Chief Hires Attorney to Counter Accusations : Police: Williams angrily denies allegations of impropriety. He calls a meeting of top staff.

Police Chief Willie L. Williams, forced in recent weeks to fend off mounting criticism of his performance, has summoned the department’s upper echelon for a meeting today and has hired a lawyer to help deflect accusations of impropriety contained in a letter sent last month to the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners.

“The chief’s position is that there was no impropriety,” said Melanie Lomax, a prominent local lawyer and former member of the Police Commission. “There is no basis to these allegations.”

Sources said the letter, written by a retired Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief, includes accusations that Williams has accepted free rooms or meals from a Las Vegas casino, that members of his family have misused a cellular phone billed to the department and that he sought and received free tickets to Universal Studios.

Williams has denied some of those allegations previously and angrily rejected the latest batch in a stinging statement released Wednesday.

“I’ve been informed regarding these utterly false, untrue, anonymous allegations against me as the chief of police and (against) my family,” Williams said. “I have provided and will provide to the Board of Police Commissioners responses that will immediately clear up these anonymous allegations. I will then expect the Police Commission to immediately verify they have found no impropriety on my part. These allegations are part of a continuing campaign to undercut me as chief of police and (to) undercut the reputation of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Williams’ sharply worded response to the latest allegations came at a time when the future of the chief, who polls show is the most popular public figure in Los Angeles, suddenly has become the subject of persistent rumors. In part, the rumors are based on mounting political questions about the chief’s performance.

Sources close to Mayor Richard Riordan have said that the Administration is concerned about the slow progress of a highly touted Police Department expansion plan, and other sources have said that Williams’ recent evaluation by the Police Commission included some criticism of his performance.

Among other things, sources said, the evaluation suggested that Williams needs to improve some of his work habits and to take firmer command of the LAPD.

Despite that criticism, however, sources close to the commission have stressed that the board has not fired Williams and does not appear to have any intention of doing so. Nevertheless, all Williams had to do was call in sick for a few days last week to stoke the rumor that he had been ousted or had quit.

Like other rumors swirling through the department, that was false. But the rumors have persisted and intensified to such a degree that Williams has summoned the entire upper echelon of the department to a meeting this morning at Parker Center so that he can try to dispel the reports about him.

Although frustrated by the intense gossip surrounding the chief, police commissioners have declined to comment on Williams’ evaluation. They also refused to discuss the new allegations.

Commission President Enrique Hernandez Jr. would say only that “any time that anybody would be accused of an impropriety, it would be incumbent upon this commission to investigate.” Hernandez added that the commission never has found evidence of impropriety by Williams, a statement the commission president said he made because “I wanted to eliminate any aspersions that might be put on his character.”

Commissioner Deirdre Hill has been asked by her colleagues to consider how to proceed with the new allegations against the chief, but she too stressed that there has been no evidence to support them.

“I don’t know of any evidence that the Police Commission has that would substantiate any allegations of improprieties,” she said. “Anybody can make allegations.”

In his statement, Williams said he hopes that the commission will complete its work quickly and give him a clean bill of health.

Times staff writer Julie Tamaki contributed to this story.