LAPD Community Advisors Angered by Changes to Boards

Out of the ashes of the 1992 riots, the Christopher Commission called for the creation of community police advisory boards as one salve to heal community-police relations.

At the time, the boards were expected to serve as a vital tool for then-Chief Willie L. Williams to overhaul the Los Angeles Police Department and move it toward community-based policing.

But a revision of the boards’ structure and responsibilities approved by LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks last month has angered several advisory board members, who feel their roles are diminished.

“It changed the philosophy of the community police advisory boards, and that is the partnership of problem-solving,” said Dorothy Fuller, a member and former co-chairwoman of the Southwest board since it was formed in 1993.

“The Police Department maintains that the partnership is still there, but in my view it’s ‘Bring me your problems and we’ll decide what the solutions are and we’ll tell you,’ ” said Fuller. “That’s not my idea of a partnership in problem-solving; that’s a messenger service.”

For a year, the department, the Police Commission staff and board members have labored to resolve disagreements over the function of the city’s 18 boards.

Under the new rules, the LAPD division captain, who continues to serve as co-chairman of the advisory commission, has been given authority to hire and fire the civilian co-chair. In addition, while the old order guidelines stressed community-police problem-solving “to analyze problems, recommend solutions and review the progress or results,” the new order, by omission, downplays that dynamic.

Critics of the changes see them as further erosion of the spirit of community policing, much like last year’s demise of the senior lead officers. But the LAPD and Police Commission contend that the new order clarifies the boards’ roles and won’t dilute their independence.

LAPD Capt. Michel Moore, who worked on the revision, said the community panels will continue to exercise the same level of power to advise and influence.

In the event that a board were to become “dysfunctional,” Moore said, it is important for the captain to be clearly responsible for the advisory board co-chair and all its members.

“If they don’t believe we will work in partnership with them, the challenge is for them to stay with us and hold us accountable that we take their input,” Moore said. “They may not like what we do with it, but they need to stay with the debate. Stay with the dialogue.”

Eric Rueveni, co-chairman of the North Hollywood police advisory board, remains skeptical. Under the old order, the choice of advisory board civilian co-chair was generally decided by the board members. If captains make the call, the boards will “look like booster groups and it takes away their independence,” Rueveni said.

Rueveni and Fuller, who served on a four-person working group chosen by their peers to help develop the new order, said some of the group’s key points were overruled by the LAPD and commission.

Weakening the community panels is a symptom of the overall demise of community policing, said another member of the working group, Mary Earl, co-chairwoman of the West Los Angeles advisory board.

“If there were ever a time that the Police Department could benefit from an active, vibrant community policing activity with a partnership, now is the time,” Earl said. “It is most sad that those things aren’t in place and the city is suffering terribly as a result of Rampart.”

Police Commission leaders defended the new approach, much as they last week defied the City Council, which had called for a return of senior lead officers, another element of community policing.

“Some of [the working group’s] concerns were more about form than substance,” said T. Warren Jackson, vice president of the Police Commission. “I can’t agree with all their concerns, that [the new order] fundamentally changes their role.’

Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff said he recognizes that several advisory board members oppose the new order. He said it would have been difficult to agree to all their requests.

Last summer, Police Commission staff decided the boards needed to be strengthened and suggested giving them powers to veto some decisions by police captains and to approve new members with a majority vote.

But in October, the LAPD announced its strong opposition. Chief Parks said he had “significant differences” with the commission about the future direction of the advisory boards.

Several advisory board members said they are unsure if they can continue the work under Parks’ new order.

Rueveni said his board worked with the community and police to combat narcotics sales and prostitution on Magnolia Boulevard in North Hollywood, asking for and receiving an LAPD bike detail and contacting businesses to clean up the streets. He said crime dropped by more than half, and the project was cited by U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno at a meeting in Los Angeles.

“It’s very disappointing for those of us from around the city who have invested thousands of hours to make a difference,” he said.

“The idea of, ‘Here are some problems; call me when you have solutions,’ I’m not sure if I’m interested in that,” said Fuller. “You can do that by e-mail or fax.”