LAPD Reform Blueprint

There is one way to ensure that the Christopher Commission reforms are taken up and enforced: Make them part of the binding agreement between the federal government and Los Angeles. Key parts of the widely hailed 1991 report, which recommended changes for the Police Department after the videotaped beating of Rodney King, have not been embraced by the LAPD; those reforms should now form the basis for the department’s future path under the watchful eye of the Justice Department.

Today, representatives of Los Angeles sit down with the Justice Department to negotiate police reform in the face of a federal threat to sue the city for civil rights violations by the LAPD. City Atty. James K. Hahn, Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton, Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff and Mayor Richard Riordan’s chief of staff, Kelly Martin, will be dealing with the Justice Department from a position of damaged credibility. This is the ultimate administrative fallout from the Police Department’s Rampart scandal and the embarrassing admissions in the LAPD’s own internal inquiry report.

Fortunately, the Justice Department does not want to fight the city in court or run the LAPD. Federal civil rights chief Bill Lann Lee is also operating under a tight timetable. A new presidential administration will be taking charge after the November election, and Lee hopes to have an agreement ironed out before then. The Justice Department must strike the proper balance between appropriate oversight and needless interference.

The city’s duty: admit enough culpability for federal officials to take Los Angeles seriously and be prepared to present, soon, the list of what the city is willing to do. This is where unity is really needed. Someone needs to speak for the city as a whole. Factions and infighting would only sidetrack the process. Hahn, whose office would be charged with actually negotiating a deal with the federal government--and who, of course, is running for mayor--will have an opportunity to demonstrate forward-thinking, constructive leadership.

The City Council, which must approve any consent decree, also has a critical role. Mayor Riordan, under the new city charter, could veto such an agreement, but the council has more than enough votes to block that. The council must play its proper civic role, yet members must resist their natural tendencies to showboat. That will be a challenge for them, but they must put the city’s interests first.

The Christopher Commission urged a computer tracking system for flagging problem officers, psychological testing and remedies for other shortcomings in LAPD hiring, training and supervision. Several recommendations that would have dealt with these problems were delayed, ignored or suddenly put on the fast track only after the scandal broke.

The Police Department’s own Board of Inquiry report, which was produced just because of the Rampart disclosures, confirmed many of the Christopher Commission’s findings. So the nature and scope of the problems are clear. The Justice Department, unlike the Christopher Commission, has the tools to finally address the persistent problems and force reform. Nobody wanted it to happen this way. But after too many years of unfulfilled promises, happen this way it will.