Foothill Commander Apologizes to Patrol Officers : Police: In unusual move, Capt. Tim McBride clarifies previous remarks then listens to criticism at 6 meetings.

To quell resentment in the ranks, the commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Foothill Division took the unusual step of apologizing to patrol officers this week after saying he would rather see an officer suffer a minor injury than be charged with shooting a suspect unnecessarily.

Capt. Tim McBride said Friday that he told Foothill Division officers at six special meetings this week--described by participants as uniquely frank opportunities for officers to criticize their superiors--that he did not mean his remarks the way they were interpreted.

“I provided a clarification and an apology,” McBride said. “It’s apparent that I allowed myself to be misinterpreted . . . It was clear that I wasn’t understood. Frankly, the way I said it lent itself to misinterpretation.”

McBride said his original comments were part of a larger discussion on the appropriate use of force at the 7 a.m. roll call Nov. 10 by officers of the division, who were criticized for their tactics after the videotaped beating of Rodney G. King in March of last year.

“I said ‘If I had to make a choice I would rather see an officer with a minor injury than an indictment by the district attorney’s office,’ ” McBride said.

“An officer followed up and asked ‘Would you rather see an officer injured than a shooting?’

“I said ‘no.’ ”

But McBride said his comments, as they spread through the rank and file, were interpreted to mean that he was critical of the Nov. 9 fatal shooting of Efrain Lopez, who was shot nine times while advancing on officers with a broom handle. His comments were aimed at use of force in general, and were not a condemnation of the officers involved in that specific shooting, McBride said.

However, he said, he stands by his original statement that officers should not use illegal force to avoid receiving a minor injury.

The police use-of-force policy has been particularly controversial since the King beating, which caused a review of department procedures. Several Foothill patrol officers said the department has been on the defensive because of criticism of police behavior in the King incident, the April riots and the Lopez shooting.

At the six meetings, each attended by 30 to 40 patrol officers and sergeants, participants were also given a chance to criticize McBride and patrol Capt. Gabe Ornelas.

Many officers said they felt their superiors were not supportive in the controversy over the Lopez shooting. After the funeral of Lopez, who had used the hallucinogen PCP earlier the night he was shot, there were several protests outside the Foothill Division, including one in which a sergeant scuffled with some demonstrators.

Many officers criticized Ornelas, who said he ordered them not to pursue those involved in the Nov. 17 scuffle in the hope of preventing the violence from escalating.

One officer described the meeting he attended as “almost like a crucifixion” of McBride and Ornelas, but he went on to praise the captain for listening to the officers’ gripes. All the officers who would discuss the matter for publication applauded both captains for taking the unusual steps.

“I’ve been on the job 27 years and this is the first time I’ve heard such openness and frankness,” said Officer Dennis Watkins. “It never occurred to me that anything like this would ever happen . . . this is a quasi-military organization and it isn’t the way we do things.”

Watkins said the meetings may have improved morale, which was dismal. “There was an undercurrent of discontent when Capt. McBride’s statements started spreading through the rank and file,” Watkins said. “Every time it was told it got distorted, every time it was retold it got even worse.”

The ground rules for the meetings provided that anyone present could make any comment they wanted without fear of retaliation, according to McBride, Watkins and others present.

“I’ve been in Foothill 21 years and seen a lot of captains come and go and this is the first time I’ve seen anyone offer themselves up like this,” Watkins said. “We’re talking about over 20 hours of face-to-face meetings with angry officers.”

McBride said he never heard of similar meetings occurring in any other division of the Los Angeles Police.

“This is probably the first time where they could just sit and let off steam,” McBride said. “They gave us some good insight about what they face on the street.”

Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker, who heads police operations in the San Fernando Valley, praised McBride for taking steps to heal Foothill’s wounds.

“There’s a lingering malaise that is part of the station’s psyche,” Kroeker said. “He spent hours and hours with the officers just giving them open season to air their sentiments.”

Ornelas said the meetings may have bared long-festering wounds, but ultimately helped heal the participants.

“It was cleansing,” Ornelas said. “It was a dialogue and we grew. I think that it’s extraordinary that we could do this.”