Riordan, Parks Give In on LAPD Consent Decree

Mayor Richard Riordan and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks said late Friday that they are willing to compromise to reach a speedy resolution on reforming the LAPD, after it became clear that the Los Angeles City Council finally had the votes needed to approve a consent decree on the issue with the U.S. Department of Justice.

In a letter to the City Council late Friday, Riordan said he would no longer oppose the legally binding agreement with the Justice Department, as long as certain provisions were included underscoring the city’s ability to retain local control of its police force.

He also said he would support the collection of data to show that the city is “committed to its prohibition against racial profiling” in the Police Department.

“We believe that reform of the Los Angeles Police Department must move forward,” Riordan wrote in a joint letter with City Council President John Ferraro and Councilman Alex Padilla. “A lingering and acrimonious lawsuit between the [Department of Justice] and the city is not in the best interest of Los Angeles or the LAPD,” the three said. Their letter described Parks as “supportive” of their conclusions.

Friday evening, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Bill Lann Lee, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, responded positively to the mayor’s overture. “We are pleased with these developments,” Lee said, “and we look forward to continuing to work expeditiously toward a final agreement.”

The mayor and the chief’s decision to compromise came just hours after a meeting with Ferraro and Padilla, who had previously been undecided on the consent decree. The balance of the 15-member council appeared to be divided 9 to 4 in favor the decree--one vote short of the 10 required to override the mayoral veto that had been anticipated until Riordan’s concession Friday.

“It would be too divisive for the city and too distracting for the Police Department to fight this,” said Deputy Mayor Kelly Martin, Riordan’s chief of staff.

Ferraro said he too was seeking a compromise to head off a “divisive struggle between the council and the mayor in the event of a veto.”

“I believe the issues addressed in our letter to the City Council will offer the opportunity for the city negotiating team to reach a final agreement that will meet the goal of police reform while avoiding a federal takeover of the LAPD,” said Ferraro, who is on leave undergoing treatment for cancer.

The Justice Department’s Lee urged the City Council on Wednesday to “commit unequivocally to implement these real, long-lasting reforms” to change how the Police Department operates.

Lee told city lawmakers that the federal government insists on a binding, legal agreement in the form of a consent decree to ensure that meaningful and permanent police reforms finally occur. Without such a document, Lee said, the Justice Department was willing to file a “pattern or practice” lawsuit alleging widespread civil rights abuses by Los Angeles police officers.

The federal authorities are also asking that an outside monitor be appointed to oversee a lengthy list of reforms.

With Ferraro and Padilla considered the swing votes, Padilla said he and the council president decided to set up a meeting with the mayor and the chief on Friday to make their positions known. The four met over lunch at Ferraro’s house.

“I do think it would be appropriate for the city to enter into a legally binding agreement with the Department of Justice which is enforceable in court,” Padilla said, adding that the issue is “probably the toughest vote and the toughest decision in the city’s history.”

LAPD Deputy Chief David Kalish said the department had some concerns about a decree, but hopes that “the details can still be worked out in a way to satisfy everyone.”

“I think there is some disappointment on some of the issues, but we will follow the direction that is given to us,” Kalish said.

In Riordan’s letter to the council, the mayor specified a number of areas that he wants addressed.

At the top of the list is making sure that the federal monitor acts as an auditor and not as a “special prosecutor” or a “special master” with an unlimited budget.

The Department of Justice “alone, and not the monitor, should make the determination to seek any enforcement action,” Riordan wrote. “The selection process for the monitor must ensure that the person selected as the monitor is both qualified and evenhanded.”

Other issues include:

* Limiting the amount of paperwork officers must compile to comply with the order.

* Adopting a “realistic” schedule for implementing the reforms.

* Allowing for flexibility in developing and implementing a computer system to track complaints against police officers.

* Allowing the agreement to “terminate automatically” after a set period unless the Department of Justice tells the city that it is seeking an extension.

Padilla said that if the issue of the monitor is resolved, he will have no problem supporting the agreement.

“A monitor would be more of an auditor and an overseer,” he said. “I would definitely not support the federal government or a representative thereof to come in and run the Police Department on a day-to-day basis. That would not be appropriate.”

And if the monitor detects a breach of the agreement, Padilla said, city officials should be given a chance to resolve it first, “as opposed to going immediately to court every single time.”

“It’s far too important an issue to have a divided leadership over,” Padilla said. “I hope what I’m putting forward today are elements of an agreement that everybody can come together on.”

City Atty. James K. Hahn said he believes that a deal can be struck with the federal officials.

“I think we are going to able to reach resolution of this case,” said Hahn, who has urged the council to approve the consent decree. “I’m very pleased with this letter. I think it provides us with a framework to achieve what all of us have been advocating. Now we can move forward.”

Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff agreed.

“We can all move ahead together to achieve meaningful reform without a long, drawn out court battle that would have been extremely detrimental to the department,” Chaleff said.

Some of the provisions of the proposed consent decree include: establishing strict guidelines for using confidential informants; “an unprecedented degree of community outreach, open meetings and public information”; implementing a computerized system to track problem officers; holding the police chief more accountable for disciplinary decisions; and tightening control of anti-gang units.

Federal officials have spent more than four years investigating allegations that the department routinely employs excessive force and infringes on the rights of minorities.

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Change of Position

Reversing his position, Mayor Richard Riordan sent a letter to the City Council on Friday indicating his willingness to compromise on entering into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice on police reforms. Riordan said he would support the agreement, provided the document gives the city leeway in implementing it.