Delay in Inquiry of Williams Revealed : Police: Commissioners say probe was hampered because chief did not approve release of records by a Las Vegas hotel. He says he has been cooperating fully.

Although supporters of Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams have pressed in recent days for the Police Commission to clear the chief’s name by conducting a quick investigation, Williams delayed the investigation for seven weeks by not turning over a crucial document that the commission repeatedly requested, commissioners said Friday.

A lawyer for the chief acknowledged a delay of several weeks but contended that Williams has been cooperating fully in the commission’s probe of rumors, as yet unsubstantiated, that he has accepted free hotel rooms in Las Vegas and committed other improprieties.

Williams added in a written statement: “I have and will continue to make available to the Police Commission any and all records which I possess that related to the allegations which have been made.”

Commissioner Gary Greenebaum said that Williams only this week produced the key document--a waiver authorizing Caesars Palace, which the chief says is the only hotel where he has stayed in Las Vegas--to provide records and information to the Police Commission.

Commissioners said they are also attempting to verify independently that Caesars has been the chief’s only Las Vegas destination.

Greenebaum said the commission began requesting the waiver from the chief Jan. 3, after having received a letter dated Dec. 8 from a retired LAPD deputy chief. The retiree, Stephen Downing, said he was passing along a number of rumors, which he said were being discussed widely in the department and should be probed and laid to rest. The most serious involved claims that the chief had accepted free rooms from casino operators. Other rumors concerned alleged use of LAPD cars and a cellular phone by members of Williams’ household.

The chief has denied any wrongdoing. In his statement issued late Friday he went into detail about the timing of the commission’s requests and his responses.

He said he was not asked for access to his hotel records and a waiver until Jan. 19.

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Shortly thereafter, he wrote, he asked Caesars Palace for the records and received copies Feb. 6. Eleven days later, he said, he gave copies to the commission. Within a few more days, at the commission’s request, he asked Caesars to mail copies of all hotel records directly to the commission.

Williams added that he is compiling personal cellular telephone records in response to a written commission request this week and plans to turn them over to the commission Monday.

“There was in fact a delay of several weeks, not seven weeks, between their request and the information being provided,” said Williams’ lawyer, Melanie Lomax. “The chief’s reason is that he had to obtain the records (hotel bills) himself and he went through his own personal records. He initially thought giving them his own personal records was adequate. And it turned out they wanted direct access (to the hotel’s records) and that is what he has provided” with the release he signed this week.

Williams has visited Las Vegas five times since he became chief in mid-1992, Lomax said, twice to attend law enforcement gatherings.

Greenebaum said he did not know the reasons for what he characterized as the chief’s delay in providing the waiver. Subsequent requests, he said, were made by Commissioner Deirdre Hill and Commission President Enrique Hernandez. Hill and Hernandez confirmed Greenebaum’s chronology but Hill would neither confirm nor deny that the information in question concerned Caesars.

The commissioners’ contentions that delays were caused by the chief came as a backdrop to a second day of testimonials for Williams--this time from a majority of the City Council, which, under the City Charter, has the final say about whether a chief keeps his job.

On Thursday, a group of about two dozen religious and community leaders paid tribute to Williams as a reformer and urged a speedy resolution to the investigation into his affairs. A delegation from that group met with two commissioners Friday, prompting the commissioners’ public statements that Williams--not they--was causing the delay.

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On Friday, seven of the 14 council members--Mark Ridley-Thomas, Rita Walters, Nate Holden, Marvin Braude, Laura Chick, Jackie Goldberg and Mike Hernandez--attended a City Hall news conference organized by Ridley-Thomas and Walters to show support for the embattled chief. Council member Hal Bernson sent a staff member who explained that the councilman had a prior commitment, and Councilman Richard Alarcon sent an endorsement.

But support for the chief within the council may be thinner than it appeared.

Interviews with council aides and members suggested that least three of the nine who were there in person or in spirit have privately expressed reservations about the chief’s leadership and his judgment.

In addition, Councilman Richard Alatorre, who did not attend, said he is troubled by low morale in the Police Department. “The perception I have is of a lack of leadership on the part of top level people. I think you have to be concerned.” Alluding to the chief’s personal popularity in the city, the councilman added, ‘I just don’t think everybody knows (about the low morale).”