LAPD Chief Williams’ Job Rating Drops to 56%

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams’ once-daunting public approval rating has slipped markedly, and residents are now evenly divided over whether he should receive a second five-year term, according to a new Los Angeles Times poll.

Although Williams continues to outpoll other leading Los Angeles figures, including Mayor Richard Riordan, the chief’s job approval rating has plunged steadily over the last two years to the point where 56% of residents say they like the job he is doing--still a respectable number but a vast change from the 73% approval rating Williams enjoyed at the height of his popularity in June 1994.

Those who disapprove of Williams’ job performance have steadily climbed since he took office in 1992. In the latest poll, a third of all city residents say they disapprove of Williams’ work as chief.

Told of the results, which also show approval for the LAPD dropping to a level identical with that of the chief, Williams said through a spokesman: “I’m gratified that this department and myself have a better than 50% approval rating, but I’m certainly concerned that it’s not higher when we’ve made great strides in implementing community policing in every area of the city.”

The poll, conducted from June 1 through Tuesday, has a margin of sampling error of 3.5 percentage points. It was based on telephone interviews with 942 adults citywide and was performed under the supervision of acting poll Director Susan Pinkus.

“I’m not satisfied with the job the LAPD is doing overall,” said Cynthia Serna, a lifelong resident of Los Angeles who participated in the poll and who agreed to a follow-up interview. “I’ve got helicopters going around my house, but it doesn’t seem like anyone is doing anything about the drugs, about the vandalism, about the guns. . . . I blame it on him [Williams] because he’s the chief.”

Bolstered by sentiments such as that, a solid majority of residents, 69%, say they would not hold it against Riordan if the mayor supported a move to replace Williams--an identical number to those who said they would not be bothered if Riordan opposed such a move. Those findings could strengthen the mayor’s hand in dealing with the chief, although the decision on whether to renew his contract rests with the Riordan-appointed board of police commissioners.

Riordan has generally declined to comment on Williams’ performance but has made no secret of his unhappiness with some aspects of the Police Department and its leadership. In a meeting with Times editors and reporters last week, Riordan derided what he perceives as the almost complete lack of accountability within the Police Department, a problem that he and other observers have highlighted as an impediment to police reform.

Although Riordan declined to blame Williams during that session, a majority of residents polled by The Times said they no longer back the chief’s quest for a second term.

Just 11 months ago, 59% of residents polled by The Times said they wanted the Police Commission to renew Williams’ contract for a second five-year term when the current one ends in 1997.

But over the last year, his backing has dropped precipitously, to the point where just 44% of those polled think he should be given another five years, virtually identical to the 43% who believe he should not get a second term. In interviews, respondents cited several reasons for opposing another term--ranging from general unhappiness with the Police Department to criticisms of Williams for his conduct during an investigation into his acceptance of free accommodations in Las Vegas to dismay over his decision to upgrade his official police vehicle at a time when the department was feeling its budget pinched.

What’s more, the drop in Williams’ support for a second term is across the board: Although he enjoys his strongest support among black residents, 72% of whom back him for a second term, their support has fallen from 81% a year ago. Likewise, his backing among whites and Latinos has fallen, and by even sharper margins. Today, 41% of whites support a second term for the chief, down from 57% last year. Just 39% of Latinos would like to see him serve another five years, down from 49% in 1995.

“I don’t think he should get another term,” said Mary Young, another resident who was polled. “Anybody’s going to be better.”

Not all residents echoed that sentiment. Benicia Kelly Varner, who lives in the San Fernando Valley, said the chief inherited “an impossible situation” in taking over the Police Department just after the Rodney King beating and the riots, and strongly insisted that he deserves another term to carry out his mandate.

“I don’t think one term . . . is an indication of what the man can do,” she said. “He’s got a real tough job.”

Meanwhile, as public confidence in the chief has waned, so has support for the Police Department, which has weathered a devastating series of crises in recent years, from the outcry generated by the beating of King to the riots the next year to the pounding that the department took during the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

Each of those events took a toll on the public perception of the LAPD, but the department appeared to reach its nadir with residents in March 1991, just after the highly publicized police beating of King. In a Times poll conducted the same month, 34% of respondents approved of the LAPD’s performance, and more registered their strong disapproval than in any Times poll, dating back to 1988.

But in the years after Williams took over the LAPD, public confidence rebounded, and many observers credited the dynamic new chief, who was brought in from Philadelphia to replace the controversial Daryl F. Gates, for the turnaround. By May of last year, support for the Police Department was even higher than support for its chief, with 71% of all residents saying they approved of the job their police force was doing.

Since then, however, Williams has been the subject of continuing controversies, and the LAPD was subjected to grueling treatment at the hands of the lawyers representing Simpson.

Today, a majority of residents, 56%, still say they approve of the LAPD’s performance, but like Williams’ personal approval rating, the LAPD’s is heading downward, a trend that troubles some observers in and around the Police Department.

“For me, that’s discouraging,” said Councilwoman Laura Chick, who heads the Public Safety Committee. “I have been seeing some good and important changes in the department, so I’m disappointed that instead of the public showing greater approval, it’s showing less approval.”

Moreover, residents--possibly influenced by the Simpson case and the defense’s withering attack on LAPD Det. Mark Fuhrman--today are slightly more inclined to view racism as a common problem within the LAPD.

Roughly two-thirds, 66%, of all those polled considered racism “fairly common” or “very common” inside the Police Department. That number is up slightly since 1994, when 62% of those polled labeled racism a common problem within the LAPD.

Those are troubling numbers for the department, which has tried hard to diversify the ranks of its officers and has striven mightily to demonstrate that it is not tolerant of racism. A recent analysis of LAPD reform found that the department deserved to be commended for its diversity efforts, although it added that progress has been halting in some areas, particularly with respect to promotions of women and some minorities to the LAPD’s top ranks and in the area of cultural diversity training.

That mixed record appears to be reflected in the poll, as residents overwhelmingly backed Police Department expansion and a vast majority said they had never been the victims of police abuse. But four years under the helm of a black police chief devoted to reform have not erased the public’s pervasive sense that racism infects the LAPD’s ranks.

“There is a lot of racism, and it’s gotten worse,” said Sonia Romero, a poll respondent and Valley resident who strongly supported Williams but was critical of the LAPD. “My family’s black, and I was in the car, and the cops stopped her [a relative] because she’s black.”

Romero and other residents also seemed unmoved by statistics showing that crime has dipped in Los Angeles in recent years. Although both Riordan and Williams cite that fact in support of their accomplishments, the residents polled by The Times were largely unconvinced.

Fewer than one person in five said they have perceived any dip in crime in their neighborhood during the past five years. More than 40% of residents interviewed for the poll said crime has stayed about the same in their communities, while almost that many, 38%, said crime has increased during the last five years.

Faced with the Times’ poll numbers, city leaders puzzled Friday over the disparity between crime and the public’s fear of it. Some speculated that it might reflect the media’s emphasis on crime and violence; others suggested that it could be the result of a host of personal issues too detailed for crime statistics to measure.

Councilwoman Chick noted that she and members of her family have been victimized during the last year, a fact that makes her more conscious of crime even though the statistics show it falling citywide.

“What happens is, people’s personal lives affect them much more than somebody telling them that crime is down,” she said.

SUNDAY: The Times Poll examines Angelenos’ views on breaking up the Los Angeles Unified School District.

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Trouble for Williams

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams is still receiving high marks for the way he is handling his job, but his approval rating has slipped markedly over the last two years. And residents are evenly divided over whether his contract should be renewed for another five-year term.

In the last two years, Williams’ approval rating has plunged among all Los Angeles residents . . .

*--*

JUNE ’96 JUNE ’95 JUNE ’94 OCT. ’93 FEB. ’93 OCT. ’92 *Approve 56% 65% 73% 72% 67% 52% *Disapprove 33% 20% 14% 13% 9% 4% *Don’t Know 11% 15% 13% 15% 24% 44%

*--*

****

. . . but his popularity is significantly higher among residents of Central and South Los Angeles, as well as among blacks and Latinos.

*--*

WESTSIDE S.F. VALLEY CENTRAL SOUTH *Approve 42% 50% 64% 65% *Disapprove 42% 35% 31% 24% *Don’t Know 16% 15% 5% 11%

*--*

****

*--*

WHITE BLACK LATINO *Approve 49% 68% 62% *Disapprove 39% 22% 30% *Don’t Know 12% 10% 8%

*--*

****

Less than a majority of residents think Williams’ contract should be renewed for another five-year term.

*--*

ALL WHITE BLACK LATINO ALL, JUNE ’95 *Should be renewed 44% 41% 72% 39% 59% *Should not be renewed 43% 46% 19% 49% 25% *Don’t Know 13% 13% 9% 12% 16%

*--*

****

The chief’s declining popularity is paralleled by a similar drop in that of the LAPD.

*--*

JUNE ’96 JUNE ’95 JUNE ’94 OCT. ’93 OCT. ’92 JULY ’91 *Approve 56% 66% 67% 61% 45% 42% *Disapprove 38% 26% 27% 32% 48% 52% *Don’t Know 6% 8% 6% 7% 7% 6%

MARCH ’88 *Approve 74% *Disapprove 14% *Don’t Know 12%

*--*

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 942 adults citywide by telephone June 1 through 4. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city of Los Angeles. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and non-listed numbers could be contacted. Interviewing was done in both English and Spanish. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and region. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points citywide; for certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.