LAPD’s Lewis Leaving Mark in Brief Tenure

He’s served more than three decades with the Los Angeles Police Department, but Bayan Lewis will best be remembered for his last three months.

In the LAPD record books, his stint as the department’s 51st chief will go down as one of the briefest. But by most accounts, the 55-year-old cop has left a noticeable mark on the agency, injecting life and leadership into an organization that had been adrift and demoralized for at least a year, if not longer.

“He put a sense of family back into the organization,” said LAPD Cmdr. Art Lopez, who was a semifinalist to become the next chief.

Lewis took the job in May with the task of bridging the gap between deposed Chief Willie L. Williams and the LAPD’s next leader, who is expected to be selected this week. His goal, he said, was to make a difference.

“I’ve had to move quickly because I don’t have a lot of time,” said Lewis, who plans to retire later this month when a new chief is sworn into office. “I was not going to sit around and be a caretaker.”

From the day Lewis put on the chief’s badge, people inside and outside LAPD headquarters at Parker Center could see that things were going to be different.

Lewis confidently strode through hallways wearing the traditional dark blue officer’s uniform, not the business suits that Williams preferred. Lewis attended meetings at City Hall rather than sending his underlings as Williams frequently had. And the interim chief tried to have a greater presence with the rank and file, keeping officers abreast of department business with videotaped messages played during roll calls.

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As an assistant chief under Williams, Lewis was aware that simple actions could carry lasting impressions within the department. He knew that officers grumbled when Williams knocked down a wall on the sixth floor of Parker Center so he could double the size of his office.

After becoming chief, Lewis also decided to renovate, but his plan calls for putting the wall back to make the size of the office “more appropriate.”

“For the past three months, the ship has finally had a rudder,” said an aide to a City Council member, who works on public safety issues.

Since taking the job as interim chief, Lewis has tackled an ambitious array of issues, making difficult and unpopular decisions on some matters so the new chief won’t be burdened with them.

Among his accomplishments, Lewis has:

* Established a specialized Internal Affairs unit to deal solely with domestic violence allegations against LAPD officers.

* Signed an anti-retaliation policy aimed at protecting officers, particularly women, who lodge complaints against their colleagues.

* Approved a tough new set of discipline guidelines that call for more harshly punishing officers who lie, use excessive force, are careless with their firearms or discriminate against others.

* Quashed a flexible three-day-a-week work schedule that was embraced by the rank and file but deemed unworkable by the department brass.

* Started a pilot crime-fighting effort in the San Fernando Valley modeled after a New York Police Department program, which uses up-to-the-minute crime statistics to identify problem areas and better deploy officers.

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“He’s moved things forward and made some tough decisions,” said Joe Gunn, public safety advisor to Mayor Richard Riordan and a former LAPD officer. “The mayor feels he’s done an excellent job. He’s very pleased.”

Because he’s made those tough decisions, including demoting two top assistant chiefs, Lewis is not universally loved within the department. His rejection of the flexible work schedule, in particular, upset many rank-and-file officers, who ask whether the Police Commission gave him the interim post with the express purpose of eliminating the three-day week.

“We’re disappointed that he didn’t fight for the compressed work schedule,” said Dave Hepburn, president of the Police Protective League. “That’s our No. 1 issue.”

Police commissioners, who were split in their decision to give Lewis the interim job--and only did so because he agreed he wouldn’t seek the permanent position--have said they have been pleasantly surprised by his performance.

“He said he wouldn’t be a caretaker, and he hasn’t been,” said commission President Edith R. Perez. “He accomplished a lot in a short period of time. He was proactive and extremely communicative with the board.” One commissioner seemed to be only half joking recently when he privately suggested that Lewis be given the permanent job. “So this is what it’s like to have a chief,” the commissioner said.

Certainly, Lewis benefited from the unpleasant impression Williams had left in the minds of many department insiders despite his popularity with the public. Lewis was able to bask in the “honeymoon phase” that is often afforded newcomers before things could sour on him. Reporters, whose relationship with Williams had grown confrontational, were relieved to cover a chief who would laugh with them and answer their questions, instead of using bodyguards to keep them at bay.

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Perhaps Lewis’ shrewdest move occurred on his first day as chief when he reorganized the command staff, promoting and demoting officers, so he could have his “own team” in place to help him put his stamp on the department.

During that staffing shuffle, Lewis put three top contenders for the permanent chief’s job into top administrative positions. He said he figured the candidates would be motivated to work hard to show the mayor and police commissioners they should become chief. As a result, things got done more quickly, and much of Lewis’ agenda was accomplished.

“Everybody needed to look good,” he said in a recent interview.

Lewis also wanted to look good--not only to Angelenos, but to political leaders in Reno, where he was a finalist for the chief’s job.

Several weeks into his term in Los Angeles, Reno officials chose another candidate for the post, despite their respect for Lewis.

Some in Los Angeles say Lewis may be trying too hard to look good.

One high-ranking official said the interim chief undercut his effectiveness by “biting off more than he could chew.” Another said that some of the accomplishments credited to Lewis had already been set in motion before he stepped into the office.

But even his critics agree that Lewis has helped steady the LAPD and prepare it for the arrival of a new permanent chief.

It’s a job that Lewis, in hindsight, now wishes he had applied for.

“I’m having separation anxieties right now,” said Lewis, who will remain in Los Angeles after his retirement but as yet has no specific plans for his future. “It’s going to be hard to leave. . . . When you’re appointed to this position, it’s an honor. But it’s an honor that should be observed by not being a caretaker.”