What’s Best for Los Angeles : A new chief should be selected by April, and the chief should leave in April

The search for, and selection of, a new L.A. police chief threatens to degenerate into a royal mess. That can be avoided only if people of goodwill prevail--and if all keep their sights on some basic principles.

Principle No. 1: The purpose of selecting a new chief is to install at the top of the Los Angeles Police Department someone who is committed to a new reformist order and who has no overriding stake in defending the old ways of conducting business.

With convincing detail and precision, the July report of the Christopher Commission laid out many of the problems within the LAPD. It also proposed many reasoned solutions and emphasized not only the need for a new process for selecting a police chief but also the need for a new chief to carry forward the reforms.

Stanley Sheinbaum, the president of the Police Commission, wants to proceed apace with the search for a new chief using the old selection scheme, despite some new questions about it--raised rather late in the process, actually--by the city attorney’s office.

Sheinbaum is right to want to proceed with all deliberate speed because full reform cannot take place with Daryl F. Gates still at the helm.

Principle No. 2: The goal is to do what’s best for the entire city. Some Latinos--particularly City Council member Richard Alatorre--are upset that the list of finalists does not include a Latino. That’s true, and it is unfortunate and upsetting. But it’s not a reason to derail the selection process, and the City Council was wise to reject Alatorre’s proposed delay on Friday.

Moving forward is in the best interests of all Angelenos--Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Anglos, everybody.

Principle No. 3: Last July, after the Christopher Commission report was released, Chief Gates sent a letter to the city’s personnel manager. In it, Gates agreed that if a new chief were selected by April, he would step down sometime in that same month.

“Given the uncertain timeline,” he wrote in another letter the same day, to the City Council president, “I have selected the month of April, 1992, as the month I will retire.”

But since then, the chief has talked about leaving in June, or maybe even later. That’s staying on too long--and to go back on his word now would erode his legacy as chief and could adversely affect the LAPD as well.

The Police Commission should select a new chief by next month, and Gates should step down in April, as he had promised.

That’s what’s best for Los Angeles.