Legal Staff Gets 16 New Jobs for Rampart Suits

Expecting an onslaught of Rampart-related lawsuits, the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to give the city attorney’s office 16 new positions, including six more lawyers.

The new staff members--who are expected to be hired as early as next week--will join the city attorney’s Police Division, bringing the number of attorneys in the unit to 39.

“Some of what these attorneys are going to do is to fashion settlement agreements with parties that were obviously wronged,” said Councilman Mike Feuer, who heads the council’s Budget and Finance Committee. In other cases, he said, the lawsuits “may turn out to be frivolous.”

So far, 32 lawsuits and claims have been filed by people alleging that they have been victimized by the officers connected to the ongoing LAPD corruption scandal.

Mike Qualls, a spokesman with the city attorney’s office, estimated that the city could be facing between 120 and 180 legal actions.

The new positions are expected to cost the city $600,000 over the next four months, according to a report presented to the council.

Shortly before the council increased the size of his office, City Atty. James K. Hahn went in front of the Police Commission to pledge his support for, and assistance to, commissioners as they “embark on the most important piece of work in the history of the Los Angeles Police Department.”

Hahn was referring to the commission’s approval of a comprehensive proposal to analyze the LAPD’s 362-page report on the corruption scandal, as well as the panel’s plan to go beyond the department report in a search for reforms to guard against repetition.

“Whether civilian oversight of the LAPD will ever be credible and whether the LAPD can be restored to its former stature as a model law enforcement agency rests on how carefully and effectively you and your staff conduct this review,” Hahn said.

The commission’s plan, which was drafted by Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash and Commission Executive Director Joseph A. Gunn, calls for consideration of a top-to-bottom overhaul of the LAPD. The commission said it will consider such controversial measures as placing civilians in charge of internal affairs and investigations of officer-involved shootings. As part of its review, the commission said it should also weigh giving civilians a role in the administration of departmental discipline, now the exclusive responsibility of the police chief.

The commission said it will look at other cities across the nation to determine what model of civilian oversight might be best for Los Angeles.

Such proposals, even if they are simply under discussion, could create friction between the commission and its strong-willed chief, Bernard C. Parks, who says the scandal shows that his office needs more power to run the department, not less.

In addition to analyzing the specifics of what went wrong at Rampart, the commission will examine seven other broad areas: officer-involved shootings and use of force; the disciplinary system; risk management and accountability; hiring, personnel and training; operations; civilian oversight; and ethics, culture and communications. The commission already has lined up more than a half dozen prominent people from the private sector to assist in the review.

Commission President Gerald Chaleff said the panel’s blueprint for addressing the scandal demonstrates its commitment to its role as the civilian watchdog of the LAPD.

“It has been somewhat frustrating to remain silent throughout the last few weeks and months, when there’s been a constant [call] for an independent review of the Board of Inquiry and the Police Department, when I knew at all times that that’s the job of the Los Angeles Police Commission,” said Chaleff, who has been criticized by some police reformers for reacting too slowly to address the corruption.

“I think today’s report and the adoption of this report and the future actions of the Police Commission will show that independent civilian oversight has always been present in Los Angeles, and that’s the Los Angeles Police Commission,” he said.

Even with the commission’s plan in place, some activists are not satisfied and still believe that an independent, blue-ribbon civilian commission should be appointed to investigate the LAPD corruption.

“The police commission is part of the department and part of the problem,” said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “It can no more be given the sole responsibility for examining itself than could Chief Parks.”

Times staff writer Scott Glover contributed to this story.