Gates Says Search for Chief Is Unfair, Predetermined

The search for a new Los Angeles police chief came under fire Tuesday from the man currently in charge, Daryl F. Gates, and from other commanding officers who have criticized the process as being unfair to several high-ranking Police Department officials.

Gates said that he thought the selection has been predetermined, and at least one of three top LAPD officials eliminated in the search’s first round said he will appeal his disqualification to the city Civil Service Commission.

The criticism, which was joined by the department’s Command Officers Assn., centered on the actions of a seven-member screening committee. The citizens panel has narrowed the list of 32 original applicants to 13 on the basis of written qualifications and essays submitted by the candidates.

Gates, calling on the city Police Commission to investigate, said the three disqualified LAPD commanding officers, including one Latino, had a “massive storehouse of knowledge and experience” and deserved to advance to oral interviews next month.

“This is another indication to me that the process is flawed,” said Gates. Later, he told reporters he was shocked by the panel’s decisions and alleged without elaborating that the selection process “has pretty well been predetermined.”

The Police Commission agreed to review the selection process next week, but President Stanley K. Sheinbaum said the matter was largely out of his board’s hands.

One of those disqualified, longtime Deputy Chief Ron Frankle, said he will appeal to the Civil Service Commission, which could reinstate him on the semifinalist list. Frankle complained that it was widely understood that all LAPD applicants above the rank of commander would automatically proceed to the oral interview phase.

“I have 38 years with the LAPD,” he said. “I was in charge of nine of this city’s 18 (police) divisions.”

Charles Lubrow, president of the 94-member Command Officers Assn., said the two other commanders who were disqualified--Art Lopez and Frank Piersol--also were considering appeals. In the aftermath of the upheaval over the Rodney G. King beating, he said, it appears the selection process may be tilted toward “somebody outside who is not tainted (by their association) with Daryl Gates and not a product of the LAPD.”

But Jack Driscoll, head of the city Personnel Department, which is overseeing the applicant screening, insisted that the winnowing of the list was proper and that the “process is not skewed (toward) anybody.” He noted that while two-thirds of the original applications came from outside the LAPD, the majority of the 13 semifinalists are from inside the department.

A second panel will interview the candidates and then trim the list to about half a dozen finalists, who will be presented to the Police Commission. The commission could make a selection as early as April. However, Gates, who agreed to step down after the King beating controversy, has said he may not leave until June.

The list of 13 semifinalists has not been made public, but The Times reported Tuesday that five LAPD commanders had advanced to the next phase of the selection process. Also on Tuesday, the names of three more candidates were learned. They are:

* William Bratton, the 44-year-old chief of the 4,100-officer New York Transit Police Department, who takes over as superintendent in chief of the Boston Police Department next week.

* Lee Baca, 49, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department division chief who oversees 700 deputies and is among the highest-ranking Latinos in the agency.

* Mark Kroeker, 47, the LAPD’s deputy chief for the San Fernando Valley Bureau and a 26-year veteran of the force.

Also advancing in the process are Assistant Chief David Dotson, Deputy Chiefs Bernard Parks, Matthew Hunt and Glenn Levant, and Cmdr. Ron Banks. LAPD sources said Assistant Chief Robert Vernon and Cmdr. Robert Gil also are believed to be on the semifinalist list, although both have declined to comment.

Bratton, who sources familiar with the selection process confirmed is a semifinalist, has earned a reputation for turning around troubled police departments.

Bratton is credited with rebuilding morale at the New York transit police force, reducing crime on subways and buses. The New York Times, in a farewell editorial Monday, praised his leadership, saying it “vividly demonstrates how one person’s energetic leadership makes a difference.”

Baca, one of at least two Latinos on the semifinalist list, was born and raised in East Los Angeles and has overseen the command of several sheriff’s stations.