Assessment of Chief Williams

* In “A Mixed Milestone for Chief Williams” (news analysis, Dec. 28), Jim Newton inappropriately gives Willie Williams credit for several accomplishments and faults him for several failures over which Williams has had little influence and no ultimate control. Newton is dead accurate, however, when he asserts that Williams has failed to effectively communicate a sense of purpose to, or win the allegiance of, his subordinates. Even those he has placed in positions of greatest responsibility privately express frustration at the lack of definitive direction and at what they perceive as a preoccupation with process as opposed to goal accomplishment.

However, Williams’ failure in this regard is insignificant in comparison to his principal liability, the smug City Hall political and bureaucratic types who have saddled him with tasks impossible to accomplish. Cases in point: Mayor Richard Riordan’s unrealistic scheme to quickly and radically increase the size of the Los Angeles Police Department in the face of continuing, and growing, projected budget deficits and archaic hiring practices, which are the province of other city departments, and the Police Commission’s expressed criticism of the pace of implementation of Christopher Commission reforms.

A slower, more systematic, soundly funded plan for Police Department growth must be devised. It must take into account such realities as the size of the pool of qualified prospective officers, protracted civil-service hiring processes which are not under the control of Chief Williams, resources to train, equip and house additional officers and the ability and desire of the public to support a larger department.

Christopher Commission reforms, likewise, need re-examination. These recommendations, made in haste and without full understanding of some issues, have taken on a sanctity second only to Holy Writ. The intent of the recommendations has become obscured by an unyielding insistence that the letter of the reforms be carried out. Many of the recommendations require substantial resources to implement and still others are likely to be delayed by employee relations considerations beyond the control of Chief Williams. The Police Commission, itself, has failed to institute all the Christopher Commission recommendations under its individual purview.

If we are to hold Chief Williams responsible, and we should, why not give him a realistic chance at success?

DAVID D. DOTSON

Assistant Chief, Retired

Los Angeles Police Department