Police chief, mayor urge openness

With the Los Angeles Police Department suddenly confronted with intense criticism for its policies of secrecy, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton on Thursday called for changing state law to ensure that police disciplinary board meetings and some records are reopened to the public.

A day after community activists and city officials expressed outrage because the LAPD held a secret board of rights hearing to clear the officer who fatally shot 13-year-old Devin Brown, Bratton likened the closure of the process to a "star chamber."

"I am in support of change. I am very frustrated by [the current process]," Bratton said early Thursday. "The public has no access to it. The media has no access to it. That's crazy, absolutely crazy. We have nothing to hide in the Los Angeles Police Department."

Hours later, Villaraigosa issued a concurring statement .

"The mayor would enthusiastically support legislation or other measures to open the board of rights process to the public," the statement said. "Transparency

The proposal to reopen hearings, however, drew a strong rebuke from the union representing LAPD officers, and leaders vowed to vigorously fight it in Sacramento.

The endorsement of openness from the mayor and chief -- after months of closed-door disciplinary hearings -- reflected the swift, and sometimes racially divisive, public outcry that has followed the Brown case. Angry residents and city leaders have condemned the board's ruling, and placed Bratton in the uncomfortable position of having to defend the LAPD without being able to discuss the facts behind the decision.

That has crystallized for many observers the difficulties in privately administering discipline, especially given the deeply ingrained suspicion about the LAPD in some minority communities.

On Wednesday, The Times revealed that an LAPD board had secretly cleared Officer Steven Garcia in the Brown case after the civilian Police Commission had declared the shooting to be in violation of policy.

Although disciplinary hearings had historically been open in Los Angeles, the LAPD changed its policy late last year in response to a California Supreme Court ruling that restricted access to law enforcement personnel records in a San Diego case.