No Way to Pick a Chief

During his five-year tenure, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks not only endured the department’s worst police corruption scandal. He has also managed to tick off portions of the rank-and-file, his supervisorial staff and the community. Neighborhood watch groups didn’t like him gutting the popular senior-lead-officer program. Officers resented his opposition to flexible workweeks. And Parks’ disciplinary system has been deemed both draconian and picayune. Still, the chief retains support for his quieter initiatives. What follows is a sample of opinion from people around the city on the question of granting Parks a second term:

“Parks should continue. He had the misfortune of having the Rampart scandal occur during his tenure [and] ... there has been a lot of press about low police morale, difficulty recruiting personnel and losing officers to neighboring cities. ... [But] he has an excellent background, he’s already served five years, violent crime is down and crime, in general, is down. If the West L.A. division was its own city, it would be one of the safest places in America, thanks to the efforts of the LAPD--so somebody is doing something right.”

--Larry Zehnder, president of Westside Civic Federation, representing 17 West Los Angeles homeowner associations in Beverlywood

“I’m strongly recommending they don’t extend Parks’ contract. A significant sample of police who work the Echo Park area consistently tell me the primary reasons the Police Department has been unable to boost the number of officers are the rules and regulations laid out by the chief. ... [These rules] cause the officers to be very timid in their approach to criminals, especially gang members. ... Parks has been doing everything in his power to sabotage the compressed work schedule. When he dismantled the senior lead officers, he made very insulting remarks about how they only served a small group of elitists. Parks is very inflexible, he won’t listen to citizens and he won’t budge once he’s made a decision, and that is a quality we don’t want in a chief.”

--Ron Emler, Echo Park Security Assn. (neighborhood watch group)

“The chief should be kept on. But the issue really goes beyond any one officer or police chief. My fear for L.A. is that no police chief can be successful. Too many groups [like the Police Protective League] are ready to see the city go down in a blazing ball of fire rather than give up their vested interests. ... Until we stop playing musical chairs with the police chief, and work together to make him successful, the city won’t prosper.”

--Patsy Carter, chairwoman, 23rd Street Neighbors at University Park

“I think he should continue. I don’t think Parks is responsible for Rampart [police-corruption scandal]. I know some of the rank-and-file don’t like his disciplinary methods, but he has to stick to his guns and do what policy says he should do. He’s doing the best he can, but he has to fight [the Police Protective League] in order to implement disciplinary matters; it seems like [the union] just fights against him, I don’t know why.”

--Lawrence D. Koonce Sr., president of 81st Street Block Club, South-Central Los Angeles

“I think very highly of the work Chief Parks has done, and if he were to leave, I’d be very disappointed. He has supported our center and, in fact, has been very instrumental in advocating the rights of sexual-assault survivors in South L.A. ... [It] has been very hard to get police to get annual training in sexual-assault procedures [but] now I am able to walk in and participate in [their] training. And the officers are a lot more sensitive to issues of survivors. ... The officers’ approach to coming out and getting a report from victims has totally changed, it’s more supportive, more caring. And follow-up is much easier.”

--Felicia Gray, program director, Rosa Parks Sexual Assault Crisis Center, South Los Angeles

“I’ve admired the chief very, very much, and I’m hoping common ground can be found over issues so he can continue. At the same time, I have a huge problem with the morale among the rank-and-file; it’s an unhealthy tension that affects the esprit de corps. He has done a fantastic job to bring discipline, to bring respect to the police department, but that discipline has to be fair, meted out in equal way. The gutting of the senior lead officers was a decision that had a tremendous impact on how the ordinary citizen approaches the department. Now, we have a message machine to contact the senior lead officer; it’s a very poor solution.”

--Msgr. John Moretta, Resurrection Parish, near Boyle Heights

“Parks has done some really good things in this community, but I don’t think he should be chief of police. He doesn’t let his officers make judgments out in the field. Even for the smallest bogus complaint, supervisors have to investigate the police officers, no matter how fraudulent they might be. When they got rid of CRASH units, gang activity and crime grew significantly. They should have dealt with police officers who committed those crimes in the Rampart scandal, but to get rid of an entire unit so essential to the L.A. area, I don’t think that was good.”

--C. Suk, Koreatown youth worker

“He’s a tremendous guy, but he needs to mend his ways. For one thing, he can’t be so stiff and militaristic in decision-making. Apparently, he’s not listening to his deputy chiefs, who keep telling him things have got to change.... Parks ... respond to questions, but we get the same rhetoric: We don’t have the manpower and we don’t have money. What we know is the money hasn’t been spent due to a lack of good candidates for police. We’re losing officers faster than we’re gaining them. ... We have better police service in our area because we have more officers on board, but [former Police Chief] Willie Williams should really get the credit for that, since he was in office at that time.”

--Ross H. Valencia, chairman steering committee for Boyle Heights Residents Assn.

“I like the job Parks has done. Around Woodland Hills, I’ve seen improvements with police patrolling; crime’s down and graffiti is down. There’s more discipline on the police force. When that thing happened in Rampart division, the whole police force took a look into itself and said we better clean up here.”

--Arturo Lewin, Art Lewin Clothiers, Woodland Hills

“Definitely, we should keep Chief Parks. We need continuity. ... What we need to do is work with the police chief to make our streets safer. Chief Parks ... reinstituted police walking our streets. The officers have been wonderful about coming out and assisting us ... they actually give the homeless our card and refer them to our agency. They’ve referred homeless mothers living in their cars, rather than arrest them or put them in jail.”

--Mary L. Gimenez-Caulder, executive director/ CEO, Harbor Interfaith Shelter, San Pedro

“I don’t think he’s doing a good job, there are too many gangs, too many murders. He’s too busy being Mr. Big Shot to get anything done. A couple of policemen I know are not happy with the way he’s doing things. He’s very strict, very rigid, doesn’t do what’s necessary to protect the city. He was taught by [former Police Chief] Daryl Gates, who was the same way. Too many of the policemen are leaving, they can’t get new policemen in this city anymore, and it takes forever to put them through the strenuous checks to see whether they’re qualified. ... There shouldn’t be change for change’s sake, but if there’s any possibility of it becoming better, that would be welcome.”

--Louise Wexler, board member, Carthay Circle Neighborhood Assn.

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Gale Holland is a Los Angeles journalist.