Trutanich enters term with changes in mind for city attorney's office

"We're going to build this unit, we're going to fund it, we're going to get them automobiles, we're going to have a regular police force," the city attorney said. That force -- which consists of three Trutanich appointees -- might even be responsible for keeping an eye on the LAPD, he said.

"I don't want to see a need for another consent decree," Trutanich said, referring to the federal restraints imposed on the LAPD after the Rampart Division corruption scandal. "If there's something that we need to do to supervise LAPD to make sure that they comply, let the independent police department -- the bureau of investigation -- do that supervision. Why do we have to make millionaires out of private lawyers?"

Trutanich, who grew up in San Pedro and spent nearly a decade as a deputy district attorney in the 1980s, was elected with a comfortable margin in May after a bruising runoff campaign with two-term Councilman Jack Weiss, who had the support of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Police Chief William J. Bratton.

Weiss accused Trutanich of having a "moral sinkhole" of clients at his boutique law firm, where he had represented a number of environmental polluters and several clients who ran afoul of gun laws. Trutanich said Wednesday that he'd severed ties with the former firm, now Michel & Associates.

--

maeve.reston@latimes.com

Times staff writer David Zahniser contributed to this report.