”will be the principal actors in formulating an implementation plan.”

“It is premature for anyone to discuss the implementation of the Christopher Commission report, which is still in the process of being drafted,” Bradley said in a sharply worded statement.

“In addition,” the mayor said, “it is illogical to propose that the chief of police chair an executive committee comprised of elected officials and the commission that is the head of the Police Department.

“It also makes no sense to drag out the implementation of this report over 18 months,” he said. “This is ludicrous and unnecessary.”

Equally upset was City Councilman Michael Woo, who like Bradley has called for Gates to resign in the furor over the March 3 police beating of King in the San Fernando Valley.

“I think it’s an outrageous act of egotism for Gates to put himself in charge of the Christopher Commission’s recommendations,” Woo said.

He branded Gates’ move as “another case of the Police Department overseeing the Police Department” and added: “We don’t need another committee chaired by the chief to oversee these recommendations.”

Asked about Gates’ proposed 18-month period to put the recommendations in place, Woo said: “The city is in a state of crisis. We cannot afford to wait.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, whom Gates invited to participate on the committees, called it “presumptuous and premature for the department to take the leadership in implementing a report which has not yet been released and which may be critical of certain departmental procedures.”

The 10-member Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department, informally named after its chairman, former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher, is engaged in a wide-ranging review of Police Department policies, including training, discipline, leadership and use of force. It was formed when the chief and the mayor were angrily feuding over whether Gates should resign over the King beating.

Gates has said he would resign if the commission finds, as many of his critics have charged, that Gates set a leadership tone that created an atmosphere in the department that led to the King beating. But Christopher has said the commission will not directly address the issue of whether Gates should continue to head the 8,300-member police force.

The chief, who has been attending a four-day management retreat this week with his top command staff in Orange County, could not be reached for comment. But sources said his implementation plan was discussed at length during those sessions.

The chief’s plan, dated June 13, began turning up Tuesday at City Hall offices. The report was sent, along with a Gates cover letter, to selected city leaders whom Gates has proposed to sit on the committees and advise him on the Christopher Commission recommendations.

Under his proposal, an “executive committee” headed by Gates would “develop and approve policies for the department after an examination of the commission’s proposals and (of) their consistency with city policy.”

Members of the executive committee would include a representative of the mayor, City Council President John Ferraro, and the chairmen of three council committees--finance, police, fire and safety, and human resources and labor relations. Other committee members would be a Police Commission representative, City Administrative Officer Keith Comrie, a member of the Christopher Commission, and assistant police chiefs Robert Vernon and David Dotson.

An implementation committee also would be chaired by Gates. That panel would be “responsible for developing specific plans to establish all policies and procedures” approved by the executive committee, according to Gates’ memo.

In addition, two “implementation teams” would “organize and prioritize” the changes within the Police Department, the memo states.

One team dealing with police training would be headed by Cmdr. Michael Bostic, who is reviewing the department’s use-of-force and training procedures in the wake of the King beating.

The second team would cover police discipline and management. It would be overseen by Cmdr. Rick Dinse, whom Gates appointed to supervise the internal police review of officer misconduct in the King case.

Finally, the agreement calls for a “Five-Step Action Plan” to “assure successful integration” of the executive committee’s recommendations into the daily operations of the Police Department during an 18-month period beginning July 1.

“This plan for implementation is a well-conceived effort to ensure that all the Citizens’ Independent Commission’s recommendations are thoroughly reviewed and thoughtfully implemented,” Gates’ report says.

“The 18-month period is a minimum amount of time, as recommended by organizational development professionals.”

Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this story.