Los Angeles City Councilman Herb Wesson called Wednesday for public hearings on whether to rescind the two-term limit for the city's police chief, a change that would allow William J. Bratton to serve as head of the Los Angeles Police Department until 2017.
Removing the term limits would require voter approval and revise one aspect of the police reforms that stemmed from the riots after four LAPD officers were initially acquitted of brutality in the 1991 beating of Rodney G. King. Those reforms limited the police chief to two five-year terms.
Bratton is the first LAPD chief to serve a second five-year term since voters approved the reforms in 1992. Previous chiefs Bernard C. Parks and Willie L. Williams each served one term and were not reappointed by the city's civilian Police Commission.
"Why would you not want to have an option to retain a person who is doing a good job?" asked Wesson, who plans to bring a motion before the City Council on Friday seeking public hearings. "I think at this point, we just want to begin the conversation."
The councilman said the idea of changing the city charter is "not about Bratton" but about whether the city should have the option to retain a seasoned and successful police chief. Still, he said, Bratton is a prime example of a chief the city would be wise to keep around.
Bratton, in a brief interview, said Wesson mentioned "in passing" a few weeks ago that he was considering a move to lift the term limit but that they had not discussed the issue since.
With more than three years left in his second term, the 61-year-old Bratton said it was too early to say whether he would be interested in signing on for another five-year term. He said, however, that abolishing the term limit would be an important step in moving the department out of the shadow cast by the King beating.
"For me personally, it might be an option down the road. . . . But it also, I think, would be an important step toward putting a very tumultuous period behind us," he said.
Under Wesson's motion, the chief could be appointed to an additional term only if four of the five police commissioners recommend the move. It then would require the mayor's approval, as well as confirmation by at least a two-thirds vote of the City Council.
Police Commissioners Alan Skobin and Andrea Ordin said they were opposed to the idea but welcomed public hearings to hear the rationale of supporters.
