officers - The Black Vault

But Tuesday, Bradley crossed
the line. "Unfortunately, Chief
Gates has not recognized the impact
he is having on the LAPD,"
the mayor said. "His reactions to
the tragic Rodney King beating
have made an ugly situation ·even
worse." · ·
'·"As mayor," he added, "Ihave
· reluctantly concluded that
I can no longer wait for Daryl_
Gates to do what is best for the
LAPD."
Instead, the. mayor continued,
Gates has embarked upon a public
relations campaign to keep his job
"that has only deepened our
wounds and wid,ened our differences."
·
Gates denied that he has orchestrated
a public relations effort pn
his own behalf, saying that thousands
of "just plain folks" h.ave
come to his defense.
The chief stressed that he would
· step down · only if a panel he
appointed last week to review
LAPD procedures determines that
· he was "derelict" in performing his
duties.
· "If they find that I have been
- derelict ... I'll say goodby. But I
don't thi'nk I have," Gates said.
He read from a 1989 report by
City Atty. James K. Hahn criticizing
Bradley's ties to financial institutions
that dealt with the city and
the mayor's efforts to secure city
funds for a scandal-plagued African
trade group.
fl' "Ethics is what we're really
) talking about," Gates told repo~ters
after citing the report. "He's called ·
· on me to do the moral thing,
getting into ethics. Well, no one's
ever questioned my ethics. No
one's ever questioned my integrity
or my honesty." 6
Last month, the Los Angeles
County grand jury indicted four
. LAPD officers in the beating on
' charges that include assault w_ith a
deadly weapon and assault under
the color of authority. The officers
.have pleaded not guilty. ·
In addition, six other govern-.
ment inquiries into the Police De­
·partment and the King incident are
. underway.
Gates was appointed chief by the
· Police Commission in 1978. According
to the City Charter, a
police chief has Civil Service protections
and can be fired or disciplined
by the commission only if it
• can show "cause," usually interpreted
to meaq misconduct or wi~l-.
ful neglect of official duties. ·
•
As a result, there have been calls
in City Hall to change the Charter.
Despite the legal difficulties in
ousting Gates, a publi~ groun~swell-fueled
in part by Bradley s
office and the American Civil Liberties
Union-has grown demanding
his resignation.
Others who want him removed
include several African-American
·groups, such as the Urban League
and the National Assn. for the
Advancement of Colored People.
A variety of loc;al and national
political leaders also have called on
Gates to step down, including City
·Councilman Michael Woo, state
Assembly Speaker Willie Brown
(D-San Francisco) and U.S. Sen.
·Joseph Biden (D-Delaware).
Woo the only City Counci~
membe~ to demand Gates' resignation,
said after th~ mayor's speech:
"Mayor Bradley has taken a very
bold step in the best interests of the
Police Department and the
city. . . . Now it is up to Chief
Gates to-let the healing begin by
stepping down." .
In contrast, Gates has rec~1ved
the support of·Gov. Pete Wilson
and several City Council members,
including Picus, Hal Bernson, Joan
Milke Flores and council President
John Ferraro.
Bradley's · speech, accordi?g to
' sources at City Hall, culmmated
weeks of behind-the-scenes efforts
directed by his top aide,
Deputy Mayor Mp.rk Fabiani. . .
· On March 15, Bradley appomted
:·\civil .libertarian. Stanley. S~ein­
·"· baum to the Pollee Comm1SS1on, a
move hailed by those seeking the
chief's resignation. On March 26,
Bradley replaced one of the five
Civil Service commissioners who
eventually could decide whether
Gates should be fired.
The mayor's office also worked
with community groups that are
dem~nding new LAP.D leadership
and lobbied· council members to
publicly denounce the chief. .
In public, ho~ever, Bradl~y sa1d
his office was not workmg to
unseat Gates. The mayor repeate.dly
said he would not. call for the
chief to step down because it was
unlikely that Gates would do so .
· "I think he has been advised by
some people already and he's made
it very clear that he has no i~tention
of leaving," Bradley sa1q on
March 21 during a tour of South­
Central Los Angeles. "He's told me
that. So I don't )Jelieve in engaging
·:in fruitless activities."
Six days later, Bradley told a
press conferenc'e: "There have
been a number of people who have
£ailed for th~ chief's resignation. I
>' have not done so. : . .-i think that
; ~ the chief is the one wlio is going to
.. have to recognize when his retirement
is required in order to bring
about that process."
Under fire from various community
groups and political_leaders,
Gates has responded with his own
public relations campaign. He has
appeared on a number of television ·
talk shows-including "Prime
Time Live"· and "Face the Nation"
...,..and addressed a crowd of
supporters at a Police Academy
rally. Los Angeles police officers
and their supporters began wearing
blue ribbons to symbolize their
solidarity with the chief and his
department. ·
. Gates' most comprehensive ef­
. fort· to restore confidence in the
LAPD came last week, when he
announced a 10-point plan to im­
·-.prove community relations and
. ~·explore the causes of police brutal-
. ity. . ' . (
· The cornerstone of the plan was
·, the .appointment of a committee
~:chaired by retired state Supreme
;· Court Justice John A. Arguelles.
: The committee is ~o conduct an
~ exhaustive inquiry into the LAPD's
.' training practices and policies. ·
·on Monday, Bradley countered
. by announcing the appointment of
: .. his own review panel, headed by
· former Deputy Secretary of State
· Warren M. C}:lristopher. ·
· Argu~lles and Christopher said
Monday they had discussed coordinating
the efforts of their committees.
The Christopher Commission
· was a key element in the mayor's
· campaign to rem.ove ·Gates from
office, and the announcement that
·the two committees could work
together appeared to temporarily
. frustrate Bradley's attempts at
persuading the chief to resign.
In a statement released Tuesday,
Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler
, hinted that acc~pting n;tembers of
the Gates-appoint~d Arguelles
Commission into the mayor's commission
would compromise the latter's
independence. ·
"Areview [of ihe Police Department]
that does not
look to the city or the LAPD for
financing or staffing is the· only
way to ensure the commission's
independence," Chandler said.
"And a completely independent
· review is what the city needs."
By contrast; Gates said that
merging the two panels "makes a
lot of sense and so I'm all for it."
In another development Tues-
~~ ·day, ACLU officials said they had
gathered petitions·with 20,000 sig­
-natures demanding Gates' resign a­
tion.