A Keener Eye on the Cops

Is the city’s Police Commission finally demonstrating the power and authority needed to make a solid assessment of the Los Angeles police scandal and determine the changes that the LAPD must make? Is a truly outside panel needed at this crucial stage? The jury is still out on those questions, but the commission has done itself and the city a service by appointing an impressive volunteer group of prominent ex-prosecutors and investigators.

The Rampart Independent Review Panel has been assigned to cast a critical eye on every aspect of the LAPD and on the Police Commission as well. The 75-year-old commission was established to act as a board of directors with authority over the chief of police and the power to set overall policy for the department. For most of its years it fell short of expectations.

The 1991 Christopher Commission report on police reforms declared the commission’s authority “illusory.” Real “power and authority effectively resides in the Police Chief,” the report said, causing commissions over the years to deal with L.A. police chiefs “through strategies ranging from outright confrontation to simple acquiescence or even appeasement.”

Recent Police Commissions reinforced that image of docility, declaring for instance in 1998 that the LAPD had accomplished most of the Christopher reforms, a position that Chief Bernard C. Parks still claims. Small wonder that 75% of those questioned in a recent Times poll wanted an independent panel to handle the investigation of the LAPD.

The commission has now assembled a team that includes the prosecutor who investigated President Clinton’s campaign finance scandals and the supervisor of a United Nations war crimes tribunal.

“The citizens of Los Angeles have rightly asked for an independent body to investigate corruption within the Police Department,” Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff said Wednesday. “This . . . is that panel. . . . And it will owe its allegiance to the people of Los Angeles only.”

But questions already have been raised about whether the panel has enough independence and diversity. Adding the perspectives of more women and minorities should surely be accomplished. Some have also noted that the relatively anonymous Police Commission didn’t select someone with the presence and stature of Warren Christopher, a former U.S. secretary of State who headed the 1991 panel. However, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors didn’t pick a superstar in 1991 in tapping James G. Kolts, a former Superior Court judge, as special counsel to investigate alleged use of excessive force by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies. Arguably, the Kolts Commission went a vital step further than the Christopher Commission, mandating regular reports by a special counsel to keep the supervisors informed on whether the Kolts reforms were being observed.

Now, in the midst of the Rampart scandals, the need for the Police Commission to step up in a very public way has never been more important. Each week brings new revelations of alleged police misconduct. The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office is expected to file criminal corruption charges next week against two LAPD officers.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Chief Parks are suitably supportive of the new review panel, at least for now. For its part, the panel insists that it will not tolerate interference. That’s the kind of talk the city needs to hear, and the more of it that comes from the Police Commission the better.