Hahn Aides Probe Outside LAPD Chief Hopefuls

Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn is sending his most trusted aides to the home cities of seven applicants for chief of police to review their work and reputations.

Hahn said he wants as much information as possible about the candidates from outside the Los Angeles Police Department, several of whom he has never met. Others say it will give the mayor political cover if he selects a chief from within the LAPD.

Of the 13 candidates still being considered to run the LAPD, six work for the department and seven work or have worked in other law enforcement agencies. The mayor is replacing former Chief Bernard C. Parks, who was denied a second five-year term.

“I think we know the inside candidates,” Hahn said. “I think the outside candidates are the ones that we need to get a good understanding of, how they were viewed.”

Tim McOsker, the mayor’s chief of staff, met last week with officials in Philadelphia about former Police Chief John Timoney. McOsker went to Sacramento to discuss Chief Arturo Venegas and to Cambridge, Mass., and Chicago to discuss Cambridge Chief Ronnie Watson. Watson spent 30 years in Chicago before becoming head of the department in Cambridge several years ago.

McOsker briefed the Police Commission in a closed session Tuesday on the information he had gleaned.

“What he got were pretty honest assessments of each of these candidates,” said Deputy Mayor Matt Middlebrook. “People should expect the mayor to do as much due diligence as possible in every area and to make the best decision he can.”

Later this week, McOsker will meet with officials in New York City to discuss former Police Commissioner William Bratton, and Deputy Mayor Roberta Yang is expected to travel to Portland, Ore., to meet with officials there about Chief Mark Kroeker, a former LAPD deputy chief. She also is expected to go to Oxnard to talk about Chief Art Lopez, who also previously worked for the LAPD, and to Santa Ana to discuss Chief Paul Walters.

McOsker and Yang are expected to brief the Police Commission again next week.

Police Commission President Rick Caruso said that he strongly supports McOsker’s efforts and that they have been helpful to the five-member panel.

The commission, which last week completed its interviews of the 13 candidates, is expected to narrow its recommendation to three people before handing the final decision to the mayor.

“This briefing today was very helpful,” Caruso said. “It really confirmed what a lot of our conclusions were about the candidates.”

Caruso also said he will make telephone calls to the outside candidates’ bosses and others to determine still more about them. Hahn said he will do the same.

Officials who met with McOsker on his trip last week said the conversation focused on several areas, including the candidates’ records, their management skills, whether they would be willing to reform the department and how they would handle leading such a large organization.

David L. Cohen, the executive vice president of Comcast Corp. who previously worked as the chief of staff to the mayor in Philadelphia, said that McOsker “asked all the right questions” and that he wanted to discuss Timoney’s record and whether he was an effective leader. They also talked about the advantages and disadvantages of hiring inside versus outside candidates.

“I think this is an incredibly smart way of going about this, particularly for the outside candidates and particularly for the outside candidates for a police department,” Cohen said. “It definitely helps inform the process.... Police departments are very difficult political organizations in any city.”

Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said he had a “good, frank conversation” with McOsker about Watson’s skills, strengths and other attributes. He said they discussed the challenges of leading a large organization compared with a much smaller one.

Healy said he believes that Watson would be capable of leading a bigger department, given his three decades in Chicago’s police department. Healy also said they discussed whether Watson is a strong disciplinarian and whether he would be willing to make needed reforms in the LAPD.

“He’s certainly progressive,” Healy said. “I think we’re all realistic to know that you don’t turn a large institution on its head overnight. He’s a strong advocate for integrity and discipline.”

Philadelphia Dist. Atty. Lynne Abraham confirmed through her spokeswoman that she had met with McOsker but would not comment on their conversation.

Although some praised Hahn’s efforts to vet his candidates, others said the more important question is whether he is learning the truth.

Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, who served on the Police Commission until he resigned in 1995, said choosing an outside candidate is difficult for a number of reasons, including the fact that those candidates are entering unfamiliar territory without internal support.

He said former Chief Willie L. Williams knew no one in the department when he was hired in 1992, and ended up promoting the commander who drove him around the city in his first few days on the job.

Williams was the first outsider hired in more than four decades to lead the department; his successor, Parks, was an LAPD veteran.

“It’s one of the biggest learning curves imaginable,” Greenebaum said. “The world of the LAPD is a very complex culture and structure with 10,000 people in it that you don’t know.”

The mayor has said he is looking for someone who will lower the crime rate, improve morale, reform the department and strengthen community policing programs.

Aides, however, said the mayor probably will make his decision on a number of factors, high among those whether Hahn feels compatible and comfortable with the person.

“The mayor’s personal opinion ... is probably the most important factor,” Middlebrook said.