Riordan Fires Police Panel Head

With less than five months left in office, Mayor Richard Riordan on Monday abruptly fired Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff, endingalong-simmeringdisputeevenasthemayorexpressed dismay over the Los Angeles Police Department’s lack of progress in a wide range of areas.

The mayor and his most important commissioner have disagreed on a number of Police Department issues. But Riordan’s action puzzled many observers. They noted that Riordan has fiercely criticized the lack of direction at the LAPD, but also granted Police Chief Bernard C. Parks significant salary increases in recent weeks.

Leaders of the city’s police union praised Chaleff’s ouster, but Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, a moderate who does not often fight with the mayor, joined with others in criticizing Riordan’s action. She called it “just wrong.”

“It’s the highest example of why we need a really strong, civilian Police Commission,” Miscikowski said. “It’s almost like the mayor did this on a whim.”

Commissioner Raquelle de la Roca--who, unlike Chaleff, has sided with Riordan on most key policing issues--will serve as acting commission president.

According to a number of participants on all sides of the move, Chaleff’s ouster grew out of a blend of personal, political and substantive disputes--and has significant implications for the Police Department and for Riordan’s legacy as mayor. Riordan campaigned on a pledge to add 3,000 officers to the police force--a promise he has not fulfilled--and he has struggled to take command of the corruption scandal that has plagued the LAPD in recent years.

For his part, Chaleff has drawn mixed reviews since he joined the commission in 1997: Some police reform advocates who cheered his appointment thought he did not use his post to full advantage; critics of reform often saw him as pressing too hard, and in the process clashing with Riordan and Parks.

The timing of the firing also raised questions Monday. It comes just as the commission is preparing to make one of its most important decisions--who to select as the outside monitor charged with ensuring implementation of reforms mandated under a federal consent decree. The mayor’s office and the LAPD leadership, according to sources, want a low-profile, out-of-town candidate to serve as monitor, while Chaleff was pushing for a strong overseer with the wherewithal to hold the LAPD accountable for making a variety of fixes.

“We seem to have a fundamental disagreement in the need for reform, the extent of reform, and the independence of the civilian oversight function,” the normally cautious Chaleff said in an unusually blunt interview Monday.

He said he will decide soon whether to appeal his firing to the City Council, which must cast 10 votes to override the mayor’s decision. Most observers do not believe Chaleff would win such a fight, but some disagree.

Some observers saw the move as an attempt by Riordan to deflect criticism of his own leadership. On a more personal level, however, Chaleff’s removal reflects the shifting dynamics within the mayor’s administration. Chaleff received his commission appointment largely as the result of his relationship with lawyer Bill Wardlaw, once Riordan’s closest and most important advisor.

For more than a year, however, Wardlaw’s influence within the administration has been diminished--a fact that critics say has been evident in some of Riordan’s political choices in recent months. Although still professionally friendly, the relationship between Wardlaw and Riordan has been seriously strained by the two men’s decisions to back opposing candidates in the mayor’s race.

That has left some Riordan appointees who owe their allegiance to Wardlaw in precarious positions. In addition to Chaleff, former Harbor Commissioner Ted Stein recently lost his post as well.

In the case of Chaleff, the commissioner first got word that his job was in jeopardy Saturday, when Riordan Chief of Staff Kelly Martin warned Chaleff that the mayor was prepared to fire him unless he resigned. Sources in whom Chaleff confided said the commissioner considered that option but elected to make Riordan fire him.

“I chose not to resign because I believe that doing so would send a terrible message both to the people of Los Angeles and to the honest and hard-working members of the LAPD rank and file that the Police Commission is not independent and is not committed to implementing reforms that will restore the reputation and stature of the LAPD,” Chaleff said.

Riordan--who often disagreed with the commission president’s approach to matters involving police reform and civilian oversight--faxed a short letter to Chaleff on Monday informing him that he was being replaced.

“With the consent decree moving from the negotiation stage to implementation . . . I have determined for the sake of Angelenos, we must focus on the core management issues of community policing, recruitment, morale and consent decree implementation,” Riordan said.

The mayor had hinted at such an action Friday, while meeting with a group of police officers during a morning roll call at the Rampart Division. During the session, Riordan said he was troubled by the increasing crime rate and the lack of progress in improving the morale of the rank and file.

“The bottom line is the mayor needs the Police Commission to focus on recruitment, morale and community policing,” said Deputy Mayor Ben Austin, Riordan’s spokesman. “It is critical to fighting crime and dealing with the drop in arrests. If you need a reason as to why the mayor is taking bold action, this is it.”

Parks at least for now has escaped that criticism. Sources say Riordan has leaned on him for improvement, and Parks has pledged to address the mayor’s concerns in the coming months.

Chaleff, by contrast, has not always been willing to follow Riordan’s lead, and has battled with Parks as well.

Like Chaleff, Parks was appointed by Riordan. Unlike the commission president, Parks has enjoyed Riordan’s strong support and has sometimes disagreed with his bosses on the commission, usually with Riordan’s backing.

In the interview Monday, Chaleff said he was under tremendous pressure from Riordan to side with Parks in finding that a fatal 1999 police shooting of a 102-pound homeless woman named Margaret Mitchell was within the department’s rules. Even so, Chaleff pushed for the commission to rule that the officers had violated LAPD policy in the Mitchell shooting.

More recently, Chaleff was seen as a strong proponent for overhauling the LAPD by entering into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice--an approach the mayor and chief opposed.

“It is no secret that I have had numerous differences with the mayor during the last few years over issues relating to the Police Department,” Chaleff said. “And I have been pressured by the mayor and his staff to act in accordance with their views and not my own.”

Meeting at Mayor’s Home

Before firing Chaleff, Riordan consulted with some longtime advisors and convened a meeting at his home last week to discuss problems in the Police Department. Parks and Police Commissioner Burt Boeckmann were invited to that session; Chaleff was not.

Also at the meeting was Eli Broad--one of Los Angeles’ most influential business leaders and a longtime friend of Riordan. Broad said he and others believed it was time for Chaleff to go.

“We saw a need to change leadership,” Broad said. “I don’t have much patience and the mayor doesn’t either. When he didn’t see anything happening [to fix the problems], he felt new commission leadership--who could work more effectively with the chief--could make all the difference.”

Broad insisted that Chaleff’s ouster was not discussed at last week’s meeting, but added that those who attended agreed that Parks needs help but deserves to keep his job.

“The chief is proficient, but he needs some leadership,” Broad said. “The mayor feels if he leaves office with the present state of affairs, he will feel that he has not succeeded in his promise to the electorate.”

Some city officials and civil rights leaders viewed Chaleff’s firing as Riordan’s attempt to shift the blame for the department’s problems from himself and Parks. Although the department is embroiled in the worst scandal in its history, Riordan granted Parks two 5% raises--the maximum available--bringing Park’s annual salary to more than $257,000.

“The mayor is making Gerry Chaleff the fall guy,” said Ramona Ripston, who heads the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “The failure of reform belongs to the mayor, not to Gerry Chaleff. I think this is a classic politician’s move.”

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas agreed.

“Rampart is still dogging us and all he can think to do is create drama and instability when there needs to be clearheaded and committed leadership,” Ridley-Thomas said. “At the very time reform should be advanced, it is being dashed against the rocks.”

Mitzi Grasso, the president of the Police Protective League, disagreed.

“I’m happy to see Chaleff, in particular, go,” she said. “He was trying to change policies to his own political agenda rather than taking into account policies in place for years. He never took the time to understand police work from the officer’s perspective.”