Restraint Was Part of LAPD Plan at Staples

Two weeks before the destructive melee that erupted after the Lakers won the NBA championship, top Los Angeles Police Department brass issued a “victory operation plan” calling for a restrained police response to any outbursts by fans.

Officers were told they should “minimize enforcement action” after establishing contact with the crowd and attempting to persuade demonstrators to follow police orders.

“The basic tactics for handling overzealous celebrations is obtaining voluntary compliance with police directives,” LAPD Cmdr. Mark Leap wrote in his directive to subordinate commanders, which was obtained by The Times on Friday. “Should it become necessary to cite for minor infractions or vehicle code violations, those cited should be temporarily isolated before being cited and released to keep from arousing the hostility of the crowd.”

The plan listed five objectives in order of their priority. First came “restore and maintain order,” followed by “protect life,” “protect vital facilities,” “arrest violators,” and, finally, “protect property.”

While some criticized the Los Angeles Police Department’s handling of the unruly crowd outside Staples Center on Monday night, several city officials praised the low-key response by the hundreds of officers deployed.

Despite the scores of fans who participated in an orgy of vandalism, police made only 11 arrests outside Staples Center after the game. For the most part, officers simply watched as young men burned two LAPD patrol cars, damaged at least 74 other vehicles at nearby auto dealerships, tore branches from trees, hurled road construction barricades through store windows and set fire to trash cans.

About a dozen people were injured in the melee, none of them seriously.

As Mayor Richard Riordan, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and City Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg--a frequent critic of the LAPD--all noted, Monday’s violence paled in comparison with deadly riots that have erupted in other cities that won major sports championships.

Parks said his officers accomplished their major goal: ensuring that no one was killed or seriously injured.

On the other hand, Ted Hunt, president of the police union, said the plan was fine, but officers were held back too much by commanders in the field.

“There should have been a stronger response,” Hunt said. “The plan’s first priority was to maintain order, because without that, anything can happen. You saw the television footage. Did they maintain order? Ask the auto dealers about that.”

Leap, who wrote the victory operations plan--stamped “confidential”--was not available to comment on it Friday. Neither was Deputy Chief J.I. Davis, who approved the plan. Cmdr. David Kalish, an LAPD spokesman, said the department does not comment on its operations plans.

Riordan, who has ordered an investigation of the Lakers melee, stressed that it was a spontaneous event, far different from the “very disciplined, well-handled, businesslike” Democratic National Convention to be held at Staples in August.

“The controlled areas around Staples [during the convention] will be much larger,” the mayor said. “Anybody who wants to get into those controlled areas will have to have credentials.”

The postgame disruption may have been spontaneous, but police saw it coming.

In laying out the plan June 5, Leap noted that “the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team is a viable contender for winning the National Basketball Assn. championship.”

Leap said officers needed to be prepared for “any celebrations / civil disturbance that may occur the day or evening the championship is decided.”

That day or evening could occur as early as June 11, or as late as June 21, Leap said. As things turned out, the decisive sixth game, in which the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers 116 to 111, took place June 19.

Leap noted that the Lakers had decided to show the decisive games on a big television screen outside the arena.

“This certainly will draw a large number of celebrants,” Leap wrote.

Estimates vary, but some say as many as 6,000 people showed up. While some described what followed as a riot, other dismissed it as little more than a series of ill-advised pranks that got out of hand.

If they were pranks, they were expensive pranks.

Ashod Mooradian, executive director of a business association that encompasses the Staples Center area, said businesses there suffered $500,000 to $750,000 damage.