The Chief Is Set to Meet His Makers

By December, Chief Willie Williams must let the Police Commission know whether he is interested in a second five-year term; the commission will then have 90 days to respond.

A year ago, I would have put money against the chief’s having a future with the LAPD. Personally, I’m on the fence--a staunch supporter of Dick Riordan and one who also happens to like Williams as a person, even with his well-publicized faults. Today, with a majority of the commissioners having served less than a year, I am not tuned into the commission enough to confidently predict the Williams contract outcome. Having said that, I feel compelled to handicap the race for those even less informed than I.

The chief’s greatest strength may eventually be his undoing, namely that Willie Williams is just not a political animal. The opposite of his predecessor, he does not appear to flourish in the world of back-room deals and backslapping that might have guaranteed his retention. Williams came to Los Angeles with his family and a couple of suitcases. By all accounts, he has not embraced a close, trusted cadre of “friends.” He works with a group of upper-level executives who make no bones about having wanted one of their own in his job. So he listens to their reports and briefings, then takes his own counsel and makes his own decisions. Without a trusted sounding board, he has taken more than his share of missteps. He has been, for his entire term of office, the outsider.

Actually, when I first saw the chief speak, I remarked to an LAPD official, “He doesn’t look like the kind of guy who would give you a hug.” He wasn’t, and it may have been his greatest shortcoming, for he never looked quite comfortable in his role.

Today, more than four years into the process, Williams strangely appears to be in good spirits, at peace, much like a condemned man resigned to a sentence over which he has little control. He is getting out more in public, shaking lots of hands.

Crime is down, patrol officer numbers up, recruitment is good, there are new cars, new radios, a new academy, and the implementation of community policing has been a success. The department looks good on paper. Some of this must be attributable to him, right? Unfortunately, although be has shed a few pounds, this chief still comes with a lot of baggage.

The newly reconstructed Police Commission will project fairness and impartiality as members decide his future. But ultimately the intangibles will seal his fate. It will depend on how those five commissioners get along with the chief, and whether they believe he has done their bidding and implemented their objectives. It also will be based on his support in the City Council and the commission’s perception of his relationship with the mayor and, most important, on the memories of myriad problems he has faced on the job.

This is, after all, a Riordan-appointed board. Although I know the mayor well enough to believe that he would never attempt to influence their deliberation, the animus between the him and the chief has been well-documented.

Let’s spend a minute on that lawsuit against the city. If Willie Williams had had just one person he really trusted, that person never would have allowed him to hire former commission member Melanie Lomax to represent him. To pick a former commissioner despised by the rank and file was a further slap in the face to an already demoralized department.

If the Police Commission votes not to extend the contract, it’s over for Williams, right? Wrong. The chief then has the right to take his case to the City Council, which overturned a mayoral and Police Commission sanction last year. Yet if the chief feels that the council will save his job, he would be sadly mistaken. The council and the mayor have to live and politic together, and Williams’ fate is only one small issue.

So, with all his flaws, why consider retaining Williams at all? First, he was hired by Tom Bradley during his final days in office. Riordan still has the right to distance himself and say “I didn’t select him.” But a new appointment now, coinciding with a second Riordan term, might just smack of politics as usual.

Williams’ continued presence keeps a balance of power between the LAPD and the mayor’s office. As a byproduct, it has created a stronger Police Commission and we now have an inspector general.

No matter the outcome, a slew of top brass will be departing next year. Many of those holding on to see if they are promoted to chief will resign if not selected. If Williams stays, he will feel more comfortable making sweeping and long overdue staff changes without his own job security as an issue.

But getting rid of Willie Williams and getting rid of many of the fine programs implemented under Williams are two different concepts. Williams has been a strong personal supporter of an extraordinarily important cornerstone of 21st century policing. To make community policing an innocent victim of the Williams contract dialogue would be an unthinkable tragedy for Los Angeles. In fact, Williams may have been undermined more by his support of community policing than by any other issue.

Getting that issue to be accepted, let alone embraced, by the 9,000 officers of the department will take an advocate who refuses to tread lightly on his subordinates. Williams was always concerned about shoving this and other issues down the collective throats of his captains, commanders and deputy chiefs. A few weeks ago, I saw Williams at the LAPD’s Medal of Valor luncheon. He spotted me in the hallway and walked toward me. After four years, I finally got my hug. While it may be too late for salvation, I guess where there’s life, there’s hope.