Veteran Lawyer Elected to Lead L.A. Police Panel

Raymond C. Fisher, a prominent Los Angeles lawyer long involved in the city’s police reform efforts, was elected president of the civilian Police Commission on Tuesday, a move hailed by reform advocates and Los Angeles Police Department insiders alike.

Fisher, 57, joined the police panel in 1995, four years after serving as deputy general counsel to the Christopher Commission, the blue-ribbon panel that examined the LAPD after the Rodney G. King beating. As he stepped into his new role Tuesday, Fisher said he hoped to dedicate much of the coming year to improving LAPD technology and finding ways to protect and serve children.

Those missions may vie for attention with another issue looming on the commission’s horizon. The civilian panel that oversees the Police Department will be forced to tackle the delicate question of whether to reappoint Police Chief Willie L. Williams to a second five-year term.

A partner with the law firm of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, Fisher has won admirers inside the Police Department, mainly for his even temper and formidable intellect. On Tuesday, Williams welcomed Fisher’s election, and other high-ranking members of the organization said they have been impressed by the commissioner’s handling of difficult issues during the past year.

“He’s as sharp as can be,” said one LAPD official. “You have to spend plenty of time getting ready to talk to him because if you make a mistake, he’ll catch it.”

Among reformers, he also has fans, many of whom cite his impeccable liberal credentials. As a young lawyer, Fisher was a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., one of the most revered liberals in the history of the high court.

“We are delighted to hear that Commissioner Fisher has been elected by his colleagues to serve as president of the Police Commission,” said Allan Parachini, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “A Police Commission led by Ray Fisher will be a Police Commission productive for everyone.”

Also, many reform advocates believe it is about time for a member of the Christopher Commission to serve in the top LAPD policymaking job.

“It’s certainly hopeful that we have someone who went through the Christopher Commission process,” said Anthony Thigpenn, who heads the community group AGENDA.

Among other things, the Christopher Commission strongly advocated strengthening the civilian panel that Fisher now heads. In fact, he joined the Police Commission to fill one of two vacancies left by the abrupt departures of Gary Greenebaum and Enrique Hernandez Jr. They quit in 1995 to protest the City Council’s decision to overturn their reprimand of Williams--a vote the two commissioners viewed as undermining the police board’s authority and damaging the reform model created by the Christopher Commission.

In an interview Tuesday, Fisher said his top goals for the coming year include modernizing the police force with better equipment and technology, and trying to direct policing efforts toward protecting children from crime and steering them away from it.

“This department really needs the technological, information resources to be a modern police department,” Fisher said during a break in a meeting in which commissioners and the chief wrestled over the reliability of LAPD statistics. “That’s been talked about, but we really need to address it.”

On the issue of juveniles and criminal justice, Fisher said he hopes to boost department efforts not just in the area of enforcement but also education.

Among other things, Fisher said he would like to study the feasibility of returning Drug Abuse Resistance Education to Los Angeles middle schools and to explore other juvenile education programs. The urgency of such programs is all the more acute, he said, because Los Angeles and the rest of the country are bracing for sharp increases in the number of young people in coming years.

Since most crime is committed by people between 18 and 25, a bulge in the youth population has potentially grave ramifications for law enforcement. Fisher said he hopes to use his presidency to help the LAPD prepare for that occurrence.

In addition to the projects he hopes to undertake, Fisher and the other commissioners face the politically sensitive question of Williams’ contract renewal.

“I think that it will certainly be a challenge to make that decision, whatever decision they make,” said Greenebaum, who started his Police Commission tenure as a Williams supporter but by the end had become one of the chief’s sternest critics. “It will also be a challenge to explain that decision.”

Fisher acknowledged Tuesday that that issue will loom large for the commission in coming months, but he helped draft the City Charter provisions that established the reappointment process, and he said he is committed to making them work. Until the Christopher Commission changed the rules, the city’s police chief served without limits on his term. Now, the chief is appointed to a five-year term, renewable at the discretion of the Police Commission.

“This process is intended to give the commission a chance to review a chief of police’s performance,” he said. “That’s something we will do very seriously and very carefully.”

Fisher took over the presidency immediately, with acting President Art Mattox passing him the gavel and wishing him well. No sooner had Fisher begun his new duties than his first meeting was interrupted: Police had found a suspicious package in the LAPD’s Juvenile Division, next door to the Police Commission, and they evacuated the first floor of police headquarters.

Once the building was cleared and the meeting resumed, Fisher quipped: “While we had a bomb scare, I am assured that it is not related to my election as president.”

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Profile: Raymond C. Fisher

During a distinguished private legal career, Fisher has served on various community and legal service foundations’ boards.

* Born: July 12, 1939, Oakland

* Residence: Sherman Oaks

* Education: UC Santa Barbara, bachelor’s degree; doctorate from Stanford Law School; editor of Stanford Law Review.

* Career highlights: Founding partner of Los Angeles office of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe; former managing partner of Tuttle & Taylor; deputy general counsel to Christopher Commission; former president of Los Angeles Civil Service Commission; board member, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, Constitutional Rights Foundation and William J. Brennan Jr. Center for Justice; served as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.

* Interests: Swimming, spending time with granddaughter.

* Family: Married to Nancy Leigh Fisher; two grown children.