Perez Won’t Be Reappointed to Police Panel

Los Angeles Police Commission President Edith R. Perez will not be reappointed to another five-year term on the panel, and aides to Mayor Richard Riordan are searching for her replacement, officials confirmed Tuesday.

Saying “it’s time to hand the baton off to someone else,” Kelly Martin, the mayor’s chief of staff, said Riordan would not reappoint Perez when her term expires June 30.

Martin praised Perez for her stewardship of one of the city’s most important and high-profile commissions, adding that Perez’s departure was by mutual agreement.

Sources close to the commission and the mayor, however, say that Perez made several embarrassing public missteps as president that put her in disfavor with the mayor’s top advisors.

Perez did not return calls seeking comment.

Although Perez has not publicly discussed her impending departure, her fellow commissioners said they were not surprised that she is leaving the panel. Several prominent city officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Perez’s strained relationship with the mayor’s office was no secret.

Perez, a real estate finance lawyer and partner in the law firm of Latham & Watkins, has been a key member of the panel throughout her term. She helped build the case required to oust former Chief Willie L. Williams and participated in the selection of current Chief Bernard C. Parks.

She has pressed for a number of police reforms and sought to improve community policing. Most notably, Perez, the only woman and Latino on the board, was instrumental in establishing a new language policy aimed at improving the LAPD’s contacts with people who speak little or no English.

However, her past two years as the board’s president have been marred by controversy and questions about the quality of the commission’s oversight of the department.

Critics have alleged that Perez is so closely aligned with Parks that the relationship has undermined her ability to act as the chief’s civilian boss.

A number of city and community leaders, including officials within the mayor’s office, were critical of Perez’s involvement in the resignation of the board’s first inspector general. Specifically, memos signed by Perez appeared to undercut the power and authority of the inspector general with whom she was feuding.

At one point, it was discovered that Perez sent anonymous mailings to a number of community activists, which many recipients construed as an attempt to bolster the commission’s image and disparage then-Inspector General Katherine Mader.

Some activists were also concerned about Perez’s repeated pronouncements that the LAPD was beyond the recommendations proposed in the landmark Christopher Commission report, which examined the LAPD after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King.

The commission, under Perez, has made little public effort to verify the department’s claim that more than 80% of the recommendations in that report have been satisfied.

Despite a demanding law practice, Perez took her commitment to the board seriously. She spent numerous hours meeting with police officials on departmental matters. Since her appointment in 1995, Perez has participated on a number of committees and task forces addressing facilities planning, curfews, discrimination and budgets.

Whenever an officer was mortally wounded, she drove to the scene regardless of the hour. At the hospital, during those tragic events, Perez would try to comfort officers and family members.

Recently, Perez announced that she has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen to serve on a part-time civilian committee called the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.

Martin said she met with Perez last month to discuss the mayor’s plans for the Police Commission. Perez agreed it was time to leave and was looking forward to her new federal post.

With Perez leaving, the board will have to select a new president. Although the post does not have any additional powers, the president is generally recognized as the leader and representative for the civilian body, which sets and oversees policy matters for the LAPD.

The search for Perez’s replacement could continue well into the summer, Martin said. She added that Perez will continue to serve on the commission until a replacement is found.

“We’re looking through many, many, many resumes, but there’s not a short list yet,” she said.