officers - The Black Vault

"' think an incident of this
nature causes a tremendous loss
of confidence in the citizenry
about the behavior of the Police
Department," Lomilx said.
The new controversy came
while the 8,400-member department
is reeling from an unprecedented
series of violent .acts
against officers last month, including
the fatal shooting of
Tina Kerbrat, the first female
LAPD officer killed on duty.
After Kerbrat was slain,
Gates described her killer, :who
was himself shot and killed by
·police, as "an El Salvadoran
drunk - a drunk who .doesn't
belong here."
The remarks were called rac­
'ist by several civil rights leaders
•who demanded an apology from
[Gates. While the chief co~ceded
·he did not mean ~good Salva-.
r . •
doran ·people"· should Aid
accountable, he refusoo to $pol-
• l n i.
'ogiZe.
Commissioners resign
In other developments, .p~lice
Commission .Pre8ident )Ier~
Boeckmann and board member
Reva Tooley resigned Monday
rather than disclose their finan­
! cial assets under.. the new_ ethics
I law, • (F ..'•"' ~ ' k~N""'
. "'-
"' "' ~· '
At the 'same· time, ;~~t ·
l Chief Jessie :Brewer u-...:.. ~-the
.city's highest-rahking blac~ officer-
has .re~~r~a-.9.-~tes'
heir-apparent, Deputy ·Chief
william 'Rathburn, · ii88 ·taken
the ·police .. chiers job li~allas.
The moves bY. Rathburn ·and
Brewer were part of :a ·eontinuing
trend of top brass lea\>ing
the LAPD because oi a lack of
advancement opportullit)r while
·Gates, w)lo has ~.n .cJrie~. for
13 years,· re~ ~...:~~~~- __
The ·department also has
been sued by. 'the :~ta:~'s ·Fair
Employment and Ho.~ ·De­
·partment for allegedly1'ailing to
. p;romote a. sufficien~ n~ber of
·Hispanic& and .b'lacks -to ~h­
.er-level positions.. .. ....... ·.· :
.. ~~) - l.!i"!'l!'•tt ~
Last fall, coneern~ that tile
Police .Commission was ·doing
an inadequate job overseeing
the LAPD, Bradley appointed
Lomax an.d attorney Dan Garcia
to the pane~ ~epla~~ wo
veteran memberS!. :- " ··
The shake-up was seen ,partly
as Bradley's reaCtion tO oom­
:Plaints about nates.,: 'remark
that "casual drug·~rs::~ughtP8
taken out and shot" jind a _police
drug raid tpat .~e8ulted in
the beating of a.gr9tiii~f'~~city
residents and }.he,!'~clting
of their ~partments, .r;::.,...
But it was also seen as~radley's
attempt to' .Pressure ~Gates
from the job and perhaps ha~e
him replaced by Rathburn,~wlio
earned high marks .for guiding
anti-gang efforts in ·South-Central
LOs A-ngeles and ;had ~n
recently .named the .:citY's, new
"drug czar., '" .;......b~ ~~- , ~I(· 1-o~ '"'~'"' J
• R ... .. :)' ....