It’s Up to Williams to Revive Public Faith : Flap over Las Vegas gifts is impeding LAPD reform

Many baffling questions remain concerning the unhappy episode of Police Chief Willie L. Williams and his trips to Las Vegas. Not the least of them is why he prevaricated before the Police Commission about receiving free lodging and room service at Caesars Palace when such “comping” of casino regulars is commonplace and represents no violation of city ethics rules. The bottom line is that the needless bickering between the chief and his detractors has decreased the momentum for implementing the much-needed Christopher Commission reforms within the Los Angeles Police Department.

The issue is complicated by the fact that Williams--an outsider from Philadelphia in the third year of a five-year term--is fighting a rear-guard action against some of his own forces. Clearly there are elements within City Hall and the LAPD at war with the chief, elements only too happy to prolong the Las Vegas controversy.

A WEAKER CHIEF: The latest revelation, published in Friday’s Times, provided convincing evidence that he had accepted more than $1,500 in accommodations at Caesars and misled the Police Commission about it. In June the five-member commission, appointed by Mayor Richard Riordan, voted unanimously to reprimand Williams. But the City Council, seeking to save Williams from a rising controversy that he himself should have quelled quickly, overturned the reprimand without even examining the documents.

The negative results of that perhaps well-intentioned action are now apparent. At a time when the LAPD and the city need a strong chief, Williams has been weakened by what he calls “distractive elements.” The council could have disposed of the matter three months ago but ducked. Since then public confidence in the LAPD has been shaken again, by the racist Fuhrman tapes that came to light in the O. J. Simpson murder trial, the shooting of a Latino teen-ager in Lincoln Heights by one of 44 “problem officers” identified by the Christopher Commission and by allegations that a detective forged documents to implicate a murder suspect.

Four years have passed since the publication of the Christopher Commission report, which documented the abuses of police powers and contempt for the public under Chief Daryl F. Gates that culminated in the beating of Rodney G. King. Yet progress has been slow in implementing the Christopher recommendations, which include community-based policing and hiring of more minority and female officers. And Chief Williams, popular with the public, has not yet been effective on the other side of the police-management coin, restoring the battered morale of the uniformed force itself.

In passing Charter Amendment F in 1992, voters accepted a main element of the Christopher recommendations and correctly gave the civilian Police Commission, as well as the council and the mayor, more authority to hold chiefs accountable. But the council undercut the commission in the Las Vegas matter--a matter that now, unfortunately, is clouding the real issue of police reform.

A LARGER TASK: In the final reckoning, the onus is on Chief Williams to put this business to rest and to get on with the larger task of police reform. He can do this by admitting a clear error in judgment on the Las Vegas matter, take the consequences and hope that restores the public trust he needs to accomplish his difficult job.

In all this Chief Williams has been his own worst enemy, and he needs no more enemies. He only compounded problems Friday when he invoked semantics at a news conference to explain away the Las Vegas issue. Whether he serves two terms or only one, he should realize he will be remembered best in Los Angeles not for his weekends in Las Vegas but for whether he accomplished the reforms needed at this critical juncture in the history of this city and its troubled Police Department.