Just beneath the surface of Los Angeles' charter reform debate, a historic struggle for power is being waged inside the LAPD, with the department's chief trying to solidify his authority and the city's police union taking what once would have been considered desperate measures to resist.
According to documents submitted to the city's two charter commissions and interviews with many of the principals, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks is hoping that a new City Charter will bolster his authority to discipline wayward police officers and civilian employees of the Police Department.
Parks has asked for more leeway in handing out punishment and for permission to exempt top jobs in the LAPD from Civil Service protection, meaning that his deputies would serve at his pleasure and could be removed at his discretion. The chief is also trying to push the cost of defending officers accused of off-duty misconduct away from the department and onto the 9,600-member police union.
Each of those suggestions would have the effect of tightening Parks' control over the LAPD, giving him broader latitude to hire, fire and punish. In the words of Deputy Chief Gregory Berg, Parks seeks "what most managers want . . . more management flexibility in running the department day to day."
Parks, who is fond of saying that the LAPD "disciplines too many and fires too few," has disciplined and fired his share of officers since taking over the department a year ago. According to LAPD officials, Parks has removed more than 20 officers during the past year--already exceeding the number of officers terminated in previous years.
With such an assertive manager at the helm of the department, the police union is fighting any move to further strengthen the chief's hand.
"It's not surprising, really," said Gary Fullerton, a director of the Los Angeles Police Protective League. "The chief is trying to increase his power and authority."
The league believes its members, rank-and-file police officers, could be the victims of a stronger chief who shows such enthusiasm for punishment. As a result, the league is advocating a view that it once bitterly fought: handing over decisions on police punishment to civilians.
During the debate that riveted Los Angeles after the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King, the Police Protective League fought against any proposal that smacked of "civilian review" of police misconduct. So vehement were the league's objections that even the Christopher Commission, which recommended wholesale revisions to the way the LAPD handled discipline, shied away from proposing civilian review boards.
