Candidates for City Attorney Spar on Police Reforms, LAPD Lawsuits

Los Angeles Police Department issues--from the Rampart Division corruption scandal to ways to attract and keep more officers--took center stage Thursday at a sometimes-contentious forum featuring candidates for city attorney.

Some of the issues, such as overseeing the Rampart-sparked federal consent decree mandating department reforms and evaluating lawsuits brought by alleged victims of the police corruption case, fall in the city attorney’s office. Others, such as training and deploying officers, are mainly outside the office’s purview.

All, however, are getting increasing attention from the four candidates for the office on the April 10 ballot. Thursday’s breakfast forum, sponsored by the Harbor City/Harbor Gateway Chamber of Commerce, highlighted that.

Asked how they would keep officers from leaving the department and help it attract more and better applicants, all four candidates offered at least some support for allowing officers to work four 10-hour days. The so-called compressed workweek was popular among LAPD officers, and is used in some neighboring departments, but Police Chief Bernard C. Parks discontinued it in 1997 in favor of the traditional five-day, eight-hour arrangement.

Councilman Mike Feuer said he is willing to look at allowing a shorter workweek, while Deputy Mayor Rocky Delgadillo and deputy Dist. Attys. Lea Purwin D’Agostino and Frank Tavelman, an LAPD reserve officer, came out strongly in favor of it.

Mayor Richard Riordan recently softened his opposition to the shorter week, and Delgadillo took credit Thursday for helping change his boss’ mind.

Feuer said implementing long-delayed police department reforms--including providing better training and supervision--would be his method of choice for making the department a better place to work.

“We cannot have a safe city unless the stain of Rampart is lifted from all our officers,” Feuer said. He also suggested having the city help repay new officers’ college loans and adjusting pay and pension benefits to keep experienced officers from leaving for other departments.

The 9,100-member police force is short about 500 officers, and officials expect the ranks to drop by another 500 by mid-year. The city is having trouble finding enough recruits to fill its academy classes.

D’Agostino blamed Feuer and the rest of the City Council for being slow to implement reforms, especially a tracking system of problem officers that could have nipped corruption in the bud.

She also accused incumbent City Atty. James K. Hahn, who is running for mayor, and the council of being too quick to settle suits against police.

“The city attorney and the council have never met a lawsuit they’re not in love with. . . . They just sign the check,” said D’Agostino, who touted her endorsements from virtually every local and statewide law enforcement group, including the officers’ union, the Police Protective League.

D’Agostino and Tavelman were especially critical of the five-year consent decree the city recently entered with the U.S. Department of Justice, which will oversee costly city police reforms.

Tavelman said the decree is ambiguous and “so poorly drafted” as to be unworkable. “Nobody even bothered to ask the rank-and-file officers” how it would impact police work when it was being crafted, Tavelman charged.

The city attorney’s office will have a central role in ensuring the terms of the decree are carried out. It also will advise the council on how best to deal with some 200 claims and lawsuits stemming from the Rampart case.

Tavelman also accused Feuer and Delgadillo, as members of the city’s political establishment, of waiting too long to address attrition and morale issues.

“We didn’t lose 1,000 officers overnight,” Tavelman said, suggesting problems could be largely solved by overhauling the department’s “out of control” discipline system, improving the pension plan and allowing officers to choose a four-day, 10-hour workweek.

Delgadillo, who oversees Riordan’s economic development programs, said the Police Department issues are essentially “a management question” that could be addressed with “creative ideas.” He also noted he had the endorsement of former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, head of a 1991 commission that called for police reforms, many of which are embodied in the consent decree.

Delgadillo suggested further raising LAPD pay--already at or near the top in the nation--and adding incentive programs. He proposed that the city lend officers down payments on their homes if they buy in the city and that most or all of the loans be forgiven if officers stay on the job.

Tavelman retorted that the city already has a home loan program for officers, but said it has not helped much.