officers - The Black Vault

putes with Gates, said he was not
surprised by Tuesday's standoff.
"You have an irresistible force
meeting the immovable object,"
Yaroslavsky said. "But what it real:.
ly means is that we have a crisis in
.city government.
"The mayor says to the chief of'
police to quit and the chief says
he won't. I don't think this speaks
well of the city."
Yaroslavsky questioned whether
the city could take action to fire
Gates.
"That would be a hard case to
make," Yaroslavsky said. "Here
you have a department head who,
for six successive years, has received
superior ratings from the
mayor," Yaroslavsky said.
Councilman Michael Woo, who
was the first elected city officia! to
call on Gates to resign, said he believed
Bradley had "taken a bold
step in the best interests of th~ police
department and the city.
George Aliano, president of the
Los Angeles Police Protective
League union representing officers,
· said the mayor is wrong.'
"The mayor and the chief ha­
·ven't gotten along for years,"
Aliano said. "The mayor made a
mistake. My members do not believe
they are hurting. If the mayor
wants to let the healing period begin
then he should allow all these
· investigations to complete their
work and·let Chief Gates take care
· of the problems."
Bradley and other city officials
said, the· citizens panel set up by
· Gates to investigate the King beating
may merge with the mayoral
commission inve~tigating the incident.
The mayor said the decision
was up to the commission, which
he said is fully independent
·on Monday, Bradley appointed
a seven-member commission headed
by former Deputy Attorney
General War,ren Christopher to"'
look ~t use-of-force policies and the
management of the Police Depart:,.
ment. Last week, Gates appointed-a·
five-member panel headed by former
state -supreme Court Justice:
John Arguelles to review the use of
force by his department. ''"
Arguelles said that he and ChriS:.~:
topher are continuing negotiation~
on a merger of the !WO panels.
"We're close to settling on som~
kind of relationship," Arguelles·
said. "Frankly we're hoping to"
merge if we can. I think that would•
make the most sense. But we mai-'
come up sqort." · ·
Both Gates and Bradley said they·
would have no opposition to a rela:.
tionship between the two panels .. ~- ··
' . . '~ -
City Council members said they··
do not see the need for two citizens"'
panels, which come in addition 'tei<
investigations by the Police Coni~·\
mission, the City Council, the Dis:.
trict Attorney's Office and the U.S:"
Justice Department. · ,:.,,
Earlier, the American· Civil Li- ,
berties Uni-on displayed 10,00.0·:
new signatures on petitions calling"'
for Gates' resignation, adding to
10,000 already submitted to the.
Police Commission, for a total af·
20,000. . . . ~
ACLU officials said the policechief
should not have civil seryice,
protection and should be accounG
able to an independent civilian rc.-
view board. ·
'.l
"The Police Commission as it is_
now is not independent," said Pat~l
Hoffman, legaJ director of the
ACLU. "They are dependent OJ1
the same attorneys who ·advise th