No Evidence Uncovered of Alleged Spying by LAPD

An internal investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department’s organized crime unit has found no physical evidence to back up sweeping allegations of spying on politicians and celebrities--though Police Chief Willie L. Williams said Wednesday he is “not so naive to believe that it never occurred.”

Although the investigators’ main focus was the spying allegations, they turned up other shortcomings in the Organized Crime Intelligence Division, finding poor management and confirming the existence of a special “quiet team” that probed political corruption and reported directly to the chief of police and selected city officials.

The seven-month audit was ordered after a former intelligence detective, Michael J. Rothmiller, wrote a book purporting to expose spying abuses by the unit.

“Today, I am comfortable that there’s nothing in the files to indicate that Mr. Rothmiller’s allegations of impropriety are true,” Williams announced at Parker Center. “I feel very comfortable in saying that this department, the LAPD, is not involved in that type of activity.”

“There is no physical evidence today that shows it occurred in the past. But I am not so naive to believe that it never occurred,” Williams said.

The audit found that the sensitive unit operated without written guidelines on how to conduct investigations. And its secret files were so loosely monitored that supervisors could not determine who had access to them.

Williams pledged Wednesday to draw up specific investigative guidelines and to computerize intelligence files in order to record who has access to the confidential documents.

The chief said the “quiet team” operated until the mid-1980s. He said the department will never again have a special team of detectives operating outside the normal chain of command at Parker Center.

Williams temporarily locked down the unit’s offices and filing cabinets last July, shortly after taking over as chief of police. His first bold move as the city’s top law enforcement officer came in response to Rothmiller’s book, “L.A. Secret Police: Inside the LAPD Elite Spy Network.”

The paperback contended that the unit spied on politicians, athletes and Hollywood celebrities, gathering information for the benefit and amusement of top police supervisors and favored local officials rather than for legitimate crime-fighting purposes.

Rothmiller, in an interview after Williams’ announcement, suggested that the chief’s audit was a whitewash and that Williams was at the mercy of longtime police officials who sought to hide the improprieties from their new chief.

The author said he believes many of the files were “sanitized or lost” once OCID officials realized that his book was being published and before Williams was sworn in.

“The people conducting the investigation were not interested in finding anything,” he said. “They basically put blinders on, and nothing was ever going to be publicly found.”

He also noted that despite a series of letters to the chief and other police officials, “I’ve met with nobody from the LAPD regarding their investigation.”

He said he had sought a personal meeting with Williams.

But Williams said he offered Rothmiller three chances to meet with his staff and was rebuffed.

“This is a city of 3.5 million people,” the chief said. “Everyone can’t meet with the chief of police. But everyone does have access to the department.”

Rothmiller, in his book co-authored with Ivan G. Goldman, describes his life inside the LAPD’s intelligence apparatus and alleges that the unit spent more time gathering gossip on movie stars and other notables than on developing dossiers on gangsters.

Some of those targeted in the OCID inquiries, Rothmiller alleged, were actors Rock Hudson and Robert Redford, broadcaster Connie Chung, former state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp, and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

Williams conceded Wednesday that some celebrity names were found in the OCID records. But he said the famous people were not the targets of investigation or surveillance.

“I will not say whose names were in the files,” he said. “But I will say that notable names that we did find in the files were there as an aside or as a byproduct of a criminal investigation where they may have been seen with someone or on someone’s property.”

Regarding the so-called quiet team, Williams said the elite detectives never purposely spied on political figures. But he acknowledged that the investigators operated in a highly unusual manner.

“They were responsible for doing a report and turning it over to the chief of police or whoever may have been the mayor at the time,” Williams said. “But it was not intended to be used to spy on anyone in politics. I have no hard facts to say that those individuals (detectives) did anything improper or illegal.”

Still, the chief said: “I can’t think of a scenario where you just cut out the entire chain of command so you have an investigator operating directly with the chief of police and no management in the middle.”

The chief said the internal auditors reviewed more than 70,000 intelligence files, administrative reports and financial expenditure forms dating from the 1950s. He said that more than 100 past and present OCID employees were interviewed, and that all were given administrative grants of immunity if they came forward with evidence to support Rothmiller’s allegations.

In addition, he said, auditors spoke with several dozen other former OCID members “who I am told had no great love for the department because of various personal reasons.”

“None of these people,” Williams added, “had anything wrong to say about OCID.”

Police Commission President Jesse A. Brewer applauded the internal audit and Williams’ recommended changes. He said his panel will review the status of OCID soon and will advise the chief of improvements that are needed.