A Compromise for L.A.’s Sake

Goodbyes are rarely easy, but Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams is finally ready to bid farewell to Parker Center. The controversy over the Police Commission’s decision not to renew his five-year contract is about to come to a welcome end.

Williams will accept a golden handshake of $375,000 from the city. In exchange for the severance package, he won’t sue the city, which will save a bundle in outside legal fees and avoid drawn-out and inevitably divisive litigation. Williams will leave by May 17, well before his contract ends in July.

The deal was negotiated by a mediator, retired Superior Court Presiding Judge Richard “Skip” Byrne, at the request of Mayor Richard Riordan. Riordan not so long ago was a key force pushing for Williams to leave, but ironically it was Riordan who helped ensure that Williams got some sort of exit package in exchange for an agreement not to sue. When John Tuite, then chief of the Community Redevelopment Agency, was pressured to leave his job in 1990, he negotiated a lucrative buyout deal but then sued when the City Council balked at paying pension benefits; he wound up with more than $1 million.

The Williams settlement required a hard-fought 8-7 approval by the Los Angeles City Council. No one wins outright. The chief did not get as much as he wanted or a new contract. The members of council who thought Williams had been wronged and wanted to pay him more did not prevail. Neither did the members who thought he was a poor manager and wanted to pay him nothing.

Chief Williams will leave the LAPD in better shape than he found it when he took charge of a rattled and disgraced department shortly after the riots in 1992. Now, the chief can move on; and now, we hope, Los Angeles and its Police Department can move forward.