Other Chiefs See Valid Points; U.S. News Coverage Is Varied : Reaction: Some heads of big-city departments refuse to comment. Some newspapers play the story on Page 1, others give it brief mention.

Police Chief Thomas Windham, echoing other law enforcement experts across the nation Wednesday, said every police department in the country could “improve with a review as thorough as the Christopher Commission did” on the Los Angeles Police Department.

Acting San Jose Police Chief Fred Abram declared that the report convinced him that the time has come for Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates to leave office.

“There’s a credibility problem Gates is going to have to deal with,” said Abram. “I don’t know if he’s going to survive in office. I think the best way for him to resolve the situation is to step down. . . . He’s been an excellent police chief until the recent incidents, but there comes a time when he’s got to go.”

Abram last month succeeded former Chief Joseph McNamara, who earlier had called for Gates’ resignation.

In Ft. Worth, Chief Windham, a former chief of staff to Gates, contended that the findings of racism in Los Angeles policing could well reflect the situation in many other departments.

“We could all use a Christopher Commission,” Windham said. “There’s probably some of that going on within a lot of major city police departments.”

In San Diego, Assistant Police Chief Norm Stamper, said, “Of course, it doesn’t feel good at all to see law enforcement taking the kind of heat that it is, but it’s really important that these issues be aired publicly.”

Spokesmen for the New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami police departments said their chiefs would not comment.

A spokesman for San Francisco Chief Willis A. Casey said “he (Casey) has not commented on the incident all the way from the Rodney King episode until now. His position is he’s not going to comment on it. It’s not a San Francisco story.”

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Justice Department, Amy Kasner, said, “We don’t even have a copy of it (the report) yet, so obviously we can’t comment on it.”

News coverage around the country of the Christopher report varied. It was Page 1 news in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, both the Dallas Morning News and Times-Herald, and the Palm Beach Post.

But many other newspapers played the story on inside pages and the New York Post gave it only a three-paragraph play on Page 9.

Hubert Williams, former Newark, N.J., police chief and now president of the Washington-based Police Foundation, said he was not surprised that most police chiefs or department spokesmen were not anxious to comment on the report.

“Police chiefs are generally reluctant to comment on documents that call for a resignation of a chief,” said Williams. “But I thought the document was thorough, comprehensive and persuasive.

“The Christopher Commission in the long haul will be looked upon as doing a great service for the citizens of Los Angeles and the Police Department as well,” Williams added. “I think the commission itself is a reflection of a commitment by a variety of institutions in the city to deal with critical problems facing law enforcement, and they’ve done their task professionally.”

A leading academician and author on police questions, meanwhile, declined public comment, but said on a not-for-attribution basis that he thought the commission had been wise in not blaming Gates by name for the management failures it found at the LAPD.

“It uses precisely the right tone,” the academician said. “By not pointing fingers, it’s going to make it a lot easier to get the department to make the changes that are necessary. They would be a lot more resistant if there were a lot of finger pointing.”

In Houston, the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, meeting in its annual national convention, passed a resolution lauding the report and calling upon Gates to resign.

“The NAACP endorses the principle elements of the Christopher Commission Report and calls for the immediate implementation of its recommendations regarding the overhaul of the administrative, personnel, patrol and public accountability practices of the LAPD,” the resolution said.

“Be it further resolved, that in light of his failed leadership and lack of accountability, as documented by the . . . report, the NAACP calls for the immediate resignation of LAPD Chief Daryl F. Gates,” it concluded.

Contributing to this article were Times researchers Lianne Hart in Houston, Nina Green in Los Angeles, Lynette Ferdinand in New York, Ann Rovin in Denver, Ana Virtue in Miami, Doug Conner in Seattle, and Caleb Gessesse in Washington.