Police Panel OKs Reform Proposals : Law enforcement: Board approves nearly all Christopher Commission recommendations for revamping the LAPD.

Without discussion, the Los Angeles Police Commission gave its approval Tuesday to a vast majority of the reform recommendations issued this summer by the Christopher Commission for improving the Police Department.

The police panel, in a lengthy, detailed report covering 129 single recommendations, strongly urged the City Council and the voting public to set term limits for the chief of police, to strengthen the disciplinary process for officers who engage in misconduct, and to eliminate a “code of silence” that allegedly permits the LAPD to close ranks against the public.

Although many of the individual police commissioners have voiced their support of the Christopher panel’s recommendations, Tuesday’s action marked the first time the body as a whole has come out strongly behind the reform proposals.

In contrast, Police Chief Daryl F. Gates had previously issued a report on the Christopher Commission’s findings, saying that he believed most of the problems can be remedied with his existing policies.

The Police Commission, however, opposed only a few of the findings. The most significant was one that would have set a five-year maximum term limit for police commissioners. The Police Commission strongly objected to that proposal.

“Limiting board members to a single five-year term,” the report said, “does a great disservice to the commission, the department and the citizens of Los Angeles.

“It takes a considerable amount of time to fully understand the organization and operation of this 11,000-employee department and a great deal of time to become knowledgeable on the myriad complex issues which concern the department.”

The other significant issue the panel opposed was a recommendation that the chief of police not endorse political candidates, a matter that surfaced during the recent City Council elections when Gates announced his support of incumbent Hal Bernson.

“The board is adamant that the 1st Amendment rights of the chief not be violated,” the report said.

A draft of the Police Commission’s report was prepared Monday night and commissioners began adding a series of last-minute revisions Tuesday morning. By the time the commission met in public early Tuesday afternoon, some of the members were reading suggested changes for the first time.

A five-minute recess was taken, and the four members (Commissioner Michael R. Yamaki was in Canada on commission business) reconvened. At that point, Commission President Stanley K. Sheinbaum said he thought there might be “at least some” of the 129 recommendations that his colleagues would want to discuss. But when no one spoke, he called for a vote and the document was unanimously approved.

Among the major recommendations, the commission generally supported the plan for term limits for Gates’ successors, saying that it would allow the commission to review the performance of future chiefs and, “when appropriate, discontinue his or her service with the department.”

But the commission added that while it “was not in opposition to the recommended two, five-year term limits, (it) would also wish to explore the possibility that the chief not be limited to two terms only.”

The panel agreed wholeheartedly with the Christopher Commission’s recommendation that the LAPD dramatically increase its efforts at a concept called Community Based Policing, in which officers become more personally involved in developing positive contacts in the neighborhoods they patrol. Gates did not offer any comment, saying that he had not yet read the Police Commission’s report.