Ours Is Not to Wonder Why He Fumbled the Ball

“Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.”

--Paradise Lost

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So what in the hell took possession of Bernie Parks? Why did he trade an enviable position of service for a reign of in-house terror? How could anybody with his experience and brains have squandered the goodwill of his troops as well as that of his civilian boss so utterly? Don’t look for the answer here. This is a job for Jungians, Freudians or Dr. Laura.

Everybody wanted to embrace Bernie Parks when Chief Willie Williams’ contract was bought back by remorseful politicians. But with those new stars on his collar, Parks quickly demonstrated that his term was going to be as autocratic as Richard III’s. He was rigid, aloof and defensive toward his staff, the L.A. Police Protective League and certainly his troops. The bell tolled when, early in his term, he announced that officer morale was not high on his agenda. That did it.

How many friends do we have who are willing to risk their lives for us? Two? One? None, probably. But the emergency services are staffed by people who must be willing to do it even if they risk and lose. The job offers no monetary incentives for danger or excellence, no golden parachutes, no stock options. But it requires massive injections of morale. (Dictionary definition: “Emotional or mental condition with respect to cheerfulness, confidence, zeal, etc., especially in the face of opposition, hardship, etc.” What better describes the lot of a cop?)

The LAPD needs 1,000 officers right now. They are retiring ASAP and quitting to accept positions at other police agencies where there are compressed work schedules, a respect for community policing and due process for the officers from their leader--all things that Parks has fought against.

In police work, morale is the coin of the realm. A leader who cannot grasp that fundamental truth is doomed to fail.

And Garbo-ing the media is an indication of a professional death wish.

Mayor Jim Hahn is showing more integrity and courage than we have come to expect from politicians. If he and 90% of the LAPD rank and file are heeded, there will be a search for a new chief, and everyone knows--but will not admit--that white Anglo male applicants need not apply. It’s a fact of life, but it has precedent. In New York and other Eastern cities, there was a time when a non-Irish candidate for chief would have had about as much chance as Custer’s bugler. Everyone had to “think shamrocks” when facing a promotion board. Jews and Italians began talking with a brogue. It wasn’t fair, but it was the reality.

Perhaps it is time for a Latino, or a woman of any ethnicity, to be given those unspoken “bonus points” if the city fathers find themselves searching for a chief.

One example of LAPD talent is Cmdr. Dave Gascon. This 48-year-old came to our country from Cuba at age 14, served three years in the U.S. Army and graduated from college with a degree in history. He joined the LAPD in 1978, attended law school and breezed through the bar exam. He could be the first lawyer-chief since William H. Parker.

Gascon anticipated the consent decree, and as commanding officer of the Police Department’s Training Group, he devised a course in ethics, tactics, law and human relations, inviting the U.S. attorney’s office and human relations experts to participate. He posted the Bill of Rights in training division classrooms, and when he makes offhand comments about “this great country of ours,” listeners get a lump in their throats because he knows the difference. Talk about potential star power. If this guy didn’t exist, Hollywood would have invented him.

One can only wish that a good man like Bernie Parks will take his well-deserved pension and retire. He must be embarrassed by the race card being played on his behalf because he knows that this is not a racial issue. And one can only hope that the LAPD will not again have to endure a demoralizing search for an “outsider” when there are such great people within the ranks.

So, in the Los Angeles of 2002, it might be prudent to look harder for a Latino candidate. Their time has come.

Instead of “thinking shamrocks,” Mayor Hahn should “think salsa.”