Police League Demands Gates Reinstate Furloughed Officers

The Los Angeles police board demanded Wednesday that Police Chief Daryl F. Gates immediately reinstate six officers who are being relieved of duty because they did nothing to stop the beating last March of Rodney G. King.

The directors of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, meeting behind closed doors during most of the day, voted to petition Gates to return the officers to desk jobs and reinstate their pay until administrative hearings can be held to determine whether the officers should be fired.

Bill Violante, who was unanimously elected president of the league Wednesday, said the union has authorized attorney Diane Marchant “to take the legal actions necessary to protect these officers” and ensure that the administrative Board of Rights hearings are not delayed until the end of a criminal trial against four other officers charged in the King beating.

“The league is concerned that the department may attempt to delay their boards of rights for an unreasonable amount of time,” Violante said. “That will place an unacceptable financial hardship on these officers.

“The longer you’re relieved from duty, the hardship gets greater and greater.”

Marchant said that because the six officers who were bystanders are being relieved of duty, it would create an undue hardship if the administrative hearings are postponed beyond the 10 days allowed under Police Department policy.

“That’s the issue that is most important to me,” she said. “I don’t want people’s mortgages to go into default and things like that.”

Gates was out of town Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. But Lt. Fred Nixon, a Police Department spokesman, said that although the chief has reinstated officers who were awaiting disciplinary hearings, Gates has made no decision on officers who were bystanders in the King case.

King was beaten after a high-speed chase through the San Fernando Valley. Four officers--including a police sergeant--were indicted by the county grand jury.

Earlier this week, the department began notifying six other officers who were at the scene that they were being relieved of duty for not stopping the beating or properly reporting the incident until a videotape of the beating surfaced.

Another four spectator officers were suspended with pay, as was an additional officer who was furloughed for sending inappropriate computer messages.