officers - The Black Vault

FD·350' (Bev. 5·8·81)
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~----------~(M~o~u~~~c~u~~~~~g~i~n~S~pa~c~e~B=~~~~~~---------~~~: LOS ~GELES TI~S
Editlon!I'UES APRIL 9, 1991
Front Section, Page 20
Gates Voiced Concern,
Anger to Commission
• Confrontation: Transcript shows the chief
sparring with police board members in the meeting
at which they placed him on leave.
By RICHARD A. SERRANO
TIMES STAFF WRITER
: Meeting behind closed doors
with the Los Angeles Police
Commission last week, Chief
Daryl F. Gates made it clear to
his superiors that he was embarrassed
by their decision to
place him on administrative
.leave, that he planned to hold
each of them personally responsible,
and that their order
"is going to be extremely ·disruptive."
"I think these problems
could have been solved in a
. much more effective way," he
·told the three commissioners as
they voted last Thursday to
· temporarily remove him from
.office.
"I think to do this just before
· an election also is disruptive to
·the city," Gates said. "And I'm
very disappointed in the action
. !lf this board. But I will respect
it and follow it.''
A transcript of the hourlong
session at Parker Center police
headquarters, made available
Monday, also shows that Gates
·was deeply concerned about
the personal ramifications of
.. being forced to vacate his
:sixth-floor office, where he has
.run the LAPD for the last 13
years.
He asked and was given
permission to attend two social
functions he already had
.scheduled as chief. He worried
about what would happen to
_personal files kept in his office.
' Gates was given approval to
make a videotape for his troops
to' explain his departure, a re-
.. quest that was granted after
•·commission Vice President Me­
:lanie Lomax advised him not to
•include any "editorializing or
\Other comments that are likely
'to mflame the sttuation."
'
ates also won assurances
. Gthat he could keep his city
c;ar and retinue of bodyguards.
· Citing the spreading centro- ·
versy over the Rodney G. King ·
. •· police beating, Gates saicl,= "I
have been the subject of serious
threats to my life. My family
has been threatened.''
King was seriously injured
by police baton blows during
his arrest after a March 3 car
chase in the · San Fernando
Valley. The beating was video-
1 taped. Four officers have been
charged with assault, and .numerous
investigations are under
way into allegations of
brutality and racism by Los
Angeles police.
A week ago, Mayor Tom
· Bradley publicly asked Gates to
resign. Gates refused and the
Police Commission on Thursday
ordered him placed on
. home leave .
On Friday, the .City Council
voted to reinstate Gates by
ordering the city attorney's office
to settle Gates' lawsuit
seeking his job .back. A Superior
Court judge on Monday is­
.sued a temporary restraining
order allowing Gates to return
to work.
At last week's.executive sesntle:GATES
VOICED CONCERN, ANGE
TO COML\1ISSION
Character: CIVIL RIGHTS
or
Classification: 8 0-33B
Submitting Office:
I.OS ANGELES
Indexing:
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SEARCHED 'vc;::;:~JfNIOLEE~ED~
SERIAUZEO•_:.;;-- ~
APR 15 1991
FBI LOS ANGELES 0
. sion, Gates barely had taken his .
· seat when commission Presi­
.dent Daniel Garcia told him
that he was being reassigned to
home duty .
With Gates gone, Garcia said,
the commission "would continue
and expand its investigation
to determine whether there is
any basis for bringing ch~g~s
of mismanagement, neglect of
duty or other breaches of duty."
Gates, saying that the 'commission
was being unfair, complained
about Lomax's -comment
when she was appointed
İ
to the board last year that she
would bring a "shotgun" approach
to the job. SP,e has since
,. denied making the statement.
r •'J don't share your views at
all," he told her. "I think your
. comments right from the very
beginning before you were a
part of this organization . . ..
suggested that there would be
trouble."
Lomax, in an interview Mon- .
day, angrily termed Gates'
comments a· "personal attack
against. me."
"That is his . style,'' she
said. "He likes to say, 'I
will remember you, watch out.'
He .has a bullying type of
"~ style . ... It's the kind of lower-level
dialogue that the chtef
too often ~mgages in. I ~elieve
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