officers - The Black Vault

-liD-350 (Rev. 5-8·8 1)
[v
•
(Indicate page, name of
newspaper, city and state.)
(Mount Clipping in Space Below)
.---------___;~~~~~:::.:..::::::::.;.:..:_--------1oate: LOS ANGELES TIMES
Police Panel to Confront .,.,., ~~~~~ ~~~~ro!: ~!:! 21
. - . . ' , . . .
~H~OLICE PANEL TO CONFRONT
ISSUE OF GATES' FATE
c;"
Issue of Gates Fate
'I
• Beating: Commission ~chedules closed-door meeting
tpday to wrestle with 'Yhat to do about embattle_d_ chief.
By RICHARD A. SERRANO
and JAMES RAINEY
TIMES STAFF WRITERS
:With the political repercus~ions
of the Rodney G. King affair
reaching a peak, the Los Angeles
Pplice Commission has scheduled a
s~ecial closed-door meeting today
to wrestle with what to do about
embattled Police Chief Daryl F.
Gates.
·Although members have declined
to discuss in detail their
agenda, Commission Vice President
Melanie Lomax said Wednesdq.y
that the panel must move
ahead "in the very near future" in
d~ciding what disciplinary action,
. itany, to take against Gates.
Mayor Tom Bradley called Tuesday
for Gates to resign, but the
chief's refusal to step down has
shifted the debate to the civilian
Police Commission, where sources
.said panel members could chose
~
m a range of options, including
acing Gates on a temporary leave
absence or firing him.
• "I'm simply not going to accept it
(discipline)," Gates said on ABC's
Nightline program late Wednesday
night. "I don't think they have a
basis for it."
Gates said he would not disobey
any order by the commission, but
added that he would vigorously
appeal any disciplinary finding.
Lomax and her colleagues might .
choose to wait for the return of .
Stanley Sheinbaum, a Westside '
civil libertarian who was confirmed
Wednesday by the City
COuncil, on a 10-2 vote, as a new
member of the commission. Sheinbaum
left on a European trip ·
Tuesday afternoon and Cmdr.
Frank Piersol, the commission liai- .
: son, said today's meeting may be ·
; postponed.
l -The council's confirmation hear­
! · ing was marked by sometime~
s~arp ~:tt~cism of Sheinbaum ~or
hiS aff1hat10n over the years Wlth
th~ American Civil Liberties Un~
'•
.ton, which has been outspoken in
j its call for Gates' removal. Some
' council members also blasted
! Bradley for publicly urging Gates
I to step down. .
' As Oebate rageQ in the ~unci!
over Sheinbaum's appointment,
: and whether the Police Commission
should remove Gates, the chief
.was marshaling his forces to fight
for his job. . .
Jay Grodin, a private attorney
personally hired by Gates to defend
him against any disciplinary moves
by the commission, warned
Wednesday that the panel . must
have proof that Gates·· has been
derelict in his duties before attempting
to oust him from the post
he has held for 13 years.
·"Melanie Lomax and the other
police commissioners ought to review
the City Charter, the govern~
ment code and a lot of case law
first," Grodin said.
"There's nothing they ~n do
right now. Even a temporary leave
has to be for some cause, and the
cause cannot be nebulous. There
have to be charges that are
brought and the fact that someone
says there is a crisis in the LAPD is
not enough."
Lomax, however, said she be-.
lieved the commission could reach
a decision on whether it wants to
discipline · Gate's without waiting
for the outcome of a series of
independent investigations now
under way into the LAPD. She also
noted that the commission, which
still has one vacancy left, should
not wait for Bradley to appoint a
fifth member before taking action.
"I do believe the commission has
the responsibility to address this
question seriously in the very near
future,'' she said. "I think that it is
bad for the department, the city
and· the chief for this crisis to
continue iui Museam without any
clear resolution."
Attempts to · reach two other
Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
01:
Class~~tion:R 0-3 3 B
Subrmtting Office:
IDS ANGELES
Indexing:
SEARCHED ~ INDEXED
SERIALI~ED: ~LA.ri1LE0 1 -"b'-....-=,/:;;._l
APR t 2 1991
FBI
LOS ANGELES
I~
I
commission members, President
Daniel Garcia and Samuel Williams,
were unsuccessful·Wednesday.
But on Tuesday, after hearing
Bradley's call for Gates to resign,
Garcia said he could not comment
on the matter "because we are in
the peculiar position of m~ybe
having to someday" discipline or
remove the chief.
"I still think that -the decision to
retire is obvioUsly a personal one
for the chief,'' he added. ·
. Last week, Garcia told The
Times that the commission should
do nothing about Gates until after
its investigative staff has thorouglily
reyiewed the March 3 police
beating of King. The beating
was captured on videotape: and has
led to a na?onal furor over police ..
brutality.
Sour.ces said that Williams, a
longtime Bradley ally who has
served the longest on the commis­
' ·sion, has in the last two weeks
become convinced that Gates must
;
go. .. .
"He's had a tough time with it,"
said one source, who asked not to
be identified, "but he just can't
watch that videotape anymore
without having the same reaction
; that the problem is systemic.".
Another source said that Bradley's
speech Tuesday calling ·on
Gates. to resign makes it easier for
. Williams to vote against the chief.
"He'll go along with it, now that
Mayor Bradley is out of the closet."
At Wednesday's confirmatiOn
hearing, Sheinbaum faced more
than an hour of sometimes pointed
FBI/OOJ