Watchdog on a Short Leash

Former Los Angeles Police Department watchdog Jeffrey C. Eglash advised the city’s Police Commission, as it searches for his replacement, to “announce firmly and loudly that it supports having an independent inspector general.” That was Monday.

Police Commission President Rick Caruso wasted less than a day thinking about it before sending exactly the opposite message. He griped Tuesday that it was “bad form” for Eglash to make recommendations to a City Council committee, not the commission.

Caruso apparently forgets that the elected council directly represents the citizens of Los Angeles. Imagine! Talking to civilians about civilian oversight.

Of course, the five Police Commission members are civilians too, although commissioners in the past seemed to forget that and adopted the Police Department’s secretive culture. It’s hard to understand why Caruso would stick with this insular tradition when new Police Chief William J. Bratton promises an era of openness and cooperation.

A brief history: The McCone Commission first suggested the creation of a civilian inspector general after the 1965 Watts riots. Nothing happened. After the 1991 Rodney King beating, the Christopher Commission repeated the recommendation. In 1995, voters approved a charter amendment to create the post. The city has gone through two inspectors general since -- the words “chewed up and spit out” come to mind -- and the lack of support that they suffered revealed a city still trying to get a handle on this civilian oversight business.

It should start with a look at Los Angeles County, which has supported an outside watchdog, special counsel Merrick Bobb, for its Sheriff’s Department for 10 years. Last year Sheriff Lee Baca invited creation of a new civilian Office of Independent Review, headed by former federal prosecutor Mike Gennaco.

Bobb provides big-picture analysis, whereas Gennaco’s office investigates individual abuse complaints, joining internal affairs investigators at scenes of officer- involved shootings and working hand in hand on the investigations. The county still has its problems, but its costs to settle excessive-force lawsuits have dropped from $20 million 10 years ago to $2.9 million last year.

Eglash recommended ways the LAPD’s inspector general could adopt these dual but complementary functions, but Caruso was too ticked off about Eglash talking to the council to hear what he was saying. Mayor James K. Hahn, who appointed Caruso and other commission members, should make clear his support of a powerful, independent inspector general even though, as city attorney, he bristled when his office came under the inspector general’s criticism.

Caruso forgets that he and the inspector general report to the public. Until the commission accepts that, the city will not have the effective police watchdog that the Christopher Commission recommended more than a dozen years ago.