Police Chief Writes Memoirs That Skirt Controversies : LAPD: Book is due out in April. Williams defends omissions by saying, ‘It’s not intended to be a tell-all.’

Although he still has more than a year left in his first term as Los Angeles police chief, Willie L. Williams nearly has completed his autobiography, a self-laudatory account that presents his views on an array of issues but skirts the most contentious controversies of his career.

“It’s not intended to be a tell-all, controversial-type book,” Williams said Wednesday, declining to comment in detail on the work, which he said is nearing final form but is not quite complete. “It’s meant to be, from my younger days to now, about some of my thoughts and ideas.”

Williams’ book--”Taking Back Our Streets: Fighting Crime in America”--was co-written with author Bruce B. Henderson and is scheduled for publication in April. Publishing industry sources said Williams received roughly $250,000 as an advance for the book. Williams laughed when asked about that figure, but he declined to confirm or deny it.

The 395-page manuscript, a copy of which was sent to The Times by Williams’ publisher, Simon & Schuster, covers his 33-year career in Philadelphia and Los Angeles--homes to two of the nation’s most troubled police forces. In the book, Williams reflects on the benchmarks of his career, recalling the first arrest he made, his poor performance on his first sergeant’s examination and his deep pride at seeing his son follow in his footsteps with the Philadelphia Police Department.

But what is most noticeable about the book is what it does not include.

It makes no mention, for instance, of the sweeping corruption scandal that has overwhelmed the Philadelphia Police Department in recent months. Six police officers pleaded guilty to criminal charges last summer, dozens of criminal convictions have been overturned, and at least 10 lawsuits have been filed so far. One class-action suit alleges a “historic pattern of police abuse” dating back to the years when Williams ran the department.

Similarly, he devotes much of the book to a recitation of his time at the helm of the LAPD, recounting in detail police shootings, the rush of riot training in anticipation of the federal Rodney G. King verdicts and his early, widely praised efforts to win renewed community trust for the Police Department. The book opens with the King beating and one of its closing chapters is devoted to the O.J. Simpson case, which Williams describes without disclosing any details not already known publicly.

At the same time that he writes about those cases, however, he avoids the series of problems that have hampered his leadership here. His controversial demotion of Assistant Chief Bernard C. Parks, for instance, is not mentioned, nor is the largest controversy of his career: last summer’s reprimand by his Police Commission bosses for allegedly lying to them, and his successful appeal of that reprimand to the City Council, which overturned it without ever reviewing the facts of the case.

In the wake of that reprimand, The Times obtained the Police Commission’s confidential investigative file and published excerpts from it. That prompted Williams file a $10-million claim against the city of Los Angeles, alleging that officials had orchestrated the leak.

Many supporters of the chief, including some sympathetic to his protests about the publication of his personnel files, were critical of his decision to bring action against the city, and he eventually withdrew the claim--but not before the controversy had threatened his continued stewardship of the LAPD. The book is silent on that entire episode.

In another section of the book, Williams provides moving details about his visit with the father of slain Police Officer Christy Lynne Hamilton just hours after her shooting. Hamilton was a recent graduate of the Los Angeles Police Academy.

“Five minutes after my arrival at the hospital, Officer Hamilton’s father arrived,” Williams writes. “He had already been informed of his daughter’s death, but I was the first command officer to speak to him that night. . . . I told Ken Brondell what an accomplishment Christy’s graduation and award had been, and how honored I had been to share those moments with her and her family.

“ ‘Christy would have been a good cop,’ he said.

“I told him he was absolutely right.”

But Williams does not mention that he decided to remain in Las Vegas after the fatal shooting of another officer, Charles Heim--a decision that sparked outrage among rank-and-file officers. Williams later defended that decision, saying Heim’s family was not ready to see him and noting that he and his wife were trying to celebrate their wedding anniversary.

Nevertheless, the incident left a bad taste in the mouths of many police officers, particularly after the chief sent a stinging letter to a civilian Police Department employee who wrote to him to complain about his decision not to return. Neither the decision nor the ensuing controversy are mentioned in the book.

As with the other omitted issues, Williams said those were not included because he did not want to be associated with a splashy or sensational story. “Anyone who knows me knows that’s not me,” he said.

Instead, most of the book is devoted to the chief’s views on social and law enforcement issues, many of which are intertwined with his experiences in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Williams outlines his crime prevention philosophies, for instance, as well as his opposition to drug legalization, his staunch support for gun control and his vision of community policing, which he says has been resisted by his top staff at the LAPD.

“It took a frustrating two years just to get the senior management staff working with some cohesiveness on the change in direction to community policing,” Williams writes. “I became distressed to find that some of my upper-level managers whom I saw and talked to quite regularly weren’t always carrying my message back to their subordinates.”

Later, Williams also seems to express veiled dissatisfaction with Mayor Richard Riordan.

“There are people--even our highest political leaders--who expected the department to have the entire process wrapped up by now, so we could go on to whatever was next,” Williams writes. “The fact is, true reform of this or any major police department will probably take 10 to 12 years.”

And as for Riordan’s pledge to expand the LAPD by 3,000 officers in four years--a goal that now seems unlikely to be met--Williams writes that he harbored reservations from the outset.

“Even with such strong political and financial backing, I knew there could be a danger in reacting to an emotionally motivated campaign for adding large numbers of officers without properly providing for their selection and training, and without a commitment to long-term planning,” Williams writes.

“I was prepared to champion the effort that would be necessary to expand the LAPD in line with the new mayor’s campaign promise,” he adds, “but at the same time I wanted to be sure that we stayed on track to implement the Christopher Commission’s long list of vital reforms, many of which came with sizable price tags of their own.”

Throughout Williams’ book, the chief avoids attacking most foes by name, and only mildly criticizes even those officials with whom he has disagreed.

The most glaring exception, however, is Daryl F. Gates, who preceded Williams as the chief of the LAPD and who has frequently criticized his successor. Williams generally has declined to comment on his predecessor, but he uses his book to launch his own critique of the man whose retirement cleared the path from him to take the top job at the LAPD.

Interestingly, some of the management criticisms Williams levels at Gates have characterized his own administration of the LAPD. Although their styles are vastly different, both chiefs have angered the city’s appointed and elected city officials.

“Gates was seen as a fighter of the system--a chief who refused to ‘play politics,’ ” Williams writes. “This made him very popular with many of the rank and file who think politics is a dirty word, but his failure to work cooperatively within the system came at a great cost.”

According to Williams, Gates’ combative posture toward the city government cost the LAPD new patrol cars, new police hires and modernization.

“With a chief who consistently isolated the police department and fought against the city’s political system, it was no wonder money had not been available for hiring, equipment, overtime and a list of other vital needs,” Williams said.

Williams, whose book draws heavily upon the Christopher and Webster commission reports--both written in the aftermath of the Rodney G. King beating and both highly critical of the LAPD--said he considered it a high priority to re-integrate the department into the community and the city’s political structure.

“We were a part of city government, not apart from it,” he writes. “The chief needs to be attentive to the needs and wants of the elected and appointed leadership of the city. . . . Daryl Gates was now an ex-chief, and I wished him well in retirement. There was only one Los Angeles police chief, and now, it was I.”