When Police Chief William J. Bratton presents his report Tuesday on the MacArthur Park melee, he is expected to fault lapses in training, communication and planning and lax field command for flawed tactics that resulted in 50 people being struck by police batons and foam-rubber bullets.
But, after four weeks of investigation, the LAPD is still having trouble identifying all of the officers involved in specific allegations and is struggling to pin down who made key command decisions before the riot squad used force to clear out May Day marchers.
The initial report on what went wrong at the immigrant rights rally May 1 will provide the Police Commission with a broad blueprint of mistakes that culminated when officers, who were pelted with rocks and bottles from agitators, used force on others in the park, including bystanders and journalists.
"There are significant concerns about the events of that day, and a lot of things we will be focusing on," Bratton told The Times on Friday.
"The update will bring into much clearer perspective what we believe happened that day: what worked for us, what didn't work for us and what changes that we're making as a result."
After the incident, Bratton promised to release the required "after-action" report in 30 days, but he and his command staff said that report would not be done by Tuesday, so an oral presentation with Power Point backup will have to do.
Part of the reason for the delay is that not all the police and civilians have been interviewed.
There is some question about whether the oral report will satisfy the demands of political leaders to get to the bottom of what happened.
The incident, which was widely videotaped by television reporters and activists, has sparked cries for Bratton to be fired, while reform groups are suing the department in federal court to force changes in department policies and culture.
Police Commission Vice President Alan Skobin said the panel expects a thorough explanation Tuesday, but he noted some of the mistakes are being fixed.
Within days of the melee, Bratton reassigned Deputy Chief Cayler "Lee" Carter and Cmdr. Louis Gray, the two highest-ranking command officers at the scene, and Carter decided to retire after he was demoted to commander.
Civil rights attorney Carol Sobel noted it was Gray who ordered use of less-than-lethal force to break up an Oct. 22, 2000, rally at Parker Center. The incident cost taxpayers more than $700,000 to settle lawsuits alleging excessive force.
