Police Panel Rebuked by Key Member

In an unusual self-critique, a prominent member of the Los Angeles Police Commission said the panel has done a poor job of dealing with the beating by police officers of a car-theft suspect and must take a more active role in the investigation to avoid being marginalized.

Rick Caruso said the Police Commission has not been vigorous enough in overseeing the investigations into the June 23 incident and asserting itself as the city’s civilian overseer and chief policymaker of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Caruso, a shopping mall developer appointed by Mayor James K. Hahn, said the panel did not step in quickly to take the lead role in appointing an oversight committee to be part of the investigation, a step Hahn took when he appointed a 12-member committee made up of community leaders.

“I believe the [Police] Commission should have played a much more meaningful role early on,” Caruso said. “There should have been a logical process, because the Police Commission is the head of the department and it should have set down rules, in consultation with the chief, to investigate and deal with the problem and move forward together.”

Caruso’s comments mark the first public criticism from a commission member of how officials have handled the aftermath of the beating. TV news footage showed an LAPD officer kicking car-theft suspect Stanley Miller and then hitting him 11 times with a flashlight.

The incident, which took place around 6 a.m., was broadcast live on KABC-TV Channel 7 and KTTV-TV Channel 11. Miller, 36, was shown jumping out of a car, which was stolen, after a chase through South Los Angeles and Compton and sprinting beside Compton Creek before being apprehended.

Officer Phillip Watson was shown drawing his gun and re-holstering it before tackling Miller. Officer David Hale was then shown tackling Miller, who had his hands raised.

Moments later, Officer John J. Hatfield joined the fray, kicking Miller, who was lying on the ground, and then hitting him with a flashlight. Hatfield was shown delivering at least five blows with his knee to Miller’s torso. Officer Peter Bueno was shown holding Miller, who was still down, before ramming his knee into Miller’s torso.

The commission’s first meeting since the beating is scheduled for Tuesday. Caruso was in Europe on a long-planned vacation and made his comments in telephone interviews.

Commission President David Cunningham III condemned the beating the day it happened. He left soon after for a trip to Hawaii, but has returned. He has attended several community forums on the beating, including one Saturday sponsored by the Community Commission on Police Abuse, a coalition of activists organized by publisher and community leader Danny Bakewell.

Cunningham, an attorney, said in an interview that he didn’t have a problem with Hahn appointing the citizen’s committee and didn’t believe it diminished the commission’s authority.

“No one is going to supplant the role of the Police Commission unless the [City] Charter changes,” he said.

Cunningham and other commissioners have defended the measured response of the police panel, saying it makes sense to keep a low public profile while the investigations are proceeding.

“We have three roles on this commission: to seek an investigation, to go through the deliberative process and then, if necessary, make policy changes,” Cunningham said. “That takes time, and you have to be careful how you proceed.”

Cunningham and others have said that though the commission hasn’t held any public meetings, individual members have kept abreast of the latest developments and received briefings from top LAPD officials.

But critics, including Richard E. Drooyan, a former federal prosecutor who helped examine both the Rodney G. King beating and the Rampart corruption scandal, said the mayor’s decision to appoint his own panel created the impression that the Police Commission had taken “a back seat.” He questioned whether the panel could play its necessary oversight role on behalf of the community.

USC law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, who served on a city panel that probed the Rampart scandal of the late 1990s, said the commission has been “invisible” in the Miller case.

Caruso said he supported the concept of community involvement in overseeing the beating probe. But he would have preferred that any blue-ribbon panel of community leaders be appointed by the commission. Doing it that way would ensure that the authority and independence of the commission was preserved, he said.

Caruso also said the commission should take the lead role in overseeing the investigation as well as formulating any policy changes that could result from it, such as the use of flashlights by police.

“Police need to be able to defend themselves, but we don’t want to allow a policy that is inappropriate in dealing with the public,” Caruso said. “So the policy is absolutely up for debate.”

Police Chief William J. Bratton has already called for a review of the use of flashlights as instruments of force by officers.

The Police Commission’s powers were significantly strengthened by a series of reforms made after the King beating by LAPD officers. The Christopher Commission, created to examine the 1991 incident, called for the creation of an inspector general, reporting to the panel, to probe allegations of officer wrongdoing. It also called for the commission to take a bigger role in setting policies and overseeing the chief of police. Both recommendations were implemented.

Since then, the commission has grappled with several major issues, notably its decisions to deny second terms to the last two police chiefs, Willie Williams and Bernard C. Parks.

More recently, the commission has been marked by internal divisions, including its decision to relax its burglar alarm response policy.

Caruso, who joined the commission in 2001 and served as its president for two years, said the panel has lost its focus.

“We’ve been floundering in defining our agenda in the last year,” he said. “And that means all of us as a commission share that fault.”

Cunningham disagreed. While the commission hasn’t had to deal with “as many sexy issues” recently, he said it has continued to make important policy decisions, including those involving cyber cafes, the new police headquarters and new rules regarding reserve officers.

Caruso called the Police Commission’s response to the Miller beating a key test.

“This will determine how valuable [the commission] is to this city and this department and whether we can exercise our authority and take the lead in overseeing this department.”