officers - The Black Vault

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•
terly opinion surveys in each of the
department's 18 divisions for public
"feedback" on police services.
• Renewed discussions with the
federal government to "commit a
significant a~ount of resources" to
the development of new police
technology that will provide "more
modern, non-lethal alternatives to
. . . the club and pistol."
• Cmdr. Rick Dinse, formerly a
captain in the San Fernando Valley,
has been assigned as the
chief's "personal, full-time" liaison
to the government agencies-including
the FBI-conducting investigations
of the King beating.
• Cmdr. Mike Bostic, currently
!lCting chief of operations in the
South Bureau, will lead a review of
the department's training procedures.
Bostic will also study police
training methods in cities across
the country.
Mayor Tom Bradley praised elements
of Gates' program but said it
was overdue, while some civll
rights groups said the plan falls
woefully short of the reforms
needed to prevent future incidents
of brutality.
"While I am pleased that the
chief is looking at these kinds of
things, my only concern is it seems
to me that these are things that
were call~d for a long. time ago,"
Bradley said at a press conference
Wednesday.
"As to why they have not been
done, I do not know," Bradley
continued. "I think his efforts to
have an independent committee
take a look at some aspects of
excessive use of force is beneficial."·
Danny Bakewell, president of
the Brotherhood Crusade, an African-American
civic organization,
called Gates' program "too little,
too late."
He said his organization will
continue to call for Gates to
resign.
Gates said the Arguelles committee
will act independently from
a similar review panel soon to be
established by Mayor Bradley.
Arguelles, a 63-year-old Irvine
resident, was appointed to the
· Supreme Court in 1987 by Gov.
J George Deukmejian. He served two
·. y~ars before retiring in March,
. 1989.
"I know John Arguelles," Gates
. said. "He's a tough guy, a tough­
. minded guy. They're not going to
sugarcoat anything and I don't
want them to."
Arguelles said he first met Gates
in 1989 at a Police Academy lunch­
. eon honoring the Hispanic Com­
; mand Officers Assn., a group of
•• 1
Latino LAPD supervisors at the
rank of lieutenant and above. Arguelles
wa~ the principal speaker
at the luncheon.
Arguelles said his committee will
· avoid discussion of the King beat­
. ing, choosing to focus instead on
Police Department training methods
in general and other cases of
police brutality that have cost the
city millions of dollars in court
settlements.
"I hope we can disengage ourselves
from all the politics over
whether Chief Gates should resign,"
Arguelles ~d Wednesday
from his Orange County law office.
"I was born in_~he. city ~f Los
Angeles," Arguelles said in ex- -
plaining why he had accepted the
post. ··u·s a wonderful city and it's
going to have a Police Department
as long as it's a city. ~f i~ has
deficiencies, we want to find them
and batten down the hatches. . ·. . ·
Let the chips fall where they may."'
Gates said that Dr. James Zumberge,
retired pre!lident. of USC,
had also agreed to serve as a
member of the panel.
As Gates made his recommendations
at a crowded downtown news
conference, investigations into the
King beating continued.
F'BI agents and· Los Angeles
· County district attorney's investigators-sometimes
working together-renewed
their efforts to
interview police officers assigned
to the Foothill Division in the
.North San Fernando Valley, where
the March.3 incident took place.
A Justice Department source
said the FBI intends to finish its
investigation of possible civil rights
violations this week, after being
met with resistance by many of the
division's 246 officers who were
advised by their union to seek
immunity before talking. Only a
handful of officers have agreed to
be interviewed.
The 14 district attorney investigators
assigned to the King case
are concentrating their efforts on
the '17 .uniformed officers who
watched the beating but did not
intervene. They are reviewing
these officers' actions in other
cases, sources close to the case
said, and are trying to determine
whether still other officers might
have participated in an attempted
cover-up of the incident.
"The district attorhey's investigation
is into the Rodney King
. incident and any officers who may
be involved as principals or accessories,"
said spokeswoman Sandi
. Gibbons. She said it does not parallel
the brqad federal inquiry into I
. whether a pattern of racism and r
police brutality exists. ·
Late Tuesday, attorneys for
King filed an $83-million claim
with 'the city of Los Angeles,
naming the four indicted officers as
"perpetrators" in the beating. If
, the claim is not settled within 45
.days, King can file a lawsuit..