officers - The Black Vault

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department for employees to continue
their regular duties while
awaiting an investigation or formal
disciplinary action, they may be
assigned to inactive duty" by a
superior officer."
The wording is "no more specific
than that," said Asst. City Atty.
Diane Wentworth:
Unaer the City Charter, Gates is
treated as though he has the
same rights as any other police
officer. His "chief," however, is the
mayorally appointed Police Commission.
If serious, formal charges
are brought, he would then be
entitled to a formal hearing before
the city Civil Service Commission.
·Grodin said there is ample ammunition
to challenge the Police
Commission's decision. He said
there must be "formal charges of a
serious nature ... moral turpitude,
criminal activity or mismanagement,"
before an officer can be
forced to take a leave with pay.
"We don't have any of that here."
Representatives of the city attorney's
office said that the Police
Commission has a lot of leeway, but
whether it has the authority to do
what it did is unclear.
· "Generally...-there is substantia:!
discretion given to an appointing
authority [in this case, the
Police Commission]," said Fred
Merkin, senior assistant city attorney
in charge of employee relations.
"As to· whether or not that's
. sufficient, I'm not going to say."
Because the city attorney's office
customarily defends, in civil
court, police officers accused of
misconduct, Merkin said the office
in this case has removed itself from
its other customary role of advising
the Police Commission.
"We are neutral in this contro­
·versy," he said. "We are asking the
council to act on a request from the
Police Commission that a private
firm be retained." He said, howev­
-er, the commission already had
sought the advice of private lawyers,
whom he declined to name.
. ~ } ·'
Gates' lawyers said they plan to:
ask the Superior Court in Los
Angeles to int~rvene on the chief's '·
behalf, contending he has been the·,
victim of a political frame-up. ..
"I think it's very political," Gro- ~
din said. "People in city government
have decided tli~y don't like•·
the chief and they are using the·
King incident to try to get rid of·
him."
•,
A
dded Melkonian: "We believe
the Police Commission is act·~
ing through improper politicaL in-,.
fluences, and that for the benefit of:
the city and the chief, the judiciary"
must take control of the situation." 1
Several members of the Los:
Angeles City Council agreed. "I~
think that .today's action .by the·
Police Commission, coupled with:
the mayor's attempt to take overthe
Civil Service system, are a :
shocking abuse of pur time-honored
system of government, and a .
flagrant disregard for due process," .....
said City Councilman Joel Wac~