Chief Parks at One Year

What has the city gained during its first year with Bernard C. Parks at the helm of the Los Angeles Police Department? “Considerable improvement” is the answer, but much more remains to be done and the next several months will be telling in certain respects. Here’s what can be said now.

* Crime: Serious offenses have been on the decline nationwide in recent years. Finding a police department that didn’t have a double-digit drop in crime would be difficult, but the LAPD’s performance has stood up well against those of similar cities. Parks has also implemented a computer research approach to better direct officers to where they are needed.

* Resources: The LAPD’s equipment woes have been long-standing and oft-repeated. Parks has moved to make changes, including establishing a foundation to raise funds for additional hardware. He has also pressed for bulletproof doors and automatic videotape surveillance equipment for all patrol cars. His next big goal will be to persuade the city’s elected officials and voters that more bonds are needed to pay for added police facilities.

* Politics: Mastering politics is an important aspect of the job for any successful chief. So far, Parks enjoys strong support among City Council members, the mayor, the Police Commission and other movers and shakers. “He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing,” Mayor Richard Riordan said last week. “He’s a strong leader who has brought pride back to the department.”

But there are some concerns. One might be best described as the need for the police chief to be more tolerant and patient with city officials and others who disagree with him.

On another front, Parks has referred to the leadership of the Los Angeles Police Protective League as “nine tired old men” who are “dated and stuck in a time warp. Really they are an embarrassment.” Union leaders say they have never been so insulted, but a war of words is common between chiefs and the union. It’s difficult at this point to classify this as anything out of the ordinary.

* Reforms: Parks promised last week that there would be a report released Wednesday outlining the Christopher Commission reforms implemented under his watch and those that remain to be done. That’s good to hear since the chief seldom seems to directly mention the Christopher Commission or its important ideas for an LAPD that is more responsive to community concerns.

Internally, Parks has terminated a record number of officers during his first year as chief, indicating a strong commitment to weeding out problem officers--a key Christopher Commission concern. But he has said that the Police Commission’s inspector general, Katherine Mader, won’t have much to do if he is running the department properly. That’s not so. A strong inspector general was a key recommendation of the Christopher Commission. True reform depends on more than a police chief who is doing his job. It also requires an I.G. who is up to a task that will never be popular within the LAPD: giving scrutiny and offering solutions to contentious problems, such as tracking the problem officers who give the department a bad name.

Parks is a forceful leader; by definition that means he will rub some people the wrong way. The job is not for the politically faint of heart. He has a vision, he believes in it and knows how to make it happen. Good. But now, after a year as police chief, Parks needs to remember that, as one insider puts it, even a strong leader “has to turn around and look back occasionally to make sure everyone is keeping up, or still following.”