Commission Orders Gates to Reinstate Critic

The Los Angeles Police Commission, seeking to exert its control over the city’s Police Department and Chief Daryl F. Gates, ordered the embattled chief Tuesday to revoke his controversial decision to reassign a top aide who criticized the department leadership before the Christopher Commission.

The action came after Mayor Tom Bradley directed the panel to take the first steps toward implementing many of the Christopher Commission’s sweeping reforms, including the regular psychological testing of officers and a strategic shift to community-based policing.

Over the vigorous objections of Gates, the police commissioners voted 5 to 0 to reinstate Assistant Chief David Dotson as head of the Internal Affairs Division, saying that Gates had created the appearance of retaliating against a critic and had acted without consulting them.

“This city is in a very sensitive moment,” Commissioner Stanley Sheinbaum told Gates. “You should have come to us first.”

The commission also prohibited Gates from making any similar moves over the next two weeks without consulting them. The chief grudgingly told the commissioners that “for two weeks, I’ll be very happy to pick up the phone and talk to you.”

The panel’s actions capped another day of debate over the Christopher recommendations for reforming the Los Angeles Police Department.

In other developments:

* City Council President John Ferraro introduced a measure calling for a special election later this year on a proposed City Charter change that would limit future police chiefs to two fixed terms. A key recommendation of the Christopher Commission was to limit the chiefs’ tenure to two five-year terms.

* Bradley met with Ferraro, Councilman Joel Wachs and attorney Richard Riordan in a closed-door session to discuss lingering confusion about the chief’s plans to step down. Ferraro said later that the mayor expressed support for the special election proposal.

* The chief once again refused to set a date for his retirement. “I don’t want to get into a precise date,” he said, saying it hinged on whether the council calls a special election. “The earlier they do that,” he said, “the earlier they get rid of me.”

Gates’ remarks came shortly before a contentious meeting of the Police Commission, during which Gates and several commissioners repeatedly interrupted one another, hurling accusations back and forth over the Dotson incident.

The chief had reassigned Dotson last Wednesday--one day after a report released by the Christopher Commission quoted Dotson as saying that under Gates, the LAPD had “failed miserably” in policing itself.

At one point, while Sheinbaum was questioning the chief, the arguments became so heated that Melanie Lomax, the acting commission president, snapped: “Chief! Let Commissioner Sheinbaum finish his thought! You were given that courtesy.”

Sheinbaum accused Gates of retaliating against Dotson and of trying to implement the Christopher Commission reforms single-handedly. Sheinbaum quoted a memo in which Gates said that reassigning Dotson would “comply” with one of the Christopher Commission’s recommendations.

Despite that, Gates told the police board that the reassignment had nothing to do with the Christopher Commission, and that the timing was “only coincidental.” Rather, he said that Dotson had too many duties and that he had only been assigned on a temporary basis to oversee internal affairs.

“This was not a retaliatory move,” Gates protested.

Dotson agreed later Tuesday, saying he should not be portrayed as a “whistle-blower” who was punished by the chief.

Gates also said the police beating of Rodney G. King had made it clear that the chief needs to have more direct control over Internal Affairs. “I don’t need an assistant chief in the way,” he said.

Dotson agreed with Gates that the additional role of supervising the Internal Affairs Division was an extra workload for him. But he said that when Gates gave him the assignment earlier this year it was because the chief wanted the top command staff to oversee the division.

But the assistant chief declined further comment until he gets formal notification of the commission action.

The commission--which three months ago suffered a stinging rebuke from the City Council after it attempted to place Gates on involuntary leave--acted cautiously on Tuesday.

Before making any move, Lomax--who last week announced plans to resign--asked Assistant City Atty. Byron R. Boeckman if the commission had the authority to reinstate Dotson. Boeckman replied that it did.

Commissioners also noted that they had received a request from Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky to overturn Gates’ transfer of Dotson. Support of the council is crucial, because a newly enacted amendment to the City Charter permits the council to overturn commission decisions.

In April, before that amendment was passed, the council used a creative legal maneuver to overturn the commission’s decision to put Gates on a 60-day leave. That dispute is now the subject of a court case in which the council has been upheld. On Tuesday, the commission voted 3 to 2 to appeal to the state Supreme Court, with new commissioners Michael Yamaki and Anthony De Los Reyes dissenting.

Council members interviewed Tuesday expressed doubt that the council would try to overturn the commission’s decision regarding Dotson. It takes a two-thirds vote of the council to review an action by a city commission, and several council members said they did not believe they could muster enough votes.

“I wouldn’t mess around in it,” said Councilwoman Joy Picus, a Gates supporter who nonetheless called on him to step down. “ . . . At this point, it is a fight between the Police Commission and the chief of police. I would want to stay out of it. I think the council would be well advised to do so.”

Said Yaroslavsky: “This is an appropriate exercise of the commission’s authority to stabilize that department and to prevent management by intimidation and management by retaliation, which seems to be the order of the day since the Christopher Commission report came out.”

On Tuesday, Bradley asked the Police Commission to immediately begin implementing 36 Christopher Commission reforms that do not require amendments to the City Charter.

Some would significantly alter LAPD policy and practices on hiring, training and officer discipline.

In a letter to the Police Commission, Bradley said the Christopher report “is distinguished by remarkable independence, clarity and integrity,” and added, “I am absolutely committed to implementing the Christopher Commission recommendations as written, without change.”

Bradley called his list of requests a “road map” for the initiatives outlined in the 228-page Christopher report.

The Police Commission, he said, must immediately begin making fundamental changes in the way LAPD officers deal with the community. He said the department should emphasize community policing programs rather than trying to contain crime through “confrontation and physical force.”

Another recommendation would require all officers to undergo psychological testing every three years to check for indications of stress that could lead to unacceptable behavior.

A recommendation aimed specifically at Gates would require the chief to make a written report to the Police Commission whenever he alters or overrules disciplinary recommendations. The Christopher Commission found that Gates threw out a number of complaints that had been found valid, or that he had reduced or ignored recommendations for punishment.

“Such conduct by the chief of police is simply unacceptable,” Bradley said.

Citing a Christopher Commission finding that the cause of excessive force, racism and bias in the department is a fundamental lack of leadership, supervision and accountability, Bradley said the Police Commission “must pay special and continuing attention to strengthening the LAPD’s system of supervision.”

In a more oblique reference to Gates’ tendency to make provocative remarks, Bradley warned that top commanders must be held accountable for their public statements and quoted from the Christopher report: “ . . . if the leaders are careless in their comments or equivocal in their commitments, some rank-and-file officers may find encouragement for their misconduct.”

Other recommendations include rotation of officers’ geographical assignment every five years, institution of incentives for officers who develop innovative programs, and a greater effort to recruit Asians, whom the Christopher Commission found were greatly underrepresented on the force.

A coalition of legal and social service groups has called for the formation of a permanent citizen board to advise the LAPD on specific concerns of Asian-Americans.

“No one has taken a specific look at the concerns of Asians,” said Cathy Imahara, a lawyer at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center. “The department says it is a matter of finding qualified recruits. . . . Until the department’s affirmative-action program begins to include Asian-Americans, or the discrimination in the department ends, it doesn’t look like the numbers will improve.”

Coalition officials said 2.7% of the officers in the department are Asian- or Pacific Island-Americans. Those ethnic groups make up 10.8% of the population in Los Angeles County.

Meanwhile, the question of Gates’ tenure as chief remained a focus of debate at City Hall.

On Tuesday morning, Bradley met in his office with Council President Ferraro, Councilman Wachs and attorney Riordan in an effort to iron out the conditions under which Gates would step down, sources said.

But the officials would not discuss details of the session.

“I’m optimistic that within the next few days things are going to be cleared up,” Riordan said.

Wachs and Ferraro announced Friday that Gates had agreed to step down around the end of the year if the council calls a special election to let the voters decide whether to limit future chiefs to two five-year terms. But Gates has refused to state publicly when he intends to leave.

Nevertheless, Wachs said on Tuesday that the agreement is firm. “We still believe very strongly that an orderly and timely process for a transition will occur.”

After the session in Bradley’s office, Ferraro kept his part of the bargain by introducing a measure calling for a special election on the tenure issue later this year. The motion was referred to a committee.

It was unclear on Tuesday whether the rest of the council will vote to place the amendment on the ballot.

Several council members said they will not vote for the measure without some assurance from Gates that he will step down.

Others said they oppose the timing of the special election.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, a vocal foe of Gates, said an election around the holiday season would be likely to draw a low turnout, with “high-propensity voters,” generally conservative Gates supporters , who would vote down the measure.

Gates has suggested that he would campaign against the proposed tenure limits.

A Los Angeles Times Poll found that four out of five residents support a maximum 10-year tenure. The poll also found that 37% said Gates should resign immediately, 41% said he should step down when a new chief is found and 17% said he should stay in office.

Gates indicated Tuesday that his supporters would be a force in any election. “My own prediction . . . is that you’d find that 17% who said the chief ought to stay are all serious voters, people that go to the polls,” he said. “That is something that everyone should consider in all the decisions they are making in terms of the ballot.”

Times staff writers Frederick M. Muir, Richard A. Serrano and Tracy Wood contributed to this story.

The Mayor’s Directive

On Tuesday, Mayor Tom Bradley asked the civilian Police Commission to implement 36 recommendations concerning the Los Angeles Police Department made by the Christopher Commission last week. The mayor said the recommendations will change the way officers are hired, promoted and disciplined. The measures include:

* Requiring the police chief to describe in writing his reasons for altering any recommended disciplinary action against an officer.

* Eliminating the department’s unwritten “code of silence” and prohibiting retaliation by LAPD leadership against officers who break the code.

* Retesting officers for psychological, emotional and physical problems.

* Prohibiting abusive use of the “prone-out tactic,” in which individuals are made to lie prone after vehicle stops.

* Adopting “community policing” programs that emphasize containment and control, rather than confrontation and physical force.