Block Gives a Mixed Review to Kolts Report : Inquiry: Sheriff says study is wrong about ‘problem officers’ but agrees to facilitate handling of complaints.

Sheriff Sherman Block, in his first public criticism of the Kolts report, took exception Wednesday to the study’s identification of 62 “problem officers” within his department and declared that some of its recommendations showed a lack of “knowledge and awareness” of law enforcement.

But at the same time Block announced that he is taking steps to quickly comply with a few of the 209 recommendations of the report prepared by Special Counsel James G. Kolts, particularly those intended to make it easier to file a citizen’s complaint. The sheriff said it will be “a few months” before he delivers his detailed response to the entire report to the Board of Supervisors.

Block, 67, also announced that he has decided to seek reelection to a fourth term in 1994, and will not run for mayor of Los Angeles next year.

But his political plans played only a small part in Wednesday’s news conference, at which Block said he has already adopted a Kolts recommendation to place a restriction in the department manual on striking suspects in the head. Head strikes with weapons such as heavy flashlights will be expressly prohibited “unless circumstances justify the use of deadly force,” he said.

The sheriff also pledged to go along with a recommendation for greater citizen input on his department’s handling of citizens’ complaints. However, he rejected establishment of a civilian review board, saying it would dilute his own final responsibility for disciplining deputies. The Kolts report had not advocated creation of such a board, although some community groups have pushed for one.

While Block pledged some immediate changes, he indicated that he disagrees with the report’s central finding that there was “deeply disturbing evidence of excessive force and lax discipline” in the Sheriff’s Department.

“I think misconduct is pursued very aggressively,” he said. He added: “One thing I will never do, whether it’s with the Kolts commission report or any other criticism, I will never sacrifice any members of this department at the altar of public opinion.”

Block challenged the report’s finding that a group of 62 problem officers had, over a six-year span, failed to receive “the close scrutiny they deserve” for using force.

“Among those 62, I am certain there were some who were really not guilty of any wrongdoing,” he said. “There were some who were probably terminated for their wrongdoing. There were some who received other kinds of lesser discipline. There were some who were counseled and retrained. There were some who probably saw the light and have for a number of years performed in an acceptable fashion and may have even been promoted since that time.

“So I do not believe that those people really constitute a pattern,” he said.

In addition, the sheriff complained that “there was so much contradictory information” in the Kolts report that it will take his department a while to dissect it.

“And of course we are not going to agree with everything that they have said, because it’s obvious that (in some cases) . . . there was not a great deal of knowledge or awareness about law enforcement itself . . . and there were many subjective, I think very subjective, recommendations made.”

Block refused to identify any specific recommendations he disagrees with, but said: “There was not a lot of communications between the commission and members of this department.

“In fact, they appeared to be very reluctant to discuss with us as their inquiry went along any of their findings or any of their questions, many of which I believe could have been resolved very easily.”

The highly critical report was released against a backdrop of great tensions in law enforcement and the community at large.

Block said Wednesday: “I don’t know if the tension is racial or class, in a sense. I’ve been a member of this department now for more than 36 years and I can never recall a period in the community when people were as angry, people were as frightened, people were as frustrated, people had so little confidence in government and the processes.”

He remarked that many people “don’t realize that there’s more bullets flying through the air of Los Angeles than perhaps anywhere else in the world besides Yugoslavia today.”

Despite his criticism of the Kolts report, Block said he accepts some parts of the study as “very objective,” and announced that he is implementing these reforms either immediately or within 60 days:

* Complaint forms will be printed in Spanish as well as English and will be made available in many county buildings other than sheriff’s facilities, such as supervisors’ field offices, libraries and hospitals.

* Each complaint form will ask whether any member of the Sheriff’s Department attempted to dissuade the person from making the complaint.

* All sheriff’s radio cars will display a bumper sticker asking, “How Are We Doing?” and giving the number 1-800-698-8255 to call.

* In order to identify officers who are using excessive force, tracking systems already introduced in some sheriff’s units will be expanded to all units.

* The department will suspend, at least temporarily, its practice of purging complaint files after five years.

But other reforms may take time and money, Block said.

“The Kolts committee, while recognizing that the department is making progress in tracking excessive force, wants to see our efforts accelerated and strengthened,” he said. “I agree, but those recommendations are going to require time to study and resources to implement.”

Block, however, did not identify any specific examples of programs that will require funding by the Board of Supervisors.

“Much of this report . . . will prove to be very useful and very beneficial,” the sheriff said. “But to say that it’s a perfect report without flaws would be ludicrous. It’s not.”

Kolts, a retired Superior Court judge, offered a conciliatory response to Block’s statements.

“We stand by our report,” he said. “I thought that the sheriff’s remarks were very frank. To some extent, he agreed with us. I’m not interested in provoking any kind of confrontation.”

Meanwhile, Gloria Romero, co-chair of the Coalition for Sheriff’s Accountability, said members of her group will appear at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday to demand that the supervisors hold public hearings on establishing a citizens review board for the Sheriff’s Department.

Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, said Block’s comments Wednesday were too vague.

“If he wants us to believe things aren’t so bad, he has to say what reforms he can make, which ones he can’t make unless he has funding and which are the ones with which he disagrees.”

In announcing his intent to run for reelection in two years, Block said, “I believe that I have much more left to give to the department and to the community, and I do not want to walk away, certainly at a time as critical as this, where I believe that stability is very, very important, and I believe that I represent stability.”

He decided against running for mayor, Block said, because his wife did not want him to and because he did not want to trade the professional environment of the sheriff’s office for a political environment.