Gates Says Commission Ideas Would ‘Politicize’ LAPD : Police: Speaking after announcing his retirement plans, he criticizes proposal to limit chief’s term. ‘I don’t see any reason to change (the present system),’ he says.

Quietly defiant after announcing his retirement, Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates faced City Council members Monday evening and picked away at a number of key recommendations of the Christopher Commission, which two weeks ago called on him to step down.

Testifying before the council’s Public Safety Committee, which was holding hearings on the commission’s report, Gates said he was most concerned with “politicizing” the LAPD and leveled his strongest criticism at proposals that would limit the tenure of the chief and strip the position of Civil Service protection.

“Just give me one good reason. Show me a better system,” Gates said. “Show me a chief anywhere in the country that runs a better police department than the LAPD.” Gates said he has surveyed cities with different systems and found them “politically manipulated.”

“My own feeling is a strong feeling,” he said, “that the present system is a good system. There’s nothing wrong with it. I don’t see any reason to change it. I think the system takes care of itself.”

Gates, 64, has served as chief for more than 13 years and under the City Charter has virtual lifetime tenure. And Gates said that future chiefs should have job protections similar to his.

“It seems to me you need something to keep the chief from having to please political leadership every moment of the day,” he said.

The Christopher Commission recommended in its wide-ranging report two weeks ago that Gates should prepare to step down and that future chiefs be limited to two five-year terms. Under the proposal, a chief could be fired by the mayor with the concurrence of the City Council.

While saying he generally embraced the commission’s recommendations, Gates spent two hours assuring the council that his department was already one of the most efficient and well-run in the nation. Many of the suggested reforms, he said, had been instituted long ago.

Gates said that of 171 Christopher recommendations, 48 could be implemented by the department relatively quickly. An additional 33 would require lengthy labor negotiations before they can be adopted. An additional 33 could be slowed because of budget constraints, he said.

As for one of the most fundamental structural changes recommended by the Christopher Commission--community oriented policing--Gates said, “I think one of the most disappointing aspects of the independent commission to me was to suggest that we become more involved. We are involved and have been heavily involved. We were the originators of community-oriented policing.”

Subdued but insistent, Gates advised the council not to overreact to reports of officers sending racial and sexual slurs over the police computer system.

Gates said the problem involved less than two-tenths of 1% of all the messages sent over the system. He said it is nearly impossible to monitor all the messages.

“There’s not enough time in the day,” he said, adding that if supervisors were to review all messages they would have time for little else. Besides, Gates said, “The word’s already out. I don’t think (the computers) will be misused anymore.”

Gates also said he rejects a section of the Christopher report that criticized him for reversing disciplinary actions against officers or reducing penalties.

“I would not have changed one disposition from the disposition that I made,” Gates said. “We’re trying to change behavior. We’re not trying to kill the people. We’re not trying to destroy them.”

Further, Gates defended the department’s record of hiring and promotion of women and minorities during his tenure.

“I think I’ve done a good job,” Gates said. “I don’t think there has been a chief in the history of the department who’s made more promotions.”

Gates encountered little difficulty from the three-member panel, chaired by Councilman Richard Alatorre, who scheduled the late meeting to accommodate Gates’ schedule.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), a consistent Gates critic, said his testimony gave her little confidence that the reforms will be implemented soon.

“I think that his answers to many of the questions today by members of the council were not satisfactory,” Waters said. “Even though they soft-pedaled and didn’t ask him any difficult questions, he made it clear that he does not agree with many of the Christopher Commission recommendations.”