officers - The Black Vault

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•
• ·1 aders from thd;~~groups said Ihey
auld favor a fixed, five-year term
r all future police chiefs.
. "~.t will become like any other
J b, said R. Samuel Paz ·Of the
alice Commission's Hispanic Adisory
Council. "If the council is
ot satisfied with the chief's perrmance,
they cap ask him to
ave and appoint somebody new."
~~ achieve that change, city
ff1c1als say voters would have to
Iter the City Charter in at least
o ways-by exempting the po­
~ce. chief from: Civil Service proetlan
and by relaxing the strict
' riteria for his removal, as spelled
ut in the charter. ·.
Under the current charter, the
oard of Civil Service commissionrs
holds the authority to remove
P.-level' city employees. 'These.
mployees can be dismissed only
: ·• for cause," which amounts to a
'nding tha~ the employee is not
fit and suitable" to perform the
ssential duties of the job, accordng
to Diane W~ntworth, assistant
• ity attorney for employee relaions.
Traditionally, these -criteria-
. hich have 'been in place since
937-have been seen as a way of
rotecting top-level city employes
from brJing removed for purely.
olitical reasons. ·
As the charter now reads, deartment
heads who are being
r threatened :with' removal have the
constitutional right to a hearing
before the Civil Service Commis­
J>ion. "I am not sure you can take
that right away from an incumbent
:officeholder,'' Wentworth said.
As the political debate continued
in ·City Hall, the county grand jury
Tuesday was hearing from another
rouild of witnesses in the King
. case. Law enforcement sources
said the · citizens panel, which is
·expected to consider assault charges
against the .:officers, will also
Jook·into possible violations of state'
·dvil rights laws.
Four witnesses were on lland ·
Tuesday: California Highway Pa-.
trol Officer Melanie ·Singer, who
·participated in a car chase involving
King; Los A,ngeles Police Sgt.
John Amott, a traffic officer who
· was not present during the beating
but who said he handled some of
the paperwork; and two 'Los Angeles
Unified School District ·police
officers who were at the scene of
the beating ..
The wife of one of the school
police officers said in an interview
. Tuesday evening that her husband,
Paul J. Beauregard, was not
watching while the beating oc­
·curred.
"I don't know why they're grilling
him," ~he ~'?aid. ·
Her. husband declined comment.
· Times staff writers Leslie Berger
Glenn F. Bunting, Frank Clifford, Scott
~arris, Lois Timnlck, Hector Tobar and
!racy Wood contributed ~o this story.
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