Chief at Center of New Controversy : LAPD: Panel probes allegations that Williams pressured captain for information later used by his lawyer in a suit against school district. He denies wrongdoing.

The Los Angeles Police Commission is investigating allegations that Police Chief Willie L. Williams pressured an LAPD captain into supplying information to the chief’s lawyer, Melanie Lomax--information on gang activity that was later used in a lawsuit she filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Commissioners and others said Thursday that they are concerned that Williams may have circumvented department policies. Requests from lawyers for information involving litigation are normally handled by the LAPD’s legal affairs division and often require subpoenas. It is unusual for such requests to be made by the chief.

The commissioners are also investigating whether any information given to Lomax was confidential.

“Questions have been raised as to whether any private information not available to the general public was released wrongfully,” said Deirdre Hill, president of the Police Commission. “Our initial information does not indicate that private information was released.” But, she added, the chief’s role has “created a stir” because he may not have followed department policy.

Williams has told officials that he did not know Lomax was planning to use the information for her lawsuit against the school district. In an interview with The Times, he denied any wrongdoing.

“This is nothing,” he said. “I didn’t do anything for her that I wouldn’t do for Mary Q. Public.”

Lomax also denied any impropriety, saying she did not tell the chief she was seeking information for a lawsuit and that she only wanted to know whether a particular street gang was affiliated with the Crips or the Bloods. She said no confidential information could have been released because the officer to whom she spoke did not know the answer to her question.

“This is nothing more than a political attack on the chief,” she said of the allegation of possible misconduct. “And I am the current vehicle.”

The controversy was launched last week when an LAPD captain reported that Williams had contacted him on behalf of Lomax. She represented the chief during his battle over the commission’s decision to reprimand him. Lomax is also a former member of the Police Commission and a vocal LAPD critic.

Capt. Paul Marks of the LAPD’s Southwest Division said in his report that Williams called him on Nov. 29 and opened their conversation by asking about his Thanksgiving.

“Chief Williams then indicated that he needed some information to be relayed to Melanie Lomax,” Marks wrote. “He asked me if I knew who she was. I told him that I did. He stated that Ms. Lomax had done him a couple of favors in the past and that she now needed some information for some community groups with whom she was working. He stated that Ms. Lomax had encountered some difficulty getting the information and that he would appreciate it if I or someone within my command could provide her with the necessary information.”

According to Marks, officers got that information--which involved gang activity in the Dorsey High School area--and forwarded it to Lomax. She requested more details about Crips and Bloods in the area, he said, and the officer responded by giving her an update on current gang trends.

Marks said Lomax was not satisfied, saying she needed information dating back to 1992 and 1993. It was only after spotting a story in The Times on Dec. 6, Marks said, that he and his staff realized that Lomax had filed a lawsuit growing out of a 1993 gang shooting at Dorsey High School. Until then, Marks wrote, the officers thought they were assisting a community group, not a lawyer suing the school district.

In his report, Marks also said a similar request for information was made by Assistant Chief Frank Piersol, who he said called a supervisor at the Southwest Division and asked him to provide material on gang activities to Lomax. In making his request, Piersol specified that only information available to the general public should be given to Lomax, according to Marks’ report.

But when that supervisor did not forward the material to Lomax, a man identifying himself as a lawyer from her office called the supervisor threatening to subpoena him to testify about gang activity at Dorsey High, the report said.

“I want to emphasize that I was told by Chief Williams that Melanie Lomax needed the requested information to facilitate her work with community group,” Marks’ report concludes. “Chief Williams, in my conversation with him, did not ever refer to a lawsuit.”

Contacted Wednesday, Marks declined to comment.

Williams has repeatedly tangled with the Police Commission in the past year. After an exhaustive investigation, the five-member commission unanimously voted in May to reprimand Williams for lying to the board when questioned about his acceptance of free accommodations in Las Vegas.

Mayor Richard Riordan upheld that reprimand, but Williams then appealed to the City Council, which overturned it without reviewing the facts of the case. Later, when The Times obtained and published excerpts of the confidential investigation that led to the reprimand, Williams filed a $10-million claim against the Police Commission and the city, accusing officials of leaking the material to the paper.

He withdrew that claim when critics and supporters alike warned that it would undermine his effectiveness as chief to be suing the city while still trying to lead the Police Department. Lomax represented Williams throughout that controversy, and in the process rang up a legal tab of more than $60,000.

On Thursday, Hill of the Police Commission emphasized that nothing yet has been uncovered indicating that the chief committed any official misconduct in his request to Capt. Marks. But she acknowledged that the incident placed Marks in a difficult position and raised questions about Williams’ conduct.

In addition to the question of whether private information was released, Hill and others said they were troubled by another aspect of the request: the fact that Williams apparently told Capt. Marks that Lomax needed the information for a community group.

Asked Thursday whether she had told the chief that the information was, in fact, for a lawsuit, Lomax responded: “Absolutely not. I had no reason to do so. I would never compromise the chief in that way.”

The suit, filed by Lomax on Dec. 5, seeks $5 million for the family of two boys who were injured in a 1993 shooting at Dorsey High School.

The boys, Glenn Browne Jr. and Deon Browne, were waiting to register for classes when Glenn was hit by gunfire that erupted during a fight between alleged gang members, Lomax said when the suit was filed.

Hill said commissioners intend to question the officers who had contact with Lomax to determine what was said in those conversations. Hill did not say whether the board would seek a statement from Lomax herself.

Hill said the commission inquiry could be concluded within a few days.

At a minimum, Hill said, she plans to ask Lomax not to make additional requests for information through the chief.

“I intend to suggest to her that, in the future, it would be best if she would go through the [LAPD] Legal Affairs Division discovery unit,” Hill said. “She is a former police commissioner.”