THE O.J. SIMPSON MURDER TRIAL : More Power Sought for Police Supervisors to Root Out Bias : LAPD: Mayor, chief say station house leaders are best able to spot problems. But plan hinges on union cooperation.

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and Police Chief Willie L. Williams said Wednesday they are pushing for broader authority for station house supervisors as a way to eliminate bias and discrimination among rank-and-file officers.

Speaking at a Santa Monica news conference to tout a new television series on the LAPD, Riordan acknowledged that “empowering” captains, sergeants and other supervisors to discipline racist or sexist officers would require the cooperation of the Police Protective League. The police union negotiates contracts with the city that spell out work conditions, including grounds for transfer and other disciplinary measures.”

“We’ve been talking to the Police Protective League,” about proposed changes in work rules, Riordan told reporters after a screening of a segment from MGM Worldwide Television Group’s “LAPD.”

The department has been grappling with fallout from an aspiring screenwriter’s interviews with former LAPD Detective Mark Fuhrman, a witness in O.J. Simpson’s double murder trial. In the interviews, Fuhrman used racial slurs, made sexist comments and told of beating up suspects and manufacturing evidence.

Although the department now does “a good job” of screening applicants for bias, some undesirable job-seekers are bound to “sneak through,” said Riordan, who called for a “new accountability system” to hold supervisors responsible for disciplining problem officers and sending a strong message that discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated.

“More empowerment and more accountability at the lower levels should help” because the immediate supervisors are in the best position to know their officers and learn what goes on at the station and on patrol, Riordan said. “But I think the chief and the Police Commission have to be given more power than they have today to make transfers” and take other steps to root out bias, he added.

Police union officials could not be reached for comment.

Just back from a bicycling vacation in France, Riordan said he met with Williams for about 1 1/2 hours Tuesday night to discuss a new “accountability system.”

Williams, who was hired in 1992 to help lead reform of the department in the wake of the police beating of Rodney G. King, said discriminatory behavior had not been treated seriously before then.

The department, which enjoys a national reputation as being virtually free of corruption, is now focusing on bias. Officers are increasingly getting the message that a display of racism, sexism, gender bias and other forms of discrimination “is just as serious a transgression as if you go out and hold up a supermarket or use drugs,” Williams said.

“Racism isn’t rampant, but it exists,” along with other forms of discrimination, within the department, Williams said. “But we’re going to do something about it. We’re going to reduce and manage it” so that officers know there will be “zero tolerance” of such behavior toward citizens and colleagues, he said.

Just hours before the television series kickoff, Riordan paid an early morning visit Wednesday to the West Los Angeles police station, the final post for Fuhrman and the station where morale has been hardest hit by the former detective’s interview tapes and transcripts.

Riordan addressed the morning roll-call of the division’s patrol officers, a group of about 25 men and women who, according to the mayor, were generally upbeat but who expressed concerns about the fallout from the interviews.

“My message to them,” Riordan said as he emerged from the session, “was that we would not tolerate racism or gender discrimination in the Police Department, but that I believe strongly that our Police Department as a whole is an excellent one.”

Riordan said he spoke to the officers in part to assure them that the city leadership is behind them, a message that the mayor said Williams shares but has sometimes been ineffective at communicating.

“He has given that message,” said Riordan of the chief, with whom he and his aides have sometimes expressed disappointment. “For whatever reason, it hasn’t gotten across enough. You know, the chief came in from out of town . . . and it’s been an uphill struggle to get the support of the men and women. But certainly I know from private discussions with him that he does support them and he is behind them.”

Riordan added that the chief is “trying as best he can. It’s just a very, very difficult task.”

Later, introducing Williams at the news conference, the mayor said the chief has “showed great leadership” in the days since portions of the Fuhrman interviews came to light.

Seeking to spread his message of support for the rank and file, Riordan spoke at the department’s annual Medal of Valor awards luncheon, then traveled to the San Fernando Valley in the afternoon, where he addressed another police roll-call.