Council Seeks Open Session With Parks on Rampart

Under pressure to deal with the city’s burgeoning police scandal in open session, members of the Los Angeles City Council on Friday asked Police Chief Bernard C. Parks to return next week to make a public presentation on the Rampart corruption situation.

The action came two days after the council held a closed-door meeting at which lawmakers were told that the city could be forced to spend up to $125 million to settle lawsuits stemming from unlawful actions of Rampart officers.

“Many of us felt that what took place in closed session was worthy of public conversation,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, one of four council members who introduced a motion asking Parks to return. They expect the motion to be approved next week.

“It is very important for us, in order to gain the confidence of the public, to have open, public sessions about everything we are doing,” Feuer said.

According to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Chief Deputy City Atty. Tim McOsker told council members during the closed session Wednesday to expect more than 120 Rampart-related lawsuits. He estimated the total payouts in those suits at $75 million to $125 million.

Those figures were based on the number of potential claims and the city attorney’s experience of average payouts in such cases.

In recent weeks there has been much talk in law enforcement circles about the costs and ramifications of the Rampart scandal, which includes allegations of illegal shootings, beatings, perjury, false arrests and witness intimidation.

Late last year, the district attorney’s office gave the public defender’s office a list of 3,000 cases in which officers involved in the Rampart scandal had been subpoenaed to testify.

To keep up with the volume of cases--which now include more than 20 lawsuits and claims--McOsker on Friday asked the council to let him hire six more attorneys, five legal secretaries, two paralegals and several clerks.

McOsker said in a letter to the council that it would cost an additional $3 million to hire outside attorneys to help with the cases.

Council members--who introduced the motion Friday to summon Parks back to their chambers--said they want to begin restoring public trust by discussing the matter in open session.

“This is the public’s business,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas. “It seems that the only way to build public confidence is to conduct the matter in the full light of day.”

Councilman Joel Wachs said Park’s public briefing “should be the first of many reports. I would like to see a comprehensive, candid report to the public.”

On Wednesday, Parks for the first time told the council in closed session that rapid expansion of the police force--a central goal of Mayor Richard Riordan’s administration--may have contributed to the problems at Rampart, sources said.

In an effort to meet hiring goals, young and inexperienced officers were hired in a short period, taxing the department’s efforts to train them and provide them--and other members of the force--with adequate supervision, according to sources. As a result, it became even more difficult for supervisors to carry out important quality checks, they said.

Although Parks has since issued a public statement saying he did not link the rapid expansion to the scandal, several council sources said they came away from the closed session with the clear impression that the two were connected.

“The message was loud and clear,” said one source.

For example, while Rampart was bursting with new recruits, members of the station’s anti-gang unit--in which the wrongdoing is alleged to have occurred--were moved to an off-site location where they were able to operate with less supervision, another source said.

Other officials, however, said they believed Parks was linking Rampart’s woes to another expansion effort in the late 1980s.

“The overall point applies,” said one official. “If you are going to rush to hire cops, you are going to blow it.”