City Narrows Choices for Firm to Monitor Police Reforms to 2

Two out-of-town firms are finalists for the job of monitoring reforms at the Los Angeles Police Department, officials said Wednesday.

They are Kroll Associates Inc., which provided the monitor who oversaw the controversial Teamsters election of James P. Hoffa, and Public Management Resources, which tracked the progress of reforms in the Pittsburgh Police Department, the Steubenville, Ohio, police and the New Jersey State Police.

A proposed Kroll team that includes former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton was the city negotiating team’s first choice as of Wednesday, according to city hall sources. The U.S. Department of Justice must also agree to the choice of the monitor. Justice officials could not be reached for comment. Details of the contract are still being negotiated.

“They are both outstanding firms and would do a remarkable job,” said former Police Commission President Gerald Chaleff, a member of the city negotiating team.

The Justice Department threatened to sue the city of Los Angeles over what it alleged was a pattern and practice of police misconduct. The monitor is to oversee reforms, some of them stemming from the Rampart corruption investigation, which the city and the LAPD have agreed to implement.

Reforms contained in a consent decree worked out between the city and the Justice Department include creation of a new LAPD unit to investigate officer-involved shootings, a boost in Police Commission and inspector general powers and installation of a computer system that will track police officer conduct and serve as an early warning system for problem officers.

Ron Deaton, the council’s chief legislative analyst, said he hopes negotiations with the Justice Department will result in a final recommendation of one firm to the council on Friday, just in time for a Monday court hearing before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess, who will chose the monitor.

“We are very close to an agreement between us and the Department of Justice on who would be an appropriate person we can recommend to the court,” Deaton told the council during a meeting Wednesday. “We have some very crucial issues we believe have to be addressed by the monitor.”

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said she is concerned that the proposed contract includes duties and powers beyond those listed in the consent decree.

Deaton identified the finalists, selected from among 19 candidates, after several council members criticized the city for leaving them out of the loop.

“I’m kind of disturbed,” said Councilman Mike Hernandez. “This council member has been told nothing of the team that is being selected. What role do you envision the council playing? Do you believe we will just be a rubber stamp?”

Councilman Joel Wachs threatened to vote against anyone Deaton recommends, saying the process is “flawed.”

“One of the tried and true tactics is to wait until the last minute and say, ‘This is it. Take it or leave it.’ I’m not happy with that.”

Deaton said he will present the council Friday with the name of the No. 1 recommendation as chosen jointly by the city and Department of Justice.

If the city and federal officials cannot agree, each side will recommend two monitors and the decision will be left to the judge, Deaton said.

Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas warned Deaton to be prepared to ask the court for more time if the council does not agree with the recommendation of the city negotiating team. “It seems we ought to prepare for the distinct possibility that this body will not be able to move an action on Friday,” Ridley-Thomas said.

Cherkasky, 51, was appointed by a federal judge to serve as the election officer for the 1998 election of Hoffa as president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Cherkasky imposed heavy fines on the Hoffa campaign for financial irregularities in his 1996 run for the office, Martin noted.

The CEO of Kroll, Cherkasky also has served as a court-appointed monitor over the cleanup of the New Jersey garbage collection industry. He worked for 13 years in the Manhattan district attorney’s office before joining Kroll, a New York-based global business investigations and intelligence firm. “We are pleased that our firm was mentioned but we are not going to comment further,” Cherkasky said in an interview.

The Kroll proposal also includes Bratton, who was known as a reformer during his tenure heading the New York City Police Department.

Under the terms of the LAPD consent decree, which was approved by the City Council in November, the monitor was supposed to be in place by March 1.

Times staff writer Tina Daunt contributed to this story.