LAPD Panel Probes Taped Allegations

As Los Angeles Police Department officials quietly scoured records Tuesday for evidence of any truth in former detective Mark Fuhrman’s inflammatory anecdotes to a screenwriter, the head of the citizens panel overseeing the department launched an investigation into the taped allegations.

“We need to get to the bottom of this . . . so we don’t continue to have community relations problems,” Police Commission President Deirdre Hill said. She added that she directed Police Chief Willie L. Williams to set up an in-house investigative team and to quickly obtain transcripts of Fuhrman’s interviews with writer Laura Hart McKinny.

Regardless of whether the statements are true, they represent a potential public relations nightmare for a department that is still trying to recover from the fallout over the 1991 police beating of black motorist Rodney G. King.

The department has been criticized for the slow pace of implementing some of the widespread reforms voters approved in the wake of the beating and rioting after the officers’ first trial. Tensions threatened to reignite this summer when it was revealed that the officer who shot and killed a 14-year-old suspected gang member in Lincoln Heights had been on a list of “problem officers” identified by the commission that investigated the 1992 riots.

The tapes--and whether the jury should hear them--have taken center stage in the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The defense has tried to discredit Fuhrman, an investigator who found key evidence, by painting him as racist and a rogue cop with little regard for department policies.

Both sides have obtained copies of the tapes, and sources said they pose potential trouble not only for Fuhrman, who testified he had never used a particular racial slur, but for the LAPD as well.

On the tapes of interviews for a future book or screenplay, Fuhrman not only uses slurs, he also derides a superior officer (who is married to trial Judge Lance A. Ito) and claims he often pulled over black motorists who were driving expensive cars.

Fuhrman’s lawyer has said the interviews were for a work of fiction and were not meant to be taken as truth. The prosecution has depicted them as the invented boasts of a mean-spirited braggart eager to sell a story. The defense, however, said the tapes are proof that Fuhrman had it in for Simpson as well as other blacks.

Hill said that, regardless of the intent and veracity of Fuhrman’s statements to the screenwriter, “this creates an extraordinary community relations problem. It only underscores the racial tensions, which have been a problem for some time.”

“Unfortunately, most people who hear the statements don’t stop to ask why he made them,” said Hill, who is black.

Even before Hill called for an investigation, however, sources said department officials were searching records, trying to find incidents like those Fuhrman, who retired Aug. 5, related on the tapes.

According to sources and statements by the attorneys who have heard the tapes, Fuhrman alleged, for instance, that officers beat suspects during the investigation of a police shooting in Hollenbeck Division in the early 1980s. Police so far have not found an incident that seems to match all the details that Fuhrman gave in connection with that alleged incident, but they are continuing to hunt through their files.

A 1984 shooting in Chinatown left one officer dead and another injured, but Fuhrman does not appear to have played any role in that investigation--which was widely praised--and so officials do not believe it could be the basis for his comments.

Similarly, Fuhrman said Internal Affairs officers conducted various investigations into his actions, and those records are also being reviewed to see whether they would support Fuhrman’s version of events.

Of particular concern to the Police Department, sources said, are suggestions that officers who may still be with the department might have committed misconduct. People who have heard the tapes say the officer names colleagues and implicates them in wrongdoing as well. Such officers could be subject to discipline.

Hank Hernandez, attorney for the Police Protective League, said Fuhrman’s comments will unfairly “reflect on everybody here.” Noting the high rate of officers leaving for other departments, he added: “Who can blame these good cops” for bailing out?

Commission President Hill said: “We need to be careful not to paint all the officers in the LAPD with the broad brush of racism. We do, however, need to sensitize our officers to diverse cultures and to the concerns of the communities.”

“It’s pretty hard to combat something like this, and it’s dangerous to this very fine department,” said Cmdr. Tim McBride, LAPD spokesman. “All we have is the day-to-day work by a lot of good people. But how many people get to see that, compared to such a high-profile trial on national television?”

Edith R. Perez, one of Mayor Richard Riordan’s two choices to fill vacancies on the Police Commission, said a thorough investigation of Fuhrman’s allegations--as well as statements made earlier in the trial regarding the quality of the LAPD’s crime lab and its investigators--would be in the best interest of the LAPD.

“If these statements are not true, it will clear the department, and if we find there are problems, we can correct them,” Perez said.

“There are many officers who do an excellent job, who put their lives on the line every day, and they need to be supported. It is not fair for all of them to be tainted by a few bad apples,” she added.

* BIAS SUIT FILED: Black officers group sues union alleging discrimination. B3