LAPD Headed in Right Direction, Parks Says

Seven years after the Christopher Commission proposed sweeping reforms of the Los Angeles Police Department, Chief Bernard C. Parks declared Wednesday that the LAPD has embraced nearly all of the recommendations and has succeeded in changing a police culture that was “aloof” from the public.

Parks told his Police Commission bosses and a group of community leaders that “the time has come to advance beyond” the landmark report, which studied the department in the wake of the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King. Its conclusions, reached under the direction of future Secretary of State Warren Christopher, made it one of the most influential reform documents in modern policing.

“We will never, at least during this administration, slip back into the isolationist way of dealing with community problems at the operating level,” the chief said in a report to the civilian Police Commission.

According to his report, the LAPD has “completed or closed” 82 out of 102 Christopher Commission recommendations covering excessive force, racism and bias, community policing, training, discipline, personnel and organizational issues. Most of the remaining recommendations are expected to be implemented by the end of the year, he said.

The chief’s pronouncements--and the Police Commission’s enthusiastic agreement with them--stirred debate among community leaders who contend that the LAPD still has a way to go before it can boast of having adopted the spirit and philosophy of the Christopher Commission report.

“I’m not a real big fan of saying there are 102 recommendations and then treating them like a tick list,” said attorney Mark Epstein, who served as a deputy counsel to the Christopher Commission. “I don’t think that’s the right way to approach it. But without having seen the report, it’s hard to say whether I agree or disagree with [the chief’s assertions].”

The department and the Police Commission have kept the chief’s report confidential for several months as it was being drafted. Even the Police Commission’s own consultant on police reform matters was not privy to its findings.

“It is good to see that the LAPD continues to track its progress using the Christopher Commission report,” said attorney Merrick Bobb, who has been retained by the Police Commission. “I received the report for the first time at the commission meeting this morning and have not had an opportunity to study it.”

Two years ago, Bobb and Epstein wrote the report for the Police Commission that found the LAPD had made slow progress in implementing reforms half a decade after the Christopher Commission released its recommendations. In their report, Bobb and Epstein proposed additional reforms for the department.

Christopher was given a copy of the chief’s report only this week. A spokesman for the former secretary of state said he was out of town, but was “looking forward to receiving and reviewing” Parks’ report.

Perhaps realizing that the chief’s report might be a tough sell to some reform-minded department observers, the Police Commission is using a well-known public relations firm, which has volunteered its services.

While commissioners praised the LAPD’s progress, they also said they would continue to monitor reform matters and provide “strict oversight” of the department.

Commissioner T. Warren Jackson defended the chief’s listing of recommendations, saying such lists provide helpful road maps for gauging progress. But, he added, reforms will not be checked off and then forgotten.

By many accounts, the department has made significant changes over the years, evolving from a purely paramilitary organization to one that stresses community policing. The LAPD has seen improvements in the way it monitors complaints, interacts with the public, recruits minority officers, reviews use of force matters and looks at risk management issues.

Some critics, however, say the LAPD still needs to go further in all of those areas, particularly in tracking problem officers.

And, despite improvements, the LAPD still is plagued by internal and external complaints of sexual and racial harassment.

While there were many glowing comments Wednesday from commissioners and several community leaders about the LAPD’s transformation, there was little discussion of the substance of Parks’ report or which specific reforms he considers completed. Closed issues include those the chief considers unworkable.

Beyond the debate over whether the LAPD has satisfied most of the Christopher Commission reforms, the well-orchestrated event seemed to mark a dramatic shift in the public’s perception of the LAPD.

Many civic leaders, especially within the African American and gay communities, said they believe that Parks is more committed to weeding out and punishing wayward officers than his predecessors.

John Mack, president of the Urban League, said there is “no longer an attitude among officers in the street . . . [that] every young black face is a gangbanger.”

He credited the chief with pushing reforms through the department.

“The fact that the chief is being tough on discipline is a plus to me,” Mack said.

Other community leaders, who did not attend the Police Commission’s news conference, took a more reserved view of the department’s achievements.

“It’s important to recognize that there have been advances, but I would want to look at the report before celebrating,” Robin Toma, chair of the Police Commission’s Asian and Pacific Islander Advisory Council.

A spokesman for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund declined comment until he had reviewed the report.

Some of the unfulfilled reforms proposed in the reports are outside of the LAPD’s control, officials said, including some recommendations that require changes in the City Charter. Other “open” recommendations, such as developing “stress management” programs, are being addressed.

The 20 Christopher Commission issues that have not yet been addressed by the LAPD include: creating an “early warning” performance evaluation system to detect problem officers; amending the City Charter to give the Police Commission the power to reverse the chief’s decision to reduce a recommended penalty from a trial board, and establishing written standards for selecting and disqualifying field training officers.

“The [Christopher] Commission’s real message was that the department needed to change its culture dramatically from one which provided aloof and removed service to one which operated in a true partnership with the people it serves,” Parks wrote in his report.