Police Commission Rejects Parks

The Los Angeles Police Commission rejected Chief Bernard C. Parks’ bid for a second five-year term Tuesday, saying he had failed as a leader and bore responsibility for a rising crime rate, a decline in officer morale and a “profound crisis of confidence” in a department once considered among the nation’s best.

The 4-1 vote by the commission came after lengthy deliberation and appeared likely to end Parks’ defiant struggle to stay in office despite opposition from Mayor James K. Hahn, the police union and others.

The City Council still could override the commission’s decision, and Parks pledged to “stay the course” and continue to fight for his job. Only three of 15 council members, however, said they were inclined to vote for retaining the chief, who would need a two-thirds majority to overturn the commission vote.

Speaking to reporters after the commission announced its vote, Parks, 58, said he was disappointed but “very, very proud of my service.”

“My record and my accomplishments offer a compelling support for my reappointment,” he added. “There is still much to be done,”

The panel’s decision was a victory for Hahn, whose public call for a new chief was the most dramatic move of his young administration. But the rejection of Parks could also cost Hahn long-term political support among African Americans. Some black leaders said Tuesday they never again will back Hahn.

In announcing the decision, Police Commission President Rick Caruso acknowledged that it “may not be liked by all, but will hopefully be accepted by the residents because it is arrived at by relying on facts, on those things which can be measured, can be gauged, can be assessed and weighed.”

Although he praised Parks, the city’s second African American police chief, for making the department more diverse and for demanding discipline of his officers, Caruso described the chief as an inflexible and remote leader who had crippled officer morale. That, he said, had driven police veterans from the department and put a severe crimp on recruiting.

The department is now 1,100 officers short, he said, and the shortfall may have contributed to a sharp increase in violent crime in the first three months of this year.

“Today, the Los Angeles Police Department is in crisis, a department losing officers at an alarming rate,” Caruso said. “Trust and confidence between those in uniform and their chief has been mortally wounded. This department, similar to all organizations, needs a leader who is demanding but fair, accepts responsibility and seeks solutions, who is capable of energizing and motivating the men and women in the field.”

In an interview with The Times, Caruso went further. He accused Parks of being “less than forthcoming” with the commission and cited two examples. Once, he said, Parks tried to circumvent a commission decision to change police officer work schedules. More recently, he said, Parks submitted to the commission a performance evaluation about himself that members believed was misleading.

Parks strongly denied having been untruthful.

If the City Council does not override the commission’s decision, Caruso said, the board will probably begin a national search for a successor for Parks. Caruso added, however, that he hopes a new chief could be found within the LAPD’s ranks.

Several names of potential successors to Parks have already surfaced. Among those considered possibilities are Portland, Ore., Police Chief Mark Kroeker, a longtime LAPD commander, and Sacramento Chief Arturo Venegas Jr. Both men were considered for the LAPD job in 1997, but were beaten out by Parks.

Within the 8,900-officer department, Deputy Chiefs David Gascon, David Kalish and Scott LaChasse are considered potential candidates.

Hahn praised the commission for conducting “a full and fair process,” but was careful not to express relief that the panel decided to follow his advice.

“This is not a win for anyone,” the mayor said during a news conference in his office. “This is a decision that the Police Commission had to make in the best interests of the department and the city.

“They based their decision on the merits--not on politics, not on pressure, not on intimidation, but on the facts that were before them,” Hahn added.

Parks became Los Angeles’ 52nd police chief in 1997, immediately following the troubled reign of Chief Willie L. Williams. Although Parks was credited with carrying out significant reforms, his term was marred by increasingly bitter clashes with the rank and file and by a scandal surrounding alleged abuses by an anti-gang unit in the Rampart Division.

Hahn announced in early February that he would not support Parks’ bid for a second term because he was unhappy with the chief’s record on crime, reform and community policing.

Parks said Tuesday that he was “very disappointed” that the mayor had spoken out before the commission had determined the criteria by which he would be judged.

“I believe the facts are crystal-clear,” the chief said. “For the past five years, I have worked tirelessly to fill the leadership voids and correct the failings of the previous years. . . . While the commissioners claim they avoided political rhetoric, I disagree. This process has become much too politicized.”

Parks took issue with Caruso’s claim that he had presided over a rise in crime. If the commission had looked at statistics covering his full tenure in office, he said, it would have found a “remarkable reduction.”

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports show that Los Angeles did enjoy a dramatic decrease in violent crime during Parks’ first three years as chief. More recently, however, the rates of murder and robbery, the most-watched categories of violent crime, have increased.

From 1995 to 2000, the latest year for which statistics are available, incidences of murder fell 40% in Los Angeles, second only to New York among the nation’s four largest cities.

Between 1999 and 2000, however, murders jumped 28% in Los Angeles, a sudden turnaround attributed by police and criminologists to the impact of the Rampart scandal on gang suppression and the possibility that criminals in Los Angeles have become better armed. Robberies increased 6% in that year. During the same period in New York and Chicago, the drop in murders and robberies continued, though at a much slower pace than earlier in the 1990s.

At 14.8 murders per 100,000, Los Angeles still had a much lower rate in 2000 than Chicago and Philadelphia, both at 22. New York’s murder rate was 8.7.

The mayor’s opposition to Parks upset many black community leaders who had supported Hahn’s election bid. Their sense of betrayal was reflected in recent poll figures showing broad disapproval among black voters, who had comprised a quarter of his supporters.

The lone black member of the Police Commission was the only commissioner to vote in favor of a second term for Parks.

“It is my opinion that Chief Parks has a wealth of knowledge and skills that can continue to benefit both the department and the residents of Los Angeles,” said Commissioner David Cunningham. “While I understand the criticisms of my fellow commissioners, I believe that Chief Parks could have remedied those concerns in a second term.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) said she had anticipated the commission’s decision, but was angry nonetheless.

“I guess I knew that Bernard was going to be denied another five years, and I should not feel as disgusted as I feel,” said Waters, in a phone interview from her Washington, D.C., office. “But I do feel rather disgusted that the Police Commission has basically honored the mayor’s wishes and the mayor has paid off his political campaign debt to the Police Protective League.”

Waters said Hahn will never recover the support he had among African Americans. That support was rooted in the strong bond that existed between black voters and Hahn’s father, the late county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn.

“I’m hearing disappointment, anger, people who are swearing that they are going to teach the mayor a lesson,” she said.

John Mack, president of the Los Angeles Urban League, said his organization would “do all we can to appeal to 10 members of the City Council to reject the decision.”

The decision also provoked anger at the American Legion Jackie Robinson Post 252 on Slauson Boulevard in South-Central, where about 10 members watched Caruso’s statement on television. Some pounded their fists on the bar as the decision became apparent.

“It’s all over,” said Claude Byrd. “I knew they were going to get rid of him. I knew it as soon as the mayor came out against him.”

Earlier in the day, community activist and Parks booster Danny Bakewell had been arrested when he refused to relinquish the podium during public comments at the Police Commission meeting.

“The mayor tainted the process,” he said after the announcement.

In a question-and-answer session after his statement, Caruso insisted that Hahn had played no role in the commission’s action.

The commission’s vote was hailed in some quarters, especially among police officers and union officials who had chafed against what they saw as the chief’s inflexibility and lack of concern for the cop on the beat.

Though sharp conflict between the chief and the union have long been part of LAPD history, the rank-and-file reaction to this chief has been intensely bitter. Late last year, the officers’ union produced a report card giving Parks mostly failing grades, and in January leaders announced they had canvassed members and found that 93% said they had no confidence in the chief.

Few people were happier than Police Protective League President Mitzi Grasso, who hovered outside the commission offices in Parker Center shortly after the decision.

“We are pleased with the conscientious decision the Police Commission made,” she said. “We feel public safety was first and foremost in their minds.”

The commander of LAPD’s Devonshire Division, who was reprimanded by Parks for questioning the credibility of disgraced former Rampart Officer Rafael Perez, said it was obvious the commission took its time and made a decision based on the merits of the case.

“I respect and support their decision.” said Capt. Joe Curreri. “I believe the factors that played significantly in their decision included rising crime, the devastation to morale, the exodus of talented personnel to other police agencies and Bernard Parks’ own inflexibility, closed-mindedness and unfair personnel practices.”

High turnover at the highest rung of policing in major agencies has been the rule in modern times, say policing experts. The current average tenure of a major-city police chief or sheriff--defined as those heading forces of 1,000 officers or more--is now less than three years, said Clark County, Nev., Sheriff Jerry Keller, president of the Major Cities Chiefs of North America.

“It’s really tragic because they are usually moved for political reasons, not for performance reasons,” Keller said, adding that the most common reason is the opposition of a new mayor.

It was, in part, a search for more effective internal leadership that led the city to Parks, then a 53-year-old career LAPD officer at odds with Williams, who had demoted him.

Parks was from Los Angeles, had attended Los Angeles City College, and later earned a bachelor’s degree at Pepperdine and a master’s in public administration at USC.

He seemed to be many things Williams wasn’t: an obsessively hard worker, a hands-on administrator with a tireless interest in arcane bureaucratic matters, a disciplinarian, and a wooden and sometimes chilly personality.

Commissioners at the time wanted someone who could translate their vision for the department into concrete administrative changes, communicate with commissioners and implement reforms stemming from the 1991 Christopher Commission report that explored LAPD racism and brutality. Then-Mayor Richard Riordan said further that he wanted a strong chief, not a “yes man.”

Parks set about making internal changes to restore the luster of a department with a once sterling reputation, many of which got little public attention. He revised the command structure, churned out in-depth management papers and revamped budgeting and long-term planning procedures.

He also made controversial changes, including ordering a cadre of officers assigned to community policing--the senior lead officers--back to patrol cars on the theory that all LAPD officers, not just a select few, should be involved in community policing.

The commission initially approved the effort, but the change in status of the popular senior leads generated a strong public backlash that reverberates to the present day. Parks was eventually forced to backtrack, and community groups continued to be upset with his performance in community policing.

Parks’ internal changes in the department were soon overshadowed by what came to be known as the Rampart scandal. In March 1998, property division staffers told their commanding officer that three kilograms of cocaine had been checked out of evidence storage and was missing.

Revelations continued to pile up about a group of corrupt cops operating out of the Rampart Division who had stolen cocaine, planted evidence and conducted themselves brutally, even once shooting a man in the head with no justification.

The department’s response continues to generate controversy. Parks initiated an internal investigation that produced a 356-page report billed as a detailed exploration of not just what went wrong in Rampart, but what was wrong with the LAPD that could have allowed such events to occur. Parks presented the report as one of his proudest accomplishments, saying it represented a unique effort by a big-city police department to honestly examine its failings.

But it left many critics of the department unsatisfied--dubious that accountability for Rampart had been traced to the highest possible levels of the organization, and suspicious that the department had failed to explore the full extent of the corruption. At the same time, it produced the opposite response from some LAPD insiders, who considered it an overzealous attack on the entire department, when only a few officers were culpable.

Against Parks’ initial wishes, the department eventually agreed to the terms of a federal consent decree designed to ensure specific reforms.

It was around the decree and other issues that friction with his department’s civilian overseers began to grow acute.

Hahn places great weight on those disagreements, using it to justify his claim that Parks had not overseen adequate reforms. Asked his definition of reform, Hahn said: “The key reform is the willingness of the LAPD, and particularly the chief and his staff, to accept the fact that they are answerable to civilian control.”

A number of disputes emerged over the unfolding of Rampart criminal investigations and the terms of the consent decree. Parks also parted ways with his civilian bosses over the controversial 1999 shooting of a mentally ill homeless woman, Margaret Mitchell; compressed work schedules for officers; and the collection of racial profiling data.

Hahn, as city attorney, was called more than once to referee Parks’ clashes with the commission and its inspector general, and the experience seems to have been important in shaping his present view.

But it was Parks’ changes to the department discipline system that have perhaps marked his tenure as chief more than any other action. A key change was the simple order that all complaints would be taken and investigated with an eye to possible discipline.

Parks supporters said the changes resulted in the LAPD granting a voice to the powerless for the first time. But as complaint investigations tripled, many within the LAPD found themselves overwhelmed.

Parks claims to have lately ironed out some of the problems in the system, but not before his some officers were left reeling.

Hahn said the low state of officer morale presents broad problems for public safety and throws into question Parks’ abilities as a leader. Parks has also been seen by those who have clashed with him as excessively rigid and stubborn.

Parks has argued that it is his job to disagree with overseers when he thinks they are in error, and is dismissive of the mere suggestion that he ought to try to be a better politician. Supporters are fond of asserting that Parks is the best chief the city ever had; his detractors are equally fond of asserting that he could have been the best chief the city ever had.

Times staff writers Andrew Blankstein, David Ferrell, Milton Carrero Galarza, Matea Gold, Anna Gorman, Laura Loh, John Mitchell, Doug Smith and Kurt Streeter contributed to this report.

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Los Angeles Police Commission

The five unpaid members of the commission are appointed by the mayor. The commission voted 4-1 to reject Police Chief Bernard C. Parks’ reappointment. Only David Cunningham voted for Parks.

Rick J. Caruso, commission president, 43, founder and president of Caruso Affiliated Holdings, a real estate investment firm.

Rose Matsui Ochi, commission vice president, 63, attorney, ex-director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service.

Bert Boeckmann, 71, owner and CEO of Galpin Motors Inc.

David S. Cunningham III, 47, attorney who specializes in redevelopment and land use.

Silvia Saucedo, 28, attorney with law firm Nossaman, Guthner, Knox & Elliott.

Source: Times news files, Los Angeles Police Dept.