Reach Outside for Reform

The Los Angeles Police Department’s long-awaited Board of Inquiry report on the Rampart corruption scandal is harsh and damning in its self-evaluation of the department’s failure to control its officers. The 362-page report, intended to demonstrate that the LAPD is on the road to recovery, is actually the best evidence to date that outside help is needed. The department, in effect, keeps falling off the wagon but insists it doesn’t need anyone else’s help. It does, and it gives us no pleasure to say it.

Mayor Richard Riordan and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks are both part of the problem and part of the solution. Riordan must understand that taking leadership on police issues involves much more than calling for more officers; Parks must show an openness to civilian oversight in deed as well as in word.

Today’s LAPD problems are manifest: allegations of rogue cops, doctored crime scenes, false police reports, perjured testimony, drug dealing and more. Yesterday’s LAPD troubles were equally awful: brutality, racism and violence. All have their roots in the same soil.

These problems are “in part caused by deeply embedded internal management defects--and by external structural flaws in the city’s system of civilian oversight. . . . These are issues of basic management. So, too, were the examined problem areas of recruitment, training, assignment, promotion, personnel complaints and officer discipline.”

Problems Went Unfixed

Unfortunately, that quote didn’t come from the new LAPD Board of Inquiry report. It is from the July 1991 Christopher Commission report. The chilling key problem pointed out by both the 1991 report and the 2000 Board of Inquiry report: the abuse of power, in spite of layers of management, by an unaccountable LAPD. One example from the Board of Inquiry report cited a former Rampart anti-gang unit supervisor whose open disdain for higher-ups actually intimidated some command officers and “helped establish a climate in which some officers felt safe bending or ignoring the rules.”

In his seven years in office, Mayor Riordan has been focused on growing the force, not fixing it. And to make matters worse, many of the same obstacles that hampered the progress of true police reform almost 10 years ago still exist today. The Christopher Commission, for example, was critical of the LAPD’s specialized units. They were too far removed from the regular chains of command and encouraged a rogue culture. Now, the Board of Inquiry report refers to the so-called “Rampart Way” of officers who felt that LAPD rules did not apply to them.

Chief Parks deserves credit for a report that aggressively examined the specifics of what is known of the Rampart scandal and what went wrong. What we need to know now is whether there’s more and broader corruption. Given its history, is it reasonable to think that the department can or would take a corruption self-investigation as far as it may lead--even if it leads far beyond just a few bad cops? Can we reasonably expect a department that didn’t fully implement the Christopher reforms, even in the wake of the 1992 riots, to embrace reform now?

There have been some major reform accomplishments, such as holding police chiefs to no more than two five-year terms. The city’s Police Commission has its own independent staff and an inspector general. But on a more fundamental level, how much has changed?

Two weeks ago, the City Council offered a “blank check” to the civilian Police Commission and Inspector General Jeffrey Eglash for whatever resources it needed to review the LAPD’s internal report. But Mayor Riordan’s office has reminded the council that the commission cannot make unilateral requests for new money to the council; such requests must go through the mayor’s office. If Riordan isn’t fully on board with what the commission thinks it needs, the blank check is meaningless. The mayor’s Wednesday press conference--with angry council members outside banging on the doors to get in--doesn’t inspire hope for cohesive and focused political leadership on police reform.

The Times has been strongly supportive of stronger civilian oversight via the citizen Police Commission and a fully empowered inspector general. But when it’s difficult for the commission to muster a 3-2 vote to overrule the chief and declare that the fatal shooting of a frail, mentally ill homeless woman carrying a screwdriver was not in policy, and when the inspector general’s office, even with stronger city charter backing, has to hope it will get the resources it needs, it’s evident that something isn’t working.

Checks and Balances

The Board of Inquiry report is full of examples that demonstrate that. The internal checks and balances intended to make police power accountable, as envisioned by the Christopher Commission and endorsed by the voters, are not functioning well. The political leadership required to make change and maintain it--this includes the City Council--has relaxed and moved on to newer, hotter issues. Add to that a district attorney reluctant to challenge local police authority and anxious to avoid political problems. Seen in that context, the Rampart corruption scandal was a disaster waiting to happen.

Who can help? The FBI has been called in by Chief Parks. That seemed a good idea until the bureau’s appearance of impartiality was tainted by a Times report this week that alleged that FBI agents colluded with Rampart officers and federal immigration officials to deport immigrants detained by the police, a clear violation of city policy. Los Angeles must be reassured that something will be different this time around in finally, truly reforming the LAPD. The Board of Inquiry report, in its thoroughness on the specifics known so far, makes the case for an independent investigation that is unbowed, unbossed and unafraid to go up against the historically powerful LAPD resistance to effective civilian oversight.