Possible Choice for Police Panel Is Named

Rebecca Avila, a former executive director of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, is a leading candidate to fill a vacancy on the city’s Police Commission, Mayor Richard Riordan acknowledged Saturday.

Riordan has been looking for a new police commissioner since his controversial firing of commission President Gerald Chaleff on Feb. 5. The mayor has scheduled a news conference Monday morning to announce his choice. After the new commissioner is named, the panel--not Riordan--will pick its next president, though that choice undoubtedly will be influenced by who Riordan would like to see in the key position.

The mayor appeared annoyed Saturday when asked about Avila’s appointment as he arrived to address the city’s Police Department and Fire Department Recruitment Expo at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.

At first, Riordan fumed at the notion that news of his choice had leaked out, but then he confirmed it.

“I intend to offer her the job,” Riordan said.

Saying he needed to call Avila and make the offer, the mayor left the auditorium where prospective police officers and firefighters were gathering to hear him and other officials speak. The mayor moved to the lobby, where he dialed a cell phone. After a minute, Riordan said he could not get through and returned to the auditorium.

Later, Riordan said Avila was one of two top candidates for the post. “It’s between the two of them,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Ben Austin attempted to clarify the mayor’s statement later Saturday, saying Avila was one of at least three candidates under consideration for a role on the police commission, including president.

Avila, 39, joined the staff of the Ethics Commission shortly after it was created in 1990 and soon earned a reputation as a knowledgeable administrator. A divided commission fired her boss in October 1995 and named Avila acting executive director a few days later.

The commission made Avila’s position permanent in April 1996 after a nationwide search. The appointment, to oversee one of the toughest municipal anti-corruption laws in the nation, drew praise from across the political spectrum.

Among Avila’s supporters was Raquelle de la Rocha, then a member of the Ethics Commission that had hired Avila after firing her predecessor, and now a member of the Police Commission. De la Rocha is the commission’s most vocal backer of Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and is serving as acting president.

Upon Avila’s 1996 appointment, de la Rocha praised her as a leader with “a commitment to maintaining integrity in the city’s political process.”

In October, Avila resigned to take a job with the Annenberg School for Communication at USC.

In the city post, Avila steered her staff and the commission through the sometimes-treacherous political waters of ethics law enforcement. She championed efforts to disclose campaign finance reports on the Internet and encouraged greater public scrutiny of the political process.

Avila could not be reached for comment Saturday.

Riordan on Saturday addressed the recruitment expo as part of his campaign to bolster the embattled Police Department by adding officers, improving morale--badly battered by the Rampart Division corruption scandal and by some of Parks’ policies--and broadening community and police cooperation. Riordan has blamed Chaleff in part for the department’s lagging efforts in those areas, but the mayor has struggled to convince some skeptics that those failings were the real reason for ousting the commission president.

In addressing an audience of those considering work as a police officer or firefighter, Riordan tried to put the Rampart issue in perspective.

“The vast majority of the LAPD are honorable and courageous and truly protect and serve our city,” Riordan said.

The recruitment expo also included a ceremony marking the promotion of Patrick Hayden, who became the 100th African American to attain the rank of captain in the once-segregated Fire Department.