Leader of Police Panel Steers Clear of Politics

The mayor’s discontented, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks is out of sight and the chief’s defenders are up in arms.

But the man at the center of all the turmoil, Los Angeles Police Commission President Rick Caruso, is annoyed.

“I’m just annoyed by the politics on both sides of it,” said the 43-year-old real estate developer. “It has no impact on me.”

Caruso serves part-time without pay as the head of the five-member board to whom now falls the controversial question of whether to reappoint Parks.

That question became more complicated Tuesday after Mayor James K. Hahn announced he does not support a second term for Parks.

Hahn appoints the Police Commission, but under the City Charter, the commission is also given the power to independently manage the department, and Caruso has been especially adamant in his contention that--no matter what the mayor says--the commission will go its own way.

And to that end, Caruso has remained calmly above the fray in recent days as the mayor’s intentions leaked out in the media and African American community leaders, many of whom have strongly supported both Parks and Hahn, reacted first with stunned disappointment, then with anger, to what many viewed as a betrayal.

Some observers inside and outside the Police Department question whether the commission can truly act with independence given that the mayor has made his preference clear. But Caruso breezily brushes off such concerns.

He says it won’t be so easy to influence the commission as people might think.

And if he ends up disagreeing with the mayor?

“What’s the worst thing that can happen--that I get fired?” Caruso allows himself a short laugh: “Then I get more personal time for my family and my business.”

Caruso was named to the Police Commission after serving for years on the board overseeing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

He was born in Los Angeles, the middle son in an Italian American family. His father built a rental car business from scratch; his grandfather, an Italian immigrant, worked for a time as a coal miner.

Caruso attended Catholic schools, and later what is now Harvard Westlake, the University of California and Pepperdine Law School. He worked in private practice for a while but found he would rather be a client, and launched his career in real estate.

It was a natural. Since childhood, he says, he had always loved real estate. His first project, a shopping mall at the intersection of La Cienega and San Vicente, made money, as did every project after.

His most recent project is the Grove, a large mall development adjacent to the Farmer’s Market in the Fairfax district.

Caruso’s shopping centers are distinguished by upscale design touches--his favorite part of the job.

He even chooses the flowers for his developments, he said.

That same aesthetic sense has won him a reputation as a sharp dresser, for which he is occasionally teased. “Your tan is fading,” fellow Commissioner Rose Matsui Ochi said she chided him recently.

Jerry Snyder, another developer, who has competed with Caruso on projects, praised his rival as “a class act” who has been successful in developing shopping malls because of his “incredible taste.”

Caruso and his wife, Tina, have four children, and are active in charitable work related to children’s services. Caruso is a Republican, socially moderate and fiscally conservative, he says, but has supported Democratic politicians such as Gov. Gray Davis.

Assessments of his personality by those who work with him on an off the commission are strikingly consistent. Most people mention that he likes things to move along quickly and that he is mentally quick and unafraid to be frank.

“He is intelligent, quite decisive, and ... is a quick study,” Ochi said.

“Rick is a straight shooter, he gets to the point,” said Commissioner David Cunningham III, who has known Caruso since their days as young lawyers.

One frequent adversary was S. David Freeman, former head of the DWP. Freeman said he frequently clashed with Caruso, but found him honest--sometimes too honest.

That’s an observation that Caruso would probably not resent.

The speculation about political influence of the Police Commission “amazes me, because I’ve got no interest in the political bent of it,” he said Tuesday. Over and over, he emphasized that the commission will make its own call.

So far, Caruso isn’t saying which way he leans. Under his leadership, the commission has made a point of signaling that it is not a rubber stamp for the mayor or for the City Council on various issues. Caruso has also made it plain he is highly concerned with how communities are affected by gang- and drug-related crime, comparing gangs to terrorists in a recent commission meeting.

On police reform, he said, “I would never oppose civil rights, but my sense is that the pendulum has swung to the point that proactive policing isn’t occurring out on the streets.”

The charter leaves some ambiguity over how the process of the chief’s reappointment will play out, reserving some veto power, in essence, for the City Council. But Caruso argues he is not ambiguous about the commission’s independence from the mayor.

“If the mayor gave me a directive, I wouldn’t accept,” he said, emphasizing that the commission works for the community, not the mayor.

“I am probably not going to make a lot of friends through this,” he added.