Police Panel Reinstates Senior Lead Officers

Under mounting public and political pressure, the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday agreed to reinstate the LAPD’s popular senior lead officer program, placing dozens of officers back in direct contact with neighborhood groups throughout the city.

Calling the program an important step in providing access and accountability to the community, the commission ordered Chief Bernard C. Parks to return in two weeks with details on how he will restore the neighborhood liaisons.

Parks dismantled the program in 1999, arguing that he wanted all officers, not just a select few, to work closely with community groups to solve problems.

Local activists and council members complained, however, that Parks’ new program was not working. Their concerns were validated on Tuesday by the Police Commission’s Independent Review Panel, which is set to release a study later this month on the Rampart scandal and other departmental problems.

In a preview of that report, attorney Maurice Leiter told the commissioners that officers now assigned to the community duty spend most of their time chasing radio calls, and their contact with the public is relegated to “available time.”

“The best thing for the community is to restore the senior leads,” said Leiter, who served as the panel’s co-chairman.

The commissioners--voting unanimously--agreed that they needed to act.

“This is an important step in fostering cooperation between the community and the Police Department,” said Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff. “It was also clear that there were a number of citizens who felt the present program was not working.”

Commissioner Dean Hansell, who introduced the motion calling for the redeployment of the officers, said Parks’ decision to cancel the program in 1999 generated more public outcry than “any other issue, including Rampart.”

Arguing that his new program should be given a chance to work, Parks for more than a year resisted numerous calls from activists and city officials to bring back the senior lead officers. That changed last week, however, when Mayor Richard Riordan announced that he supported reestablishing the program and, therefore, Parks would too.

While the commission still needs to work out the plan’s details, it envisions redeploying 84 officers immediately and another 84 next year.

The commission also proposed making a number of “enhancements” to the efforts. Those include providing officers with special training to improve their ability to solve problems, plan strategies and deal effectively with the mentally disabled.

The officers will be assigned to work as liaisons to Neighborhood Watch groups, homeowners associations and business leaders, with a goal of addressing such crimes as graffiti and drug dealing.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who attended the commission meeting on Tuesday, said she wants to make sure that the senior lead officers are effectively deployed. She urged the commission to study the department’s entire community-based policing effort.

“Right now we have bits and pieces and starts of a disconnected program,” she said.

Despite her concerns, Chick said she was pleased that the commission moved to restore the senior leads, calling it an “important first step.”

“I’m just sorry it took so long,” Chick said.