Politics &amp; Policy: Report on Los Angeles Police Department Finds Racism, Suggests Changes, Gates's Resignation ---- By David J. Jefferson and Sonia L. Nazario Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
While the commission stopped short of blaming Chief Gates for these problems, it said that no chief should serve more than two consecutive five-year terms, and that Mr. Gates, having served 13 years, should therefore turn in his badge following a transition period. But the chief, who has remained steadfast through repeated calls from community leaders for his ouster, said later: "I don't expect to just run away" from the job. Nearly one-quarter of 650 officers responding to a commission survey agreed that "racial bias on the part of officers toward minority citizens currently exists and contributes to a negative interaction between police and community," and in some cases "may lead to the use of excessive force," the report said. A scant eight hours is devoted to cultural awareness training at the Los Angeles Police Academy, and many officers who train new recruits in the field openly perpetuate the "siege mentality that alienates patrol officers from the community," the commission concluded. Officers commonly typed racial epithets to one another on their patrol car computer systems, such as: "Sounds like monkey slapping time" and "I almost got me a Mexican last night." Yet supervisors made no effort to monitor or control these messages, evidence of a "significant breakdown in the department's management responsibility," the report found. The Los Angeles Police Department has long been emulated by others around the country because of its reputation for being efficient and corruption-free. But the commission called for a shift away from the force's paramilitaristic, us-against-them style, and said the department must embrace the "community-based" policing style that encourages officers to spend less time in their cars and more time interacting with citizens in the communities they serve. "This report will be a must-read for police chiefs around the country," said Hubert Williams, executive director of the Police Foundation, a Washington, D.C., law enforcement research group. "The word is clear: the public expects high quality law enforcement within the parameters of the law." Mr. Williams likened the report to the Knapp Commission, a 1970s blue-ribbon study that exposed widespread corruption in the New York Police Department and led to significant improvements there. "As troubling as some of our findings are . . . they are not unique to Los Angeles," said John A. Arguelles, vice chairman of the 10-member Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department. Among the commission's recommendations are: -- A commission appointed by the mayor that oversees the department should be reorganized and strengthened, and made responsible for handling citizen complaints. It also should be "reconstituted" with members not linked with the current controversy, in the interest of a "fresh start." -- A "major overhaul" of the police disciplinary system and the process used by citizens to file complaints against LAPD officers, especially in excessive force cases, is needed. The current system is "skewed against complainants," by allowing officers' station-house colleagues to investigate complaints, perpetuating a "code of silence" among officers. -- A new community-based police force should focus on "service to the public and prevention of crime" as primary tasks rather than amassing arrest statistics. However, the commission didn't address how Los Angeles would pay for this major overhaul, though Mr. Christopher said that "when you see the costs of settlements accelerating" in police misconduct lawsuits as they have in recent years, "I'm not sure there will be a net cost" increase to implement the changes. But with the city still sharply divided over the future of Chief Gates, and a general feeling that taxes are high enough already, it's questionable whether there will be a popular groundswell to immediately fund changes. Over the years, the city council and the mayor have been reluctant to even add additional officers to the LAPD. Of the six largest police departments in the U.S., the nation's second largest city has the fewest officers per thousand residents. There are 8,450 officers here for more than 3.5 million people; Chicago, with a smaller population, has 12,000. However, Michael Yamaki, one of the city's five police commissioners, believes that given the systemic problems in the department that have come to light, "citizens now will be more willing to fund police issues." The commission's recommendations will now be reviewed by the City Council, which will weigh whether to adopt them in whole or in part. Ultimately, voters must decide several issues, including whether to set term limits on the chief's tenure. The commission intends to reconvene in six months to assess the progress. Even before the commission's report was issued, community groups that monitor the LAPD noted a decline in brutality complaints. The harsh tone of the report was welcome vindication for community leaders who have claimed that police brutality is widespread. The report "proves once and for all that the Rodney King incident was not an aberration," said Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "Any fair reading of the report constitutes an `F' for {Chief Gates's} job performance." The report shows a particularly damning pattern of acceptance, and even encouragement, of officers who violate the rules governing excessive force. One officer who had seven complaints against him that had been sustained -- as well as numerous others that hadn't been -- was described in his performance evaluation this way: "His contacts with the public are always professional and positive and his attitude with the citizens is one of concern." The report also reveals that racially derogatory remarks are made on an ongoing basis within the department; racist jokes and cartoons appear from time to time on bulletin boards in station locker rooms. Sexism and homophobia abound. Minority officers complain that whites dominate managerial posts within the LAPD, possibly contributing to these problems. More than 80% of the black, Hispanic and Asian police officers in the force are in the entry-level ranks, the report said. But the most surprising part of the report was its recommendation that Chief Gates resign, after a transitional period in which he would begin implementing the commission's proposals. "We're not startled by any of the things in this report," the chief said a few hours after its release. He added that he has worked on his own to accomplish some of what the commission suggested, but has often been stymied by budget cuts. As for the recommendation that he step down, the embattled chief said he will wait until the voters sanction a move to limit a police chief's tenure. Overall, Chief Gates added, "It's a good report. There's a lot of thoughtful recommendations." And the chief said he will stay to implement them. Mayor Bradley said he hopes that Chief Gates's will "follow the commission's recommendations" to "commence the transition to a new chief of police." The mayor, who appointed Gates but lacks the authority to fire him, has previously called for Chief Gates's resignation.
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