POLICE WATCH : Over the Top

Tuesday’s rally at City Hall gave Mayor Richard Riordan, Chief Willie L. Williams and other civic leaders a forum to support the Police Department against defense attorneys’ charges of sloppy police work in the O. J. Simpson murder case. The emotions were understandable, but was the rally really necessary? After all, the only really unusual things about the Simpson trial are the prominence of the defendant and the publicity. Defense counsel’s job is to look for holes in the prosecution’s case. That means finding every possible chink in a police investigation.

It’s a terribly familiar game, and a high percentage of L.A. police officers have been on the witness stand at some time. They are experienced enough not to take criticism personally, and to realize where the defense lawyers are coming from. The public, too, should realize what is going on.

If defense lawyers are only doing their job by trying to poke holes in the police case, the same cannot be said of one of their legal advisers, Prof. Alan Dershowitz of the Harvard Law School. In a blunderbuss attack on police forces nationally, he has suggested that their training includes guidance on how to lie on the witness stand. That’s got to be the broadest-brush paint job of the year.

Certainly police behavior in this city and elsewhere can be seriously deficient, as the Rodney King case showed. But to suggest widespread flouting of the law does a great disservice to the blue ranks we depend on daily. In an interview with The Times, Dershowitz urged that all “de-escalate the rhetoric and stop name-calling.” We agree, and Dershowitz should follow his own advice.