New Challenge for Police Commission

Deirdre Hill, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission, is resigning at a difficult time. The fate of Police Chief Willie L. Williams is expected to be determined by this time next year. The tug of war over how quickly to expand the department continues to roil City Hall, pitting Mayor Richard Riordan against a majority of the City Council. The police force faces many hard tasks, including the unfinished business of implementing the Christopher Commission reforms.

During her three years on the Police Commission, Hill, a lawyer, brought strong and dispassionate analytical skills to the business of policing the police. She prodded the department to make needed changes without engaging in personality attacks, a common currency at City Hall, and without creating the enmity that stops things from being done. Her noncombative style is a quality that her commission replacement should share.

Mayor Riordan now needs another commissioner who can stand up to those in the Police Department who don’t want the status quo changed and to City Council members and others who have increasingly inserted themselves and their politics into the management of the department.

More challenges are ahead for the commission, not least of which is whether Williams will remain as the leader of the Police Department. In choosing a replacement for Hill, Riordan would be wise to consider the sensitive political balance that is necessary for the Police Commission to be effective and trusted by all of the people of Los Angeles.