LOCAL ELECTIONS : Measure F Vote Called Just Start of Police Reform

Energized by the landslide victory of the police reform measure in Tuesday’s election, top city officials and civic leaders said they are prepared to move forward with other programs to assure that the Los Angeles Police Department is responsive to the city’s increasingly diverse population.

The approval of Charter Amendment F, the leaders said, is only the beginning in a continuing push to remake a department that has long operated largely outside the control of City Hall.

“Tuesday’s vote was a home run for justice,” said John Mack, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of the Urban League. “But it is only the first inning and the game is far from over.”

Mack and others said they are intent on harnessing some of the momentum from the charter amendment victory to push through other reforms advocated by the Christopher Commission but never implemented.

Charter Amendment F, which passed by a greater than 2-1 margin, gives City Hall more power to remove the chief of police, limits the chief’s tenure to two five-year terms and provides more civilian review of officer misconduct. But it left unapproved more than 100 other recommendations from the commission appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley to investigate the Police Department.

The commission recommended, for example, that the department expand police contacts with civilians, update equipment, train officers in foreign languages and screen out overly aggressive officers with psychological tests.

But there are hurdles to instituting many of these programs. For example, many must be negotiated with the Police Protective League, which represents rank-and-file officers, as part of regular contract talks. And there is the question of paying for these programs at a time when the city was barely able to close a $183-million budget deficit.

Nonetheless, political leaders said the reform movement will be enhanced by the overwhelming approval of the ballot measure.

“It will create a political climate that will increase the demand for the other reforms of the Christopher Commission,” said Councilman Michael Woo. “Every time one of these reforms comes forward, someone will refer to this overwhelming vote.”

A special City Council committee is expected soon to take up many of the remaining Christopher Commission proposals and recommend negotiating positions to management.

Police union President Bill Violante insists that the city can’t afford to implement the changes, which he has suggested could cost millions of dollars.

“Training programs and psychological testing throughout officers’ careers--that stuff isn’t done for free,” said Geoffrey Garfield, campaign director for the union’s No on F effort. “And where will they get money for the most important reform of all--increasing the size of the Police Department?”

Keith Comrie, city administrative officer, said Wednesday that many of the recommendations could be met with existing funds, in part by new deployment strategies, that could include taking officers out of desk jobs and reassigning them.

Incoming Chief Willie L. Williams advanced similar proposals but was met with strong opposition from rank-and-file officers and more recently indicated that the LAPD may already have gone a long way in employing civilians for office jobs.

One of Williams’ first responsibilities will be to prioritize reforms, said Councilman Marvin Braude. The Police Commission and City Council are then likely to engage in a protracted discussion of what changes to make and how to pay for them, Braude said.

“These recommendations are not going to break the bank,” said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, chairman of the council’s Budget and Finance Committee. “If we can spend $1.5 million, for example, to keep from spending $10 million or more in excessive-force lawsuit settlements, we are way ahead.”

Woo announced Wednesday that he will concentrate his efforts on expanding the size of the Police Department.

With fewer than 8,000 officers, 2.3 per 1,000 residents, Los Angeles has fewer officers on the street than any other large police department in the country. The ongoing recession, the longest since World War II, forced reductions this year from the 8,300 staffing level of a year ago.

The poor public perception of the Police Department in the aftermath of the beating by officers last year of Rodney G. King made it difficult to lobby for a larger department, Woo said. But he predicted a new attitude after the passage of Amendment F. However, he did not say how the city would pay for the additional officers.

“The potential for an incredible multiethnic coalition in this city was demonstrated here in the victory of Charter Amendment F,” Woo said. “We can now move on to the next step and start building a constituency to increase the number of police officers in this city.”

Support for the measure ranged from the downtown corporate elite, which fueled the campaign with its donations, to voters in South Los Angeles, who were its most enthusiastic supporters at the ballot box.

That citywide coalition was borne out in an analysis of Tuesday’s voting.

Charter Amendment F passed in all but one of Los Angeles’ 15 City Council districts. Councilman Hal Bernson’s predominantly white San Fernando Valley 12th District voted 46% for measure F. The measure received its strongest support in the mostly black 8th Council District of Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, where 92% of those casting ballots voted yes.

Woo joined Ridley-Thomas and Councilman Mike Hernandez at a morning-after news conference at City Hall to thank voters for supporting the measure and to urge them to keep the pressure on for more changes.

The burden of enacting the reforms and creating a department more in touch with the city’s diverse communities will fall most heavily on Chief-Designate Williams.

Williams, who is scheduled to take command on July 1, will have to please his newly empowered bosses at City Hall while winning over police officers who already view him with skepticism because of his support for the measure.

James R. Lasley, a professor of criminal justice at Cal State Fullerton who has studied the LAPD, said that Williams’ biggest challenge within the department will be “gaining the confidence of officers.”

“Many officers feel an insider should have been selected,” Lasley said. “With the passage of Charter Amendment F, Williams will have a hard time convincing officers he is truly on their side and not a double-agent or conduit for political policies.”

Christopher said he has no illusion that the work of restoring Los Angeles and its embattled Police Department ended with the passage of Amendment F. “This is not a panacea,” he said, “only part of the rebuilding and healing of Los Angeles.”