The Sheriff Has a Surprise Proposal

Angelenos who are deeply troubled by recent deputy shootings and allegations of misconduct may not be wholly placated by Sheriff Sherman Block’s moves on Tuesday. But they will have to admit that Block’s actions at least constitute an effort to exhibit a willingness to implement internal reforms that might just serve to remove the gnawing suspicion that the sheriff is not part of the solution but is part of the problem.

For starters, Block, appearing at a Board of Supervisors hearing, released a 70-page report analyzing the relevance of the Christopher Commission recommendations to the Sheriff’s Department. In the wake of the March scandal over the obscene beating of an arrested and cornered black motorist--an outrageous abuse of police power that happened to be videotaped by a private citizen and subsequently viewed with horror on television screens around the world--Mayor Tom Bradley appointed the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police. Its thoughtful, considered recommendations for reform of the LAPD were widely praised by virtually all elements of the community--and are now being crafted for submission to the voters.

Block believes that the spirit of those recommendations, if not every particular, can be applied to his department. As he put it Tuesday, “Any law enforcement agency head in the United States who doesn’t take the opportunity to analyze the report . . . to use it as the basis of serious introspection . . . is a fool.”

To help implement a Sheriff’s Department version of those reforms--which call for greater police sensitivity to minorities, more careful use of force and more extensive community-based policing--Block proposes the creation of a kind of citizens advisory panel--and to name the members himself. His appointees range from feminist attorney Gloria Allred to former FBI official Lawrence G. Lawler.

No doubt many citizens will instantly question the independence of any panel appointed by the sheriff himself. But it would be wrong to reject Block out of hand. After all, the members of the highly praised Christopher Commission were named either by Mayor Bradley or by embattled LAPD Police Chief Daryl F. Gates himself. The resulting group produced a document widely seen to be the product of an objective and independent inquiry. Los Angeles should now examine the sheriff’s proposals with an open mind. It may be that more community members need to be added.

Critics already charge that the panel is not “grass roots” enough and question whether it will get to the bottom of the problems in the department. That concern must be carefully monitored. But at least the sheriff has put something positive on the table. Block did not say take it or leave it. What we hear him saying is let’s get to work.