L.A. PANEL LETS GATES OFF RACISM, NOT CHIEF, IS FOCUS
A source speaking on the condition of anonymity said the panel report did not focus on Gates -- who said he would resign if the commission agreed with his critics that he created a climate within the department that condoned racism and brutality.;    The report "deals with management issues, not directly with the chief of police," the source said.;    Commission members and others who had seen the report declined comment Monday. Gates also wouldn't comment.;    Mayor Tom Bradley, who has asked Gates to step down, said through a spokesman he believed the report focused on police management, excessive force and civilian control.;    Sources familiar with testimony and evidence presented to the panel told the Los Angeles Times that a number of racially derogatory messages sent on police car computer terminals have been cataloged.;    One message, for which no context was provided, read: "It's monkey slapping time.";    The commission examined 90,000 pages of computer messages and found examples of racially and sexually "offensive" remarks scattered throughout. In one section encompassing several thousand messages, 260 such remarks were discovered, one source said.;    In the days after the March 3 nightstick beating of Rodney G. King, the Police Department released transcripts of computer messages that one of the officers at the scene sent to a another officer. The transcripts contained a reference to an earlier incident involving black people, using the phrase "gorillas in the mist."; At the same time, secret testimony by as many as a dozen black police officers told of numerous instances of racial harassment within the ranks and the existence of a double standard in the treatment of minority suspects.;    In one instance, officers said they found racial epithets spray-painted on the lockers inside police stations and concluded that other officers had put them there. In another, an officer testified behind closed doors that he was present when a caravan of patrol cars raced through a housing project with "Ride of the Valkyries" blaring from loudspeakers -- a scene reminiscent of the movie "Apocalypse Now.";    The officers testified before the commission after being assured that their identities would be kept confidential.;    The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups called for Gates to resign after the March 3 incident in which white police officers repeatedly struck King with batons, kicked him and shocked him with a stun gun after pulling him over for speeding. King, 26, is black.;    A bystander's videotape of the beating prompted a federal investigation of police brutality. Four officers were charged in the case.;    The commission, appointed by Gates and Bradley, held five public hearings, interviewed city leaders and reviewed more than 1 million pages of documents during its three-month investigation. It was headed by former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher.;    Gates was appointed by the Police Commission and cannot be fired by the mayor. The Police Commission consists of five civilians appointed by the mayor.;    The chief has civil-service protection and can be removed only by the Police Commission for misconduct.;    Geoffrey Taylor Gibbs, who sits on the board of John M. Langston Bar Association, which represents about 900 African American lawyers, said black and Latino neighborhoods are depending on the commission to confirm their view that the white, male-dominated Police Department has subjected them to years of brutality and ignored their complaints.;    "People are looking to the commission," said Gibbs. "If they don't say this is a problem, then all of their recommendations won't mean a thing.";    But Ramona Ripston, head of the Los Angeles ACLU, said it does not matter whether the report names Gates.;    "If they find a series of things the matter with the department," she said, "don't you think it's going to point a finger at Gates whether they name him or not?"
investigation;racism;white police officers;excessive force;minority suspects;police brutality