LAPD Shows Bias, Black Officers’ Group Says : Law enforcement: The association’s position paper cites discrimination in training and promotion. It stops short of faulting Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

The city’s largest black police officers’ association has concluded that the LAPD discriminates against black officers and the African-American community in the way it recruits, trains, promotes and manages blacks on the force.

The Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., in a major “position paper” to be presented today to the Los Angeles Police Commission, was prompted to act after the incident last March in which four white officers were accused of assaulting Rodney G. King, a black motorist.

While strongly critical of police management, the report stops short of singling out Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, who was strongly supported by the association’s president earlier this year in his fight to keep his job.

In addition to contending that the LAPD management is biased against black officers, the 500-member association contended that the Police Department does not provide the same quality of service to the black community as it does to white neighborhoods.

“Many African-American police officers feel that this incident (involving King) was indicative of the deteriorating relationship between the African-American community and the department,” the paper said.

“As products of this community, African-American officers are deeply concerned that the safety, quality of life and level of police service be equally provided to all citizens of Los Angeles.”

Further, the paper contends that “in the areas of discipline, coveted assignments and recruitment, there is strong evidence to suggest that discriminatory practices have had a high level of tolerance within the department.”

“These practices,” the paper says, “have had a detrimental effect on African-American officers.”

Gates was out of the office on Monday and could not be reached for comment. The chief has repeatedly insisted that he has had the support of the department’s 1,300 black officers during the move to oust him following the King beating.

Cmdr. Robert Gil said Gates has sent a letter to the association president, Sgt. James Craig, in which he noted that the Christopher Commission, formed after the King beating, recently raised some of the same issues in its review this summer of the LAPD. Gil also said that Gates has asked an internal LAPD executive committee to “review and analyze” the association’s concerns.

“That’s his posture,” Gil said of the chief. “He’s been meeting with them and his response has been positive.”

In April, Craig issued a statement condemning the King beating, but praising Gates’ leadership. Soon afterward, several influential association members disavowed Craig’s comments and called for a retraction.

Craig, however, did not budge from the statement. On Monday, he acknowledged that the position paper is strongly worded but said none of the association members wanted to include language directly related to Gates’ role as chief of police.

“You’re talking two different issues here,” he said. “The paper addresses the department. The paper doesn’t address the chief.”

One association board member, Officer Garland Hardeman, who also serves as a city councilman in Inglewood, suggested Monday that Craig’s statement in April was co-written with Gates without the participation of other group members. He said that many rank-and-file black officers do not support Gates, and he pointed to the harsh language in the position paper as proof of their deep feelings.

“There has been a lack of leadership from the chief’s level on down,” he said. “These problems have developed and manifested themselves within the department, and I would say the problems are monumental.”

The paper, which grew out of a retreat in May and June for the association, covered several key issues within the LAPD.

On the question of promotions and sought-after positions, the association said, “African-American officers are not adequately represented.”

The group pointed to a recent intra-departmental survey that found wide disparities, including the fact that there are only eight black officers out of 112 in the training division; 16 out of 108 in the popular DARE program; 15 out of 258 in the elite Metropolitan division, and only 34 out of 389 working in the narcotics group.

On management issues, the association said that “some African-American officers feel that management has failed to create a work environment free of racial bias.”

“Management continues to operate in an environment that perpetuates a double standard, as it relates to racial issues,” the paper said. “Management claims to have an open-door policy, but continually fails to solicit views contrary to their own.”

The paper added that “officers who express these views are subject to reprisal.”

The group maintained that the LAPD has an “unfair disciplinary system” that lowers morale and creates a stressful work environment. “Some African-American officers have lost confidence in the fairness of the entire disciplinary process,” the paper said.

The group said the department “continues to miss the mark” in training officers and educating the staff about race relations and ethnic problems. The association said that “African-Americanism” is addressed in training programs only from the perspective of those residing in South-Central Los Angeles.

“The myth is projected that people residing in this area are criminals and a constant threat to officers,” the paper said.

” . . . This lack of training and stereotyping is also the primary cause for many African-Americans being stopped and proned out for allegedly matching a commonly used description for a robbery suspect.”

As to community relations, the group said many white officers “at all levels within the Los Angeles Police Department display a lack of sensitivity” to blacks and other minority groups.

“This insensitivity has hindered the department’s ability to maximize community trust and cooperation in the fight against crime,” the paper said. “ . . . The result has been an ‘us against them’ attitude that must end.”

The paper also said that the department’s investigation of “black-on-black” crimes is inconsistent with “an aggressive response to crime problems in affluent white sectors of the city.”