Parks Says Police Union Run by ‘Tired Old Men’

Escalating the war of words with his officers’ union, Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks on Tuesday called the Police Protective League’s directors “nine tired old men” who are out of touch with their members.

“They’re dated and stuck in a time warp,” Parks told reporters after a regularly scheduled meeting with his Police Commission bosses. “Really, they are an embarrassment.”

Parks’ latest remarks come in the wake of accusations from union leaders that the chief is trying to use the LAPD’s internal discipline process to retaliate against union directors who have been critical of his leadership. The chief has strongly denied such allegations.

Top union officials and the chief have clashed almost from the day Parks was sworn into office a year ago this week. Union leaders have quarreled with the chief over his revamping of the discipline process, his proposed charter changes, his rejection of compressed work schedules and many other issues. They have called the chief autocratic and unbending.

On Tuesday, union leaders said they were offended by Parks’ remarks.

“I’m shocked and disappointed at the chief’s personal comments about the director of this union,” said Hank Hernandez, general counsel to the Los Angeles Police Protective League. “In my view, they amount to comments unbecoming his position as chief of police. . . . Rather than resorting to these personal comments, I would prefer that we sit down around a bargaining table and resolve our disagreements.”

Director Ted Hunt said he was “surprised by the juvenile nature of his remarks. . . . If a rank-and-file officer made such comments, that officer would receive a personnel complaint and probably be suspended.”

“I don’t know why he is calling us tired old men, we’re the same age he is,” added director Lenny Munoz. “As far as us being in a time warp, I think he’s the one in the time warp. He’s trying to bring the department back to the 1960s.”

Meanwhile, in another sign of the troubled relationship, the union Tuesday sued the department to prevent it from posting the photographs of community liaison officers on the upcoming LAPD Web page. Union officials said releasing the photographs poses security concerns for the officers.

While union leaders and the LAPD’s top management historically have been at odds, many old-timers in the department characterize the current relationship as the worst in many years.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the council’s Public Safety Committee, said it is time for the chief and the union to begin trying to work together.

“I’ve thought for a long time that it is counterproductive to have a constantly adversarial relationship,” she said. “I would like to see it come to an end.”

Neither side, however, seems willing to back down.

Later Tuesday, Parks continued his attack on the union after a speech to Town Hall of Los Angeles, a nonprofit civic organization.

He said the union’s nine directors do not understand the issues that are important to the LAPD’s 9,700 officers.

“They are not reflective of their membership,” Parks added, referring to the mostly white male board. Parks said he is more attuned to the concerns of the rank-and-file through his contacts with them during roll call sessions, one-on-one meetings, internal computer mail correspondence and other encounters.

Hernandez said most officers are not candid with the chief about issues in the department because they fear him. Moreover, he said the directors are elected by the rank and file and, therefore, are reflective of their membership.

The chief also attacked the union’s Thin Blue Line publication, calling it “a rag” full of disinformation. In a direct rebuttal to that publication, Parks this month resurrected an out-of-circulation newsletter called “The Beat” to convey management’s view on issues.

In the most recent union publication, Director Dennis Zine called the chief a “bulldozer rolling over everything in his path.” He also compared Parks to tyrants like Saddam Hussein and the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Parks recently relieved Zine of his duties pending a hearing on allegations of sexual and other misconduct stemming from a 1997 business trip to Canada. Denise Ward, a fellow LAPD officer, accused Zine of putting condoms and a canister of urine in her luggage after she repeatedly rejected his sexual advances.

Zine, a sergeant and member of the elected city charter commission, denied the allegations and accused the chief of retaliation. The chief denied that he is retaliating against Zine, pointing out that Ward had lodged the complaint, not him.