New Charges Targeting Chief Concern Council

Faced with new revelations about last year’s investigation of Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ stays in Las Vegas, members of the Los Angeles City Council and the city’s Police Commission wrestled Tuesday with whether to reopen that case or let it rest.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said she does not believe a new investigation is warranted. But she said she is bothered by the chief’s behavior in the long-standing issue--including his repeated denials of unethical or improper conduct.

“In my opinion, I would not score him above reproach,” said Chick, who has long supported Williams but has grown increasingly concerned about his leadership in recent months. “The damage has been done, and the questions about his ethical integrity remain.”

The latest round in the dispute was sparked by a KCBS-TV investigative report raising questions about whether Williams’ family gambled enough money in Las Vegas slot machines to justify “comped” rooms that he received from Caesars Palace from 1992 to 1994. The chief has always denied that he received preferential treatment from the casino, but the Police Commission voted in 1995 to reprimand him for lying during its investigation of the issue.

On Tuesday, commission members said their investigation was complete and referred questions about the matter to the City Council, which overturned the reprimand without reviewing the commission’s investigative file.

“The Police Commission sent all its files to the City Council on this,” Commission President Deirdre Hill said. “We will not comment about those files.”

The commission investigation, a copy of which was obtained last year by The Times, found that Williams and his wife had received comped rooms on several occasions in Las Vegas and that Caesars’ chief executive officer personally had approved a suite on at least one occasion.

Nevertheless, the commission did not find that Williams had violated the prohibition against police officers accepting gratuities. Instead, it reprimanded him for denying to the commission that he had ever accepted free rooms in Las Vegas.

Receipts from five hotel stays showed that Williams or his wife had accepted comped rooms in September 1992, December 1992, April 1993, December 1993 and October 1994. Despite accepting complimentary rooms and other services on each occasion, Williams said in a memorandum to the Police Commission: “I have never accepted without cost lodging, meals and/or show tickets at any Las Vegas hotel. Whenever I stayed in Las Vegas, I paid all bills due from my personal expense.”

In its confidential reprimand of the chief, the commission stated: “You knowingly and intentionally misled the board by repeatedly denying that you had received free rooms and other benefits from any Las Vegas hotel.”

Williams and sources close to the chief dismissed the latest broadcast reports as adding little to the controversy, and even some of the chief’s critics agreed--noting that the issues of free rooms and the chief’s truthfulness already were the subject of an exhaustive commission inquiry. Nevertheless, some council members said they were troubled by the recurring debate and by Williams’ seeming inability to steer clear of problems.

“I think there’s a problem. It’s a problem of honesty,” said Councilman Richard Alatorre, one of Williams’ most vocal critics. “It’s not going to die. If he lied once, I think he lied a bunch of times. He’s a compulsive liar.”

Council President John Ferraro said he was trying to determine whether the council should take action, but did not commit to any particular course.

“If there’s something to this,” Ferraro said, “we just can’t let it slide.”

The latest flap comes at a particularly delicate time for Williams, who received his 1995 performance evaluation from the commission Tuesday and who previously has indicated his intention to seek a second five-year term when his current one expires next year. Williams has until December to file his request for contract renewal, but few City Hall insiders rate his chances for renewal highly.