Riordan Says Crime Issues, Not Reform, Led to Chaleff Firing

Discussing the controversial firing of Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff for the first time, Mayor Richard Riordan on Thursday defended the decision by saying that he wants a civilian leader who will take on Chief Bernard C. Parks and deal with a rising crime rate and a dip in arrests.

“I want a president of the commission who the chief responds to, who is not afraid to stand up to the chief, and to challenge the chief,” Riordan said in an interview with The Times.

Riordan insisted that Chaleff’s firing was not an attempt to stop the reform-minded commissioner from implementing changes mandated by a federal consent decree negotiated and agreed to last fall. Some City Council members, rallying to Chaleff’s defense, have proposed that the former commissioner remain a member of the panel that will select the monitor called for in that decree, an idea that Riordan aides say he is considering.

However, Riordan said his decision was based not on reform, but on his conclusion that Chaleff was not forceful enough in urging Parks and other department leaders to boost morale, recruitment and community policing efforts. Those issues are so pressing, aides to the mayor said, that Riordan believed he had to act quickly.

Riordan’s decision to oust such a key appointee five months before the end of his mayoral term stunned some city officials and others. In its aftermath, City Council members, former police commissioners and civil rights leaders--including some who were not enthusiastic about Chaleff--have risen to the former commissioner’s defense, forcing Riordan to weather a barrage of criticism.

On Thursday, the mayor seemed frustrated by the attacks, and he adamantly insisted that Chaleff was not being removed because of his views about the chief or police reform but because changing times require a new kind of commissioner.

Parks Called More Responsive

“He’s not a scapegoat,” said Riordan. “I think he’s been the right leader on reform. Now we need leadership that will look at the problems of safety in our city.”

He added: “The bottom line is, there are two major issues facing the Police Department: the safety of the system and reform. And if you take your eyes off of any one of those, you’re not doing the right kind of leadership.”

Top aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that over the last few months, the mayor and his advisors have had various discussions with Parks and Chaleff about the morale and recruitment problems in the department, and that the chief has been more responsive than his civilian counterpart.

On Thursday, Chaleff had no comment on the mayor’s statements. He is still weighing whether to appeal his firing to the City Council, he said.

Although Riordan insisted that reform of the department did not precipitate Chaleff’s firing, the mayor and Chaleff have disagreed about how best to approach that issue. As a result, some have interpreted the commission president’s ouster as a sign that Riordan wanted to squelch his influence in the selection of an outside monitor who will enforce the consent decree.

That criticism has mounted and spread in the days since Chaleff was removed, and some who voice it are former Riordan appointees.

“As much as any current commissioners are reformers, Gerry Chaleff would be chief among them,” said former Commissioner Gary Greenebaum, Riordan’s first Police Commission president. “I don’t see what problem is solved by firing Chaleff. Whenever the politicians start muscling the Police Commission, something bigger is up.”

Ann Reiss Lane, a commissioner during the Tom Bradley administration, called Chaleff’s firing “unbelievable.”

“This is sort of in defiance of the independent civilian oversight and that is troubling to me,” she said.

Deputy Mayor Ben Austin insisted that “this has absolutely nothing to do with the consent decree.”

“It is a false choice to suggest that this is a choice between reform and no reform,” he said. “What the mayor is saying is that we can’t stop there.”

Other critics have questioned why Chaleff, not Parks, is being held accountable for the department’s failure to deal with morale, recruitment and community policing issues. Riordan recently gave the chief two 5% salary increases.

“If there’s a woodshed needed, then both need to be woodshedded,” said a source familiar with the commission’s operations. “You don’t do it by firing the commission president.”

However, on Thursday, Riordan maintained that Parks is being held accountable.

“Certainly, the chief, myself and everyone else has to take some of the blame for what has happened,” he said.

Firing ‘Shot Across the Bow’

During a two-hour meeting at the mayor’s Brentwood home last week, Parks was warned that Riordan and others--including billionaire businessman Eli Broad--thought the department was struggling and urged the chief to take action, according to several people there.

“Nobody has escaped responsibility for the crisis that we find ourselves in today,” Austin said. “This is a shot across the bow to all city leaders who deal with crime in Los Angeles and it is an attempt to shake up the political landscape that up until now has favored inaction.”

On Thursday, Riordan put some blame on himself for not reacting sooner to the rise in crime and the dip in arrests that occurred as he and other leaders were immersed in negotiating the consent decree.

“We have other major problems in this city, and it really angers me that some people are not willing to address it,” he said. “I’m angry and frustrated with a lot of people, including myself. These issues should have been looked at much sooner. . . . Essentially, I let it drift a little too long.”

Riordan said his dissatisfaction with Chaleff’s leadership had been growing for some time. During a speech in November, the mayor started publicly challenging the department to act on his three major areas of concern, though he acknowledged Thursday that his reservations about Chaleff predated that address.

In the ensuing months, the mayor believed Chaleff was not successful in moving the department from reacting to the Rampart scandal to a more proactive approach on daily policing issues, sources said.

Top aides characterized Chaleff as well-intentioned but ineffective in addressing the mayor’s three-pronged agenda. According to Chaleff’s critics, the commissioner did not cultivate relationships with department leaders or rank-and-file officers, and got bogged down in minutiae that prevented him from prioritizing the department’s immediate needs.

The mayor said he has narrowed the list of candidates to replace Chaleff to three people, but will hold off nominating anyone until Chaleff has decided whether to appeal his firing.