officers - The Black Vault

_FD·3,t;(',,(Rev. 5·8·81)
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The Ineptitude
' . .
of L.A. Government
Bumbling and bureaucrats: a _City struggling for control
Los to no one. The system needS-~to
Angel~s is not covering itself
with glory these days. The ugly
LAPD furor triggered by the
videotaped beating case threatens to
disgrace the city. The competent and
measured performance of a political
. system is a prerequisite to stabilityand
a necessary bedrock of prosperity.
But in recent weeks, Los Angeles'
system has failed the test. Under
· mounting pressure, it has performed
with neither grace nor effectiveness.
The latest contretemps over the
·Police Commission's involuntary suspension
order illustrates the decline.
Last week the Police Commission, by
a unanimous vote of the Mayor .Bradley-appointed
commissioners present,
ordered Chief Daryl Gates to be
· suspended with pay for 60 days,
-pending its investigation of the ab­
. horrent police beating of a speeding
motorist. The merits of that decision
are certainly debatable. Supporters of
the chief believe that'the suspension
was a kind of summary judgment.
Critics of the chief believe that the
commission's 60-day cooling-off period
would have been well-advised.
But what cannot be denied is the
right of the Police Commission to
make that decision. That is precisely·
what it was set up to do. It is the
civilian controller of the LAPD and
. has not only the right but the responsibility
to exercise its judgment.
·Today, lhe Police Commission
stands rebuffed by the machinations
of the City Council and the city
attorney's office. They outmaneuvered
the commission in court and
blocked its move. The net result is
that the chief is back on the job, the
Police Commission has been told to·
take a back seat and the governmental
process has been undermined by
political factionalism. .
It is the very process of governing
. that is at risk in this crisis. The city's
,.elaborate civil service system offers
department heads, such as the chief
·i>f police, enormous protections from
·political overlordship. But what the
.system does not do is protect the city
~from the potential arrogance of toi?_
civil servants and from the debilitating
effects of bureaucrats accountable
be
reformed; it bas been flawed for a
long time but· the cracks have now
·become painfully obvious.
The current impasse ·puts a special
responsibility on three major players
in this civic drama to rise above any
propensity for posturing and politics
and, for the good of the city, look for a
wise way out. The first player, of
course, is the mayqr, who found
himself in the unaccustomed, and
uncomfortable, position of having to
take a high-profile stand on a highprofile
issue; he finally said that the
chief must resign: The second player,
o~ course, is the c;hief of police, who
has said that he won't. And the· third
is the City Council, which must
understand that the stakes in this
crisis are greater th~n almost any it
has ever dealt with. At risk is nothing
less than the bond of trust people in
~this city feel toward each other, and
toward the men and· women sworn to
protect them from crime. So the usual
jostling for political advantage, the
playing to c.onstituencies, the backroom
deals-all the traditional tools
used at City Hall-must be put on the
shelf now for the good' of Los Angeles.
To this end, the peace-making
press conference Tuesday between
the mayor, the council president and
· the police chief is all to the good.
~os Angeles Times
Date: 'Ned April 10 1991
Edition: • '
Metro Sectlon, Page 6
TIUe: THE INEPTITUDE OF L.A.
GOVERNMENT
Character:
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Classtfication:
Submitting Office: 8 0-3 3B
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Here's the story: DarY.l Ga~s looks
to be the chief of police until the
Police Commission, having completed
its investigation, reaches the irreversible
conclusion that there are
overwhelming grounds for his removal.
Or Gates remains chief until
he reaiizes that he has become an
impediment to progress and steps
down-as The Times has already
urged. But ·until either one of those
determinations is made, Los Angeles
needs to try going about its business
without becoming the laughingstock
of the country. The situation i$ almost
out of .control. It is the job of the l~"~ ~1 {' ~~!~;~
political Establishment to .get its act lJt-/.A ... /,A ... \ ... '{'""{ 'Q\.(... U .... ~"11~·'
together. _ ;: __ ..:-·