Experience Called Key in Picking Chief

As Los Angeles officials narrowed the list of candidates for police chief to 21 last week, members of a citizens committee assisting with the selection process said they have received a resounding message from police officers and community members: Give preference to people with LAPD experience and forget about race when picking the city’s top cop.

“We have been talking to everybody, both inside and outside the department,” said panel member Ann Reiss Lane, a former member of the Police Commission. “I think it would be very hard, particularly at this time, for the rank-and-file to think about someone coming in from the outside who doesn’t know the department. They would have a steep learning curve.”

Despite the acrimony that arose from the recent dismissal of Bernard C. Parks, a popular figure in the city’s African American community, panel members are finding that people do not want the process to be bogged down in politics over race, ethnicity, gender or sexual preference.

“Everyone, without exception, has said that those issues are totally irrelevant,” said panel member Jeff Donfeld, an attorney and founding member of Chabad of Pacific Palisades. “Everyone says, ‘We want the best person; don’t talk to me about race and religion.’ That’s coming from blacks, Hispanics and Caucasians. They want the best person.”

The Police Commission appointed the so-called blue-ribbon committee last month to help develop the criteria for selecting the LAPD’s next leader.

The 15-member panel, which includes a culturally and ethnically diverse group of community members, has been interviewing people and holding meetings to compile opinions about what qualities are needed in a chief. It will continue its interviews in the next two weeks before making final recommendations to the Police Commission.

After that, Police Commission members will narrow the list and begin interviewing top candidates. In early September, they plan to give Mayor James K. Hahn their top three picks. Hahn will then select the next chief, subject to City Council confirmation.

Last week, city officials cut the field of applicants from more than 50 to 21--eliminating people who did not have a bachelor’s degree or leadership experience in a law enforcement agency.

The city began looking for its third chief in 10 years after the Police Commission voted 4 to 1 in April to deny Parks’ request for a second five-year term. Parks was ousted, in part, because Hahn and others did not think he had done enough to reduce crime, reform the department and boost morale. The council upheld the commission’s decision.

City officials have refused to disclose the list of candidates seeking the position, but some candidates have made their intentions public. They include Portland Police Chief Mark Kroeker; Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez; LAPD Deputy Chiefs David Kalish and David Gascon; LAPD Cmdrs. George Gascon, Jim McDonnell, Sharon Papa and Betty Kelepecz; Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters; and former New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton.

Former LAPD Chief Daryl Gates confirmed last week that he, too, is seeking the position.

“The department has been in a free fall for the past 10 years,” Gates said. “Who better to right the ship than I?”

Law enforcement sources also say John Timoney, the former head of the Philadelphia Police Department, is interested in the position. Timoney would not disclose, however, whether he applied for the job.

The insider vs. outsider debate is a recurrent theme of Los Angeles’ recent police chief searches.

Lane and others attribute the current concerns to bad feelings dating back to Willie Williams’ tenure as head of the department. Williams was brought in from Philadelphia in 1992 to replace Gates and never won over the department’s rank-and-file. He was ousted after one five-year term and replaced by Parks, an LAPD veteran.

That sentiment against outsiders could spell trouble for Bratton, who has spent his career working in police departments on the East Coast, officials say.

“It would be unwise to pick someone who doesn’t understand the realities and complexities of Los Angeles,” said one panel member, who asked not to be named. “I don’t think we will end up recommending that the mayor has to pick someone from the LAPD. But it certainly is a value I would consider.”

Councilman Dennis Zine, a former director of Los Angeles Police Protective League, said he wants a chief with West Coast law enforcement experience.

“It doesn’t have to be someone specifically from the LAPD, but someone who has that knowledge,” Zine said. “I’ve been to the East Coast, and it’s a whole different mentality.”

For example, officers in Eastern cities are more likely to walk their beats, while LAPD officers cover vast areas in their patrol cars. “The training is different,” Zine said.

But other city officials said there could be benefit in selecting an outsider--regardless of what part of the country the person is from.

“There definitely needs to be a strong change of culture from within the LAPD,” said Councilman Eric Garcetti. “If you bring in someone who has been on the inside, can they shake it up? On the other side of things, if it’s an outside person, do they have the ability to bring the organization along?”

Bratton--who is well aware of the concerns--made a number of trips to Los Angeles recently to show that he is familiar with the city and with the problems facing the LAPD.

In recent weeks, he has met with police officers, former members of the Christopher Commission, and former police commissioners. He points out the fact that he has spent a lot of time in Los Angeles in the past year, working with an outside monitoring team tracking reforms in the LAPD.

“While an outsider, I have a familiarity with the institution,” Bratton said.

He has also sent out copies of his book--”Turnaround”--about his tenure in the NYPD, where he is credited with dramatically cutting the crime rate.

Current and former members of the LAPD have tried a different approach.

For weeks, candidates Kroeker, Lopez and George Gascon have been making the rounds at community group meetings.

Recently, Gascon--a Latino--secured the endorsement of the Oscar Joel Bryant Foundation, a group of black LAPD officers. The move, his supporters say, shows that he is sensitive to all minority groups.

Kroeker, meanwhile, has sought to fend off old criticism that, while attending a religious conference 13 years ago, he made disparaging remarks about gays.

He said he has since “made a profound shift in my thinking and understanding of gay and lesbian people.”

One thing is clear: The next chief must have an understanding of all of Los Angeles’ disparate communities, said panel member Donfeld.

“There is an enormous amount of commonality that people want to see in a police chief,” Donfeld said. “They want a candidate who has integrity, has great sense of fairness and experience at all levels of policing. Most of all, they want someone who loves the city, who can understand its diversity and adequately respond to its needs.”