LAPD Passed Over as Reform Model

Looking around the state for police reform and management role models, state Controller Kathleen Connell found examples in San Diego, San Francisco and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. But she didn’t find one in the Los Angeles Police Department, which she would oversee if she were elected the next mayor of Los Angeles.

That was the subtext of a half-day conference sponsored Tuesday by Connell, who invited representatives from other law enforcement agencies, but not the LAPD, to offer advice on how to improve public safety and morale in California’s police departments.

Connell has been the harshest critic of both the Los Angeles Police Department and its city overseers among the six candidates who have declared their candidacies for mayor. On Tuesday, she depicted herself as the supporter of oppressed street officers.

“I think it is fair to assume the vast majority of officers are doing their jobs,” Connell told the gathering of about 60 at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. “What they are lacking is adequate supervision in the field and the kind of support system they need to be effective.”

Connell said that such management problems, evident throughout the country, “are more glaring in Los Angeles, whether it is through the Rampart situation or the killing of the actor [Anthony Dwain Lee].”

Connell used the gathering--one of her quarterly forums that cover a variety of issues--in an attempt to show that she is more than just a fiscal watchdog for the state, but an attentive public servant, who is paying close attention to the police issue as the April 10 mayoral primary election draws closer.

It remains to be seen whether the city’s voters are as “enraged” about police scandals and management as Connell says they are and whether they believe that she has the answers to the problems facing the LAPD.

Connell said she is not prepared yet to commit to specific reform proposals, although she expressed an interest in some of the ideas presented at her conference, such as the flextime schedules employed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department but not yet adopted by the LAPD.

Connell attempted to dramatize the magnitude of the problem facing Los Angeles even as the conference participants gathered for the morning session. She told a small circle of police officers that she believes the city’s liability in the Rampart Division scandal and other police cases has been underestimated and could hit $1 billion.

That estimate is many times more than that of any city official. City Atty. James K. Hahn, also a candidate for mayor, has previously said Rampart-related payouts may amount to $125 million, while not projecting a figure for other police cases.

Later, Connell clarified that her $1-billion estimate was for all excessive-force cases and the cost of implementing a federal consent decree, which will require greater training and monitoring of officers. Finally, a staff member added that Connell was referring to the costs, through history, that Los Angeles may have paid to settle its police cases.

In any event, two City Council members, told about the comments, recommended caution in discussing settlements related to the Police Department.

“Anybody can pluck a number out of the air, but I don’t know if there is anything substantiating it,” said Cindy Miscikowski “We have to have real numbers to work through in terms of budgeting.”

Councilman Michael Feuer said inflated estimates could embolden plaintiffs’ attorneys.

But Connell’s office insisted that the city is underestimating its liability. Huge payments will make it even more important to have a tough, fiscal manager like her running the city, Connell said.

“It’s a fundamental hit on the balance sheet of the city of Los Angeles and a fundamental challenge to the city’s Police Department,” Connell said. “It will be necessary to make significant changes in the way we operate our city government in order to find the money to pay these liabilities. That is why I think the voters are so enraged.”

The candidate said the performance audits that she plans to conduct of all the city’s major departments, if she becomes mayor, will help find the money needed to pay for legal settlements and keep the city running.

Connell said she would look into suggestions from panel members to find ways to help police officers pay for their homes, perhaps through low-interest loans. And she pledged to try to increase grants from a state fund she oversees that already doles out $150 million to police departments for special programs.

She commended Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, a panel participant, for using flexible work schedules and other inducements to improve hiring in his department.

Baca said he admires Connell, but plans to support Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor. Baca said the former state Assembly speaker is a proven leader whose experience in the Legislature will help him bring more funding to local law enforcement agencies. He said he particularly appreciated Villaraigosa’s support for a $96-million expenditure to build a new crime lab for the county.