Held Hostage to the Moods of Chief Gates

On many days, we seem to be a city held hostage to the mood swings of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

There are times when he almost sounds like a contented soon-to-be retiree. But let someone criticize him and the chief responds with the most fearsome threat at his command: Instead of retiring, he’ll stay.

We in the press love it. Chief Gates’ ruminations about his future are as carefully analyzed by reporters as if they were--and forgive me for this, chief--utterances from the mysterious old Kremlin rulers.

And so the serious business of reforming the Los Angeles Police Department often appears lost in the sound-bite drama of the Perils of Daryl.

But this week I was urged to look behind the sound and fury that are part of life with Gates.

The man doing the urging was Marvin Braude, chairman of the City Council’s special committee on police reform. His committee is hearing testimony on the Christopher Commission’s reform proposals, presented after the group investigated the police beating of Rodney G. King.

Braude has been a middle-of-the-roader on the police issue, which is why Council President John Ferraro gave him the committee chairmanship. Since taking the job, Braude has immersed himself in the department and his committee has held nine long hearings on the Christopher report.

As Braude sees it, the reform movement triggered by the King beating and the Christopher Commission’s proposals has recently taken a new and, hopefully, more positive turn.

The most important development is that the city personnel department is hard at work looking for a replacement for Gates, who has told city officials in a letter that he will retire in April. Candidates inside and outside the department are expected to compete vigorously for the job.

I know, last week the chief blew up again and began to waiver on his promise after his department was criticized for resisting commission reform proposals. “When I hear something like this, I think maybe I should stay around a little longer,” Gates said.

Legally, with the City Charter’s “chief-for-life” civil service system, Gates could stay. But city officials are pretending not to hear his outburst. “We’re taking Chief Gates at his word,” says Braude.

What Braude means is that they are accepting the chief’s retirement letter, not words spoken in anger.

So on that assumption, representatives of the city personnel department attended a major police chiefs’ convention in Minneapolis early this month to shop around for a replacement for Gates.

“They talked to prominent chiefs of police all over the country,” says Braude, who attended the convention. “The process is going on.”

The department is also taking a serious look at some of the reforms proposed by the Christopher Commission.

Department captains and commanders went on a three-day retreat in Oxnard to meet with experts in community policing. That’s a system where cops work with people in the neighborhoods to prevent crimes. Although the LAPD has adopted community policing in a few areas, the Christopher Commission urged a big expansion of the program.

“Many of the senior police officers are open and acceptive of change,” Braude said. As for the chief, Braude said, “He is cooperating with the committee. I get answers to all the questions I ask.”

But John Spiegel, the Christopher Commission’s general counsel, hasn’t received all the answers. It was Spiegel who voiced the criticism of the LAPD that made Chief Gates threaten to take back his retirement offer. “The leadership of the LAPD is appearing to resist meaningful reform,” Spiegel told Braude’s committee last week.

Spiegel objected to the response Gates and his staff made last month to the Christopher Commission report. The chief and the other brass concluded that the Christopher recommendations merely restate existing deparment policy, as spelled out in the LAPD manual.

“The reality of the street conflicts with the rhetoric of the manual,” Spiegel replied.

We talked about the situation on Monday. Spiegel said he had talked to many cops during the commission investigation, from the brass down to those on the street.

“I think much of the report has a lot of support in the department,” he said. But he said he doesn’t think such support has seeped into Gates’ office.

Both Braude and Spiegel said they don’t expect quick, big change. “It is very hard to affect the attitudes of the senior command,” said Braude. “It’s like trying to change the course of an ocean liner.”

An ocean liner with Chief Gates at the helm. We await his next mood.