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Chief Reportedly Plans to Change LAPD Structure

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Police Chief Willie L. Williams, under growing pressure from Mayor Richard Riordan to improve the Police Department’s performance, is launching a reorganization of the LAPD’s upper ranks that will demote his second in command and reshuffle several of the department’s leading players.

Sources in city government say Riordan and his staff have become increasingly unhappy with Williams in recent months and have urged him to do more to take charge of the department. In particular, sources said, Riordan is anxious to see greater evidence of progress toward goals laid out in the city’s Public Safety Plan, the blueprint for an LAPD expansion that was the centerpiece of Riordan’s mayoral campaign.

Riordan and Williams met last week at the Pacific Dining Car, where they were accompanied by Riordan Chief of Staff William Ouchi, Deputy Mayor William Violante, Police Commission President Enrique Hernandez Jr. and LAPD Chief of Staff Ron Banks, the sources said. During that session, Williams said his efforts to make quicker progress in the Police Department were being hampered by his lack of confidence in his command staff, particularly Assistant Chief Bernard C. Parks, one of the most important and best known department officials.

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Williams said he planned to demote Parks and elevate Banks to become a new “super assistant chief” in charge of all LAPD operations and reporting directly to Williams. Under the current organization, Parks and a second assistant chief, Frank Piersol, report to Williams.

As Williams’ chief of staff, Banks also has a direct line to the chief, but he is a deputy chief and ranks lower than the two assistants.

Parks, who has about 80% of the LAPD under his command, was representing Los Angeles at a sister-city conference in Berlin when Williams met with Riordan and only discovered upon returning that his position was in jeopardy. Parks was not at work Monday.

Although Parks was unavailable for comment, sources close to the assistant chief say he already has consulted with attorney Skip Miller, a well-respected lawyer who handles many high-profile lawsuits and has represented the city in cases such as Rodney G. King’s suit.

Participants in last week’s meeting were reluctant to discuss Williams’ proposal in detail but confirmed that a reorganization is in the works.

“Chief Williams has indicated to me that he is uncomfortable with the chemistry between himself and some members of his top staff,” said Hernandez. “He wants to gather a team around him that he has the best chemistry with. I have told him that I, as Police Commission president, am going to hold him accountable for achieving the goals and objectives we set. And I, by necessity, need to give him the latitude to do that.”

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Hernandez stressed that last week’s meeting was not called specifically to critique the Police Department or discuss individual staff members, but rather was part of an ongoing series of sessions involving city and Police Department leaders.

Hernandez declined to discuss the individuals who might be affected by the proposed reorganization, but added: “Chief Williams has expressed an interest in having his chief of staff designated as an assistant chief coordinating the activities of the other two assistant chiefs.”

Other officials said they had learned over the weekend that Williams was preparing to move Parks or at least dilute his authority. Some expressed concern about that idea, but others, including some who have expressed great respect for Parks, backed Williams.

“He is moving to make the administration of his department have more of his personal stamp,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, a Public Safety Committee member. “I have the utmost high regard for Bernie Parks, but I also do for Chief Williams. My personal feelings for Bernie Parks aside, I am determined not to micro-manage the Police Department.”

Parks, 51, is one of the department’s most visible and highly respected officers. He has spent 29 years with the LAPD and came close to being appointed chief when the job went to Williams instead. Among his backers are a number of City Council members and retired Chief Ed Davis.

But Parks also has become a lightning rod for controversy. Since becoming director of the LAPD’s Office of Operations, he has backed affirmative action efforts and has vigorously investigated allegations of sexual harassment in the ranks.

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In recent weeks, the Los Angeles Police Protective League filed a grievance against Parks, accusing him of disregarding the promotion process in voiding a slate of detectives vying for supervisors’ jobs in the department’s Narcotics Group.

Williams initially backed Parks in that dispute, but said at the time that he would have his staff investigate the complaint and then publicly announce the results in a few days. That was weeks ago; no public announcement has been made.

If Williams goes through with the plan that he has outlined to others, the reorganization would be the most significant set of personnel moves within the LAPD since Williams took office just over two years ago.

It comes after months of growing frustration over the strength of his leadership. Some critics have begun to express doubts about Williams’ ability to push through the remaining reforms urged by the Christopher Commission and to implement the Public Safety Plan developed by the department and the mayor’s office. Some council members and aides to Riordan have privately complained about the lack of progress in those areas, which--along with the depressed state of LAPD morale--they blame on Williams.

Mayoral advisers said Williams has not pushed hard enough to speed hiring of new officers or to redeploy officers from desk jobs to the streets. Neither the Public Safety Plan nor the redeployment of officers to the field is Parks’ responsibility.

“Where is the community-based policing? Where is the commitment to get people out in the street?” asked one adviser.

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Riordan’s staff believes that it has held up its end of the bargain by setting aside an extra $85 million in this year’s budget for hiring more officers. They are concerned that the pace of hiring has lagged, however, endangering the goal of boosting the 7,600-officer force to 8,350 by the end of the year.

“Dick Riordan has given (Williams) $85 million, and this guy sits over there and, candidly, does nothing,” the adviser said. “It is frightening.”

At the same time, council members and the mayor’s staff are reluctant to take on Williams, in part because he enjoys enormous public approval ratings--exceeding those of Riordan himself. Williams is also perceived as having been highly successful at restoring public confidence in the LAPD, which was rocked by the Rodney King beating and the riots.

“He’s been very good for the city as a symbol, to give confidence in the Police Department and to help heal the city,” said one Riordan adviser. “He is a decent guy, and he has a charisma that is very important to this city.”

Williams has acknowledged that some Police Department efforts are moving more slowly than he would like. In public, he has attributed that mainly to the long and bitter contract dispute over officers’ attempts to secure a pay raise. That debate held down morale and made progress on other issues difficult to achieve, the chief has said.

In a recent interview with The Times, Williams denied that he was contemplating any moves that would alter the makeup of his senior staff and said rumors of him feuding with Parks were overblown.

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“People who don’t know me and some of my senior staff or even some of the mid-level staff make assumptions that because we don’t always say the same thing all the time that someone’s out to bring you down,” Williams said. “Part of my job is to have a diversity of personnel (so) the chief can hear all issues, and then make what I feel are the right decisions.”

But sources within the department say Williams and Parks have been at odds, at least off and on, since April or so. At that time, Ouchi intervened to ask whether Parks would consider taking a job outside the LAPD.

Parks reportedly said he would not, and afterward he and Williams met to discuss their differences. Both said later that they believed the problems were resolved.

Williams’ proposal for shaking up the department’s upper management is complicated by still another development within the LAPD leadership. According to department sources, Deputy Chief Lawrence Fetters, one of the LAPD’s senior leaders and a favorite of the Riordan camp because of his role in drafting the Public Safety Plan, has told colleagues that he intends to retire soon.

Fetters, according to police officials, plans to go to work in Atlanta, where he will help with the security planning for the 1996 Olympics. But his absence from the LAPD will deprive the organization of a respected leader at a time when its management appears to be in flux.

In addition to the personalities, there are structural questions about Williams’ suggestion that one assistant chief assume responsibility for all LAPD operations. That same organizational structure was in place decades ago, but was abolished because it concentrated so much power in a single assistant chief.

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Chick said she has some concerns about that aspect of the reorganization, which probably will require council approval because it would cost money.

Times staff writer Jim Rainey contributed to this report.

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