Asleep at the Switch? : Slow response of both the LAPD and the National Guard is at issue

The Los Angeles Police Commission is quite right to have opened an inquiry into the role of the LAPD in last week’s riots. And Gov. Pete Wilson has already had to answer major questions about the National Guard, which arrived at the Los Angeles trouble spots seemingly with all the speed of a backlash of taffy. In the both cases, were the public safety and the public interest properly attended to in the earliest and in some ways most crucial stage of the riots?

THE LAPD ROLE: If there was one area in which this Police Department was thought to especially excel, it was in the swift and precise use of tactical force to contain disorder. Indeed, its reputation has been so considerable that officials from all over would come to marvel at LAPD expertise. That prowess was not in evidence in South Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon when a crowd of violence-prone toughs first gathered, and later as motorists began to be dragged from cars and beaten senseless.

Where was the LAPD and why wasn’t there more initial containment force? That’s certainly a legitimate question for the Police Commission. And where was Chief Daryl F. Gates? During that initial stage Wednesday night he was attending a fund-raising reception held by organizers opposed to Charter Amendment F, the all-important police-reform measure that comes up for a vote June 2. The chief said he was never out of radio communication with headquarters. But his appearance at a cocktail party under those circumstances raised eyebrows to new heights.

Prior to Wednesday the chief had talked about preparing for possible disorder to the tune of about $1 million in overtime for officers. Since the strife started, however, he has admitted that he was surprised by the magnitude of the violent response to the verdicts in the Rodney King beating trial. In recent years--but most notably and incisively in the Christopher Commission report last year--the department has been portrayed as isolated, remote, even contemptuous of some of the communities it serves. Was that isolation so pronounced as to leave it psychologically unprepared for what a string of not-guilty verdicts in the King case would trigger?

THE NATIONAL GUARD: The Guard took too long to arrive on the scene and once here seemed to dribble into action. It has been suggested that the delay was due to a communications problem and an ordnance snafu. All this needs to be thoroughly reviewed. The use of the Guard to help out in domestic disorders is scarcely unprecedented. This is a serious matter, and the governor is calling for a full investigation.

It’s an old saying that failure is an orphan and success has many fathers. It’s not necessary to engage in recriminations, much less a witch hunt, but very serious issues are being raised and no one should rest until they are satisfactorily answered.