Chief, Officers Pledge to Rid LAPD of Racism : Police: At event organized by employee groups, Williams emphasizes gains the department has made in last three years.

Still stinging from months of criticism resulting from the O.J. Simpson murder trial, a veritable rainbow coalition of Los Angeles police officials gathered outside the department’s Downtown headquarters Thursday to declare the LAPD’s commitment to free itself of racism.

“The department as an organization wanted to get together to let this city, the country and the world know that we are together as an organization, to work . . . with this community to make this a better place,” Lt. Jerry Syzmanski said.

Standing in front of a crowd of about 150 police personnel--all but a handful of them black, Latino or Asian American--Police Chief Willie L. Williams cautioned the public against a “rush to judgment” of the department he has led for the last three years. He repeatedly emphasized the significance of Thursday’s media event being organized by the department’s Advisory Affirmative Action Committee and other employee groups.

“If you had a question about who the LAPD is . . . all you have to do is look behind me, because this rainbow is the Los Angeles Police Department,” Williams said. “Every organization has some problems, and so do we. We’re going to deal with those issues that have not been dealt with up-front before. This group is standing here because they’re not going to believe in the code of silence.”

Among those who spoke at the event was Capt. Margaret York, the highest-ranking female officer on the force and the wife of Judge Lance A. Ito, who presided over the Simpson trial.

“Let’s move forward,” York said, declining to discuss the case’s impact on her life. “Let’s build the Los Angeles Police Department and the reputation that has been so tarnished in the last several months.”

Noticeably absent from the gathering were representatives of the Police Protective League, the officers’ union. League President Cliff Ruff said that he was only notified of the event Thursday morning, and that board members could not attend because of their weekly pension meetings.

“We fully support the concept,” Ruff said, noting that the League’s newspaper carried a denouncement of racism two months ago. “People that try to read a message into someone not being at a dog and pony show are mistaken.”

Chief Williams noted that he has increased human relations training and diversified the force over the last three years, and pledged to weed out problem officers such as former Detective Mark Fuhrman, whose racial epithets and tales of police misconduct were broadcast worldwide during the trial.

He said that the department is currently rewriting its performance evaluations to include less-tangible elements such as racial sensitivity, and tightening discipline codes to deal with discrimination and bias.

Asked whether he could guarantee that no future Fuhrmans would join the force, Williams said “there are no guarantees in life.”

“When every bank, law firm, court, private industry and everything else in the world can guarantee that they don’t hire Mark Fuhrmans, then I’ll be able to guarantee it,” he said. “Our goal, our responsibility, is to try to minimize people with bias from coming into the organization, then have as much policy and procedures in place to ensure that we identify them while they’re in, and move them out.”

Sgt. Leonard Ross, president of the Oscar Joel Bryant Assn. for black officers and an outspoken critic of the department’s institutional racism, stood shoulder to should with Williams, the LAPD’s first African American chief, during the morning event.

“Sometimes it’s not the management, it’s not the coach. Sometimes, the players got to get together. This was our huddle,” Ross said after the employee-driven news conference Thursday morning. “This doesn’t erase anything. We still have problems, but this is a start.”