New Curbs on Badges Weighed

The City Council will consider an ordinance today that would strip dozens of Los Angeles commissioners of the authority to carry city badges in response to incidents in which the police-like shields were misused.

The ordinance--drafted after reports of city commissioners allegedly flashing the gold shields to get special favors--would remove the authority of commissioners to buy the badges and put City Clerk Mike Carey in charge of issuing and keeping track of the shields.

Under the new law, proposed by City Council President John Ferraro, commissioners would need City Council approval to obtain a badge.

“Shield-type badges are symbols of authority and hold a potential for abuse,” Ferraro said Monday. “I believe it is appropriate to take these steps to ensure that badges are issued appropriately.”

Council members, whose own ability to carry badges would not be affected, said an untrained eye would have difficulty distinguishing between city commission badges and those carried by LAPD officers.

Councilman Mike Feuer, who seconded the motion, said he is intent on reducing the number of badges in use. Each commissioner will have to argue his or her case to the council.

“The fewer badges in circulation,” he said, “the less likely people will misuse them.”

Ferraro proposed the rule changes after a series of incidents involving city commissioners and their badges, including:

* Former Police Commission President Enrique Hernandez Jr. was investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration in 1995 after allegedly using his city badge to bypass metal detectors at Los Angeles International Airport.

* Building and Safety Commission President Scott Adler resigned in 1996 after allegedly using his badge while soliciting a teenage prostitute. He pleaded no contest to a charge of soliciting a prostitute.

* Current city Airport Commissioner Leland Wong was vice president of the Police Pension Commission in 1991 when a businessman complained to the police chief that Wong allegedly flashed his city badge and said, “I’m a police commissioner and you have to do what I say,” during a physical altercation after a traffic accident involving the two. No charges were filed against Wong, who acknowledged, “It wasn’t the brightest thing to do.”

A 1996 city study found that 1,720 badges had been issued to city employees who were not police officers or firefighters, including at least 244 to commissioners, inspectors and security personnel.

The study by Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton concluded that about 90 badges were unauthorized, “with most of those badges issued to members of city commissions.”

Badges that were questioned included those used by officials of the parks, environmental affairs and social service departments.

Last year, the council’s rules and elections committee recommended overhauling the system, concluding that separate picture identification cards, which are also issued to commissioners, should be sufficient.

Ferraro said the council should give badges only to commissioners involved in law enforcement, including the police and fire commissions.

Given the power associated with the badges, he added, “The badge-holder thus can wield great power and also has a great responsibility to not abuse the power.”

For Jennie Lechtenberg, a Catholic nun who is president of the city Human Relations Commission, the loss of her badge is no hardship.

“I have never used it,” she said of the badge she received when she joined the city panel six years ago. “It’s a prestige thing, I guess, for some people, but it really doesn’t serve any real purpose.”

Human Relations Commissioner Ivan Houston said he carries his badge everywhere, but also does not recall ever using it. The panel’s primary role is to promote harmony between the city’s diverse religious and ethnic groups.

“I don’t think it would be any hardship to lose it, but it’s nice to have,” Houston said.

Harbor and planning commissioners also get the badges.

“I suppose the point of it is planning commissioners are like inspectors,” said Commissioner Robert Scott of Woodland Hills, who carries a badge. “We have the right to go on private property, so there could be the argument that a badge might be necessary.”

Even as a city councilman, Feuer said, he had to use his badge only once, and that was to gain access to the command post during the North Hollywood shootout.

Aside from fire and police commissioners, who sometimes might have to cross crime scene tape, most commissioners will never have a situation where the badge is essential, Feuer said.

“There are very few times when badges are necessary,” he said.