Panelists Find Williams Lied About Trips, Sources Say : LAPD: Commission reportedly grappling over issue of discipline. The chief has insisted he did nothing wrong.

After an outside investigation, members of the Los Angeles Police Commission have concluded that Police Chief Willie L. Williams lied to them when he denied receiving free rooms from a Las Vegas casino, City Hall sources said Friday.

The commissioners, according to sources who requested anonymity, are grappling with the sensitive issue of what, if any, disciplinary action to take against the chief, who has won praise from the public but has drawn criticism from within the department.

Since reports of his Las Vegas trips surfaced earlier this year, the chief has insisted that he has done nothing wrong. Contacted Friday, he said: “I’m not going to give out any comment or statement because this is a personnel investigation and that is totally inappropriate for me or anybody on the commission to comment.”

Williams’ attorney, ex-Police Commissioner Melanie Lomax, also declined to comment.

The commissioners, who are appointed by the mayor, said they are restrained by confidentiality rules from discussing the issue.

Williams’ acceptance of free rooms--a common practice in Las Vegas--is not being viewed by the commissioners as a major problem in itself because the chief was not in a position to provide official favors in return, the sources said. More problematic, they said, is that members of the commission concluded he was untruthful in discussing the matter. In the Police Department, lying to one’s boss--which in Williams’ case is the Police Commission--can be cause for discipline ranging from a reprimand to termination. Even providing misleading statements can be punishable.

The commissioners’ conclusion that Williams lied was based on evidence compiled by two outside investigators appointed by the commission in late February. Sources said that the investigators--former Los Angeles County Bar Assn. President John H. Brinsley and retired Los Angeles FBI chief Lawrence G. Lawler--found records indicating that Williams and his wife had accepted free rooms from at least one Las Vegas hotel.

Brinsley could not be reached Friday, and Lawler declined to comment on their findings.

The investigation was triggered by a letter to the Police Commission from retired LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing, who said there were numerous rumors of misconduct by Williams swirling through LAPD that should be examined. Beyond the allegations that the chief had accepted free rooms in Las Vegas, the rumors were that he and his family had misused city cars, drivers and cellular phones and that he had improperly solicited perks from private sources--all of which Williams has described as “utterly false.”

According to City Hall insiders, the commission is faced with the difficult and delicate prospect of possibly having to discipline a chief who was hired to reshape the image and rebuild the morale of a department that was shattered by the Rodney G. King beating and the 1992 riots.

Williams, formerly Philadelphia’s top cop, was brought in more than two years ago as a reformer from the outside--and its first black chief. He has promised to change the style of policing in Los Angeles in accordance with the recommendations of the Christopher Commission by making the department less militaristic and more community-based. He is halfway through a five-year contract that the law allows city officials to renew once.

Although opinion polls show that Williams remains one of the most popular figures in Los Angeles, his standing within the LAPD and in some corners of City Hall has not been so high. Inside the Police Department, Williams is derided by critics as an ineffective administrator and lackluster leader. A recent performance evaluation by the Police Commission suggested that Williams needs to improve his work habits and take firmer control of the department.

Sources close to Mayor Richard Riordan have also said the Administration is unhappy with the slow progress of Williams’ efforts to expand the department--one of the mayor’s chief campaign promises.

In response to the criticisms and rumors of misconduct by Williams, many community leaders have rallied around the chief. In late February, two dozen religious and community leaders gathered in front of police headquarters to praise him and urge the Police Commission to rapidly conclude its investigation. They suggested that he was being smeared by people intent on torpedoing him as an agent of change or because of his race.

Sources have described the police commissioners as being troubled by the prospect of taking disciplinary action against Williams, which could be seen as undermining his effectiveness and impeding his agenda. But not punishing the chief for providing information deemed false by the commission would open up the panel to charges favoritism for the brass--a perennial complaint among the rank and file.

“They think they’re between a rock and hard place,” one knowledgeable City Hall source said of the commissioners. “If they discipline the chief, they make his job much tougher because you now have a chief who has been reprimanded for lying. And if you don’t, the ability to credibly discipline any officer in the future will be brought into question. It’s a tough call for the commission.”