The report reignited the debate about how to clean up the 8,450-member department. The panel, headed by former deputy secretary of state Warren Christopher, urged sweeping change–including a replacement for embattled chief Daryl Gates. Officials moved quickly to offer Gates, 64, a graceful way out of the post he has held for 13 years. Two city council members announced he would step aside before the end of the year, after a special election on a charter amendment limiting the chief’s tenure to 10 years–one of the commission’s major recommendations. But Gates protected from dismissal by civil-service rules, defiantly denied a deal had been cut.
Even if Gates is finally ousted, the department’s reputation will take years to restore. The 10-member panel, appointed by both Mayor Tom Bradley and Gates, assembled a withering indictment of the department he has run for 13 years. It found a “significant number” of officers who repeatedly used excessive force without being seriously disciplined. Sixty-three cops had 20 or more civilian complaints in their files. Some even won promotions. One officer who dragged a handcuffed suspect by his feet down a corridor was recommended for a job training rookies.
A study of squad-car computer messages established that the racial slurs heard in radio transmissions after the King beating were far from unique (box). Blacks are derided as “monkeys,” gays as “bun boys. " References to violence have the casual feel of office small talk. “Capture him, beat him and treat him like dirt,” one cop messaged. Other findings depict something closer to a frat party than a police department. According to the Los Angeles Times, one officer recounted the night a group tried its own version of the helicopter attack in “Apocalypse Now,” storming a Watts housing project while playing “Ride of the Valkyries” from squad-car loudspeakers.
Perhaps the most powerful evidence against Gates himself came from his top deputies. Assistant chief David Dotson told the commission that the LAPD’s leadership had “failed miserably” in holding supervisors accountable for officers’ actions. “But [Gates] doesn’t hold me accountable, either,” said Dotson. “I screw things up, and the worst he can do is get a pained expression on his face.” Dotson found that Gates is not as lax a disciplinarian as he thought. After his comments to the commission were made public, Gates stripped him of command of the department’s internal affairs division. A spokesman denied that the move was retaliatory and said Gates was only following the commission’s recommendation that the division report directly to the chief’s office.
Despite the damning findings, the commission debated the Gates question down to the final days of its closed-door deliberations. Some argued that urging resignation would only deflect attention from other important recommendations. Christopher, the veteran diplomat who negotiated the release of U.S. hostages from Iran, took no position. But he pressed members–a cross section of the city’s legal and political establishment that included three Gates loyalists–for a consensus. The report’s final language, which calls for “a transition” in the chief’s office, is less than muscular. Christopher denies that the commission pulled punches. The call for Gates’s removal, he told NEWSWEEK, was “put in polite but clear language.”
Some of the panel’s other recommendations have already been implemented. Squad-car computers are now monitored for racist and sexist comments. Others, like installation of patrol-car video cameras to monitor interactions with civilians, will need funding from a city council that has long been cowed by the imperious Gates. Major structural changes urged by the commission–enhancing the power of the Police Commission and limiting the chief’s tenure–will require an election to change the city charter. Bradley and several council members have promised one before the end of the year.
While L.A. struggles to resolve its law-enforcement crisis, the commission’s findings were making ripples in other cities. William Bratton, chief of the New York City Transit Police, gave summaries to senior officers. “We could all use a Christopher Commission,” said Fort Worth chief Thomas Windham. The question is whether the city that has it will bring the rogue faction of its police force under the rule of law.
BRUTAL MESSAGES>
The Christopher Commission report details police computer messages containing racial slurs and jokes about excessive force:
“Did U arrest the 85 yr old lady or just beat her up.”
“We just slapped her around a bit. she/s getting m/t [medical treatment] right now.”
“U can c the color of the interior of the [vehicle]…dig.”
“Ya stop cars with blk interior.”
“Bees they naugahyde.”
“Negrohide.”
“Self tanning no doubt.”
“If you encounter these negroes shoot first, ask questions later.”
“…what’s happening. we’re huntin wabbits”
“Actually, muslim wabbits”
