Not a "Meeting", But a Dialogue
by Bobbie J. Logan

The sixth community meeting for the development of criteria for the new Chief of Police was hosted by the Board of Police Commissioners on Wednesday, June 26th, at the very impressive LAPD Ahmanson Recruit Training Center, in Westchester.

Commissioner David S. Cunningham, III, presided and Commission Executive Director Joe Gunn facilitated the event, which was also attended by Councilwoman Ruth Gallanter, who expressed her gratitude for these community meetings, and Deputy Mayor Roberta Yang.

It would have been well worth the trip just to see and tour the brand new Ahmanson facility, the upper floors of which are still under construction. At Mr. Gunn's invitation, many of those who attended got just such an opportunity following the meeting. The building will eventually house a variety of things, but is already operating as a Recruit Training Center.

At one point Commissioner Cunningham mentioned that Parker Center itself needs to be rebuilt, and that he hoped the Department would be getting a new Police Headquarters in the not too distant future. Perhaps he felt a bit conspicuous, sitting in an LAPD venue which features such unusually pleasing surroundings.

This was a relatively small gathering, with perhaps only about a dozen speakers, but speak they did, and with as much passion and knowledge of the LAPD as one could imagine. Each participant approached the podium with distinctly different sets of criteria. Nearly all thanked the Commission for letting them be a part of the selection process, and many honored the officers by expressing their support and gratitude for the jobs they do.

Chief Pomeroy was complimented many times also, with one speaker stating, "He has been a breath of fresh air to the department. He has lifted the morale. What a change he has made for the officers!"

One of the first speakers expressed a concern that candidates for chief have "beat" experience ... that they must have been assigned to patrol on the streets sometime during their last 20 years of experience. He also thought candidates must have passed the California Requirement of Police Officer Standards of Training, saying we'd had a chief in the past who was unable to pass the training, and to have LAPD's highest-ranking officer not qualify is completely unacceptable.

A retired police officer with a fifty-year family history with LAPD, who'd had many opportunities to work in many positions within the department, addressed Commissioner Cunningham. His fear was that LAPD has gotten away from community-based policing. He stated that the Senior Lead Officers are doing an outstanding job and noted that it is critical to have a chief who understands and supports this program. He felt that younger officers need to receive intensive training in this community based sensitivity. Further, he said that since the force is so small, with but one police car for approximately every 1000 residents of the City, we need a chief who has "been there, done that." As this gentleman stated in closing, "We need a chief that can get in there, come in on a Christmas Eve, in full uniform and say, 'I'm here, and I'm going to work a shift. Somebody gets to go home to their family.' "

Mr. Cunningham replied, "I'm sure you may be aware that this Commission, together with Mayor Hahn, has worked very diligently to get the SLOs back out on the streets, to also have the resources available to do their jobs. In fact, we have seen a substantial difference in how the SLOs are responding. We're really trying to do the best for the community. I've heard repeatedly the SLO program is the one thing that's most important to the community."

Another major issue brought to the forefront was officer morale. One woman, a civilian employee of the Department, expressed concern on behalf of the police officers saying that the new chief should not make the same mistakes as Chief Parks, who she felt had abused the promotion system by moving up unqualified officers to the rank of Captain. She said many of the officers do not want to work in the Divisions to which they are assigned because they feel the Captains are not qualified to lead them. She stated, "Nobody wants to work for a Captain who has no respect for the officers. They don't want to work for "Captain Hitler" and they don't want to work for a commander who can't communicate, not only with the public, but with his police officers."

Commissioner Cunningham confirmed with this particular participant that the Commission knows it needs to look at candidates very closely in terms of how they handle employee relations, and what their ideas are in respect to morale.

Mr. Cunningham stated, "This Commission has actively taken on an attempt to revise the discipline system. One thing you should note is that while we are operating under a Consent Decree we're nonetheless trying to find ways to avoid spend most of our time simply arguing complaints that are not really substantial ... and distinguishing those that are. We're making it so our personnel does not feel that having complaints in their file will keep them from being promoted."

Several of the participants voiced alarm that our officers were being overburdened an unbelievable amount of paperwork. They felt that the officers' time would be better spent on patrol rather than at the station filling out forms. It was suggested that candidates for chief have a plan to get more police back on the streets and off the desk, and to find another way to get the paperwork done.

One retired teacher, a Los Angeles resident of over 42 years and very active in her community simply said, "The perfect chief does not exist." She would like our next Chief of Police to be concerned about all of us, however, and to come to a community meeting ready listen to the things that are being experienced within that community, especially to the concerns of our young people. She said she's personally found that most young people need love and education, and this means, most importantly, that they need someone to listen and talk to them.

Another attendee voiced the thought that there will always be animosity between ethnic groups, and that the Commission should " ... think heavily about a woman chief, who can talk from both sides."

Commissioner Cunningham was very concerned about the implication of divisiveness in this statement replying, "We have a great diversity, I would like to think, and I have trouble thinking we are racially divided. I would like to think that we are not prejudiced … and I would hope that each of us make an effort to try to bridge whatever we view as that divide …"

Nearing the meeting's conclusion, when there were no more speaker cards but still plenty of time, Commissioner Cunningham called Bill Murray of Los Angeles Community Policing to the podium to make a statement about the criteria process thus far.

Bill complemented the Commissioner stating it was obvious that he'd made a sincere effort to include the community by taking full advantage of the fact that these meetings were not being conducting under the restrictions of the Brown Act. Without a quorum present it was possible to have a real dialogue with the residents. Commissioner Cunningham, along with Commissioner Silvia Saucedo and to a lesser degree Commissioner Rose Ochi, had asked questions of people, verified what they'd heard, and provided clarification on current Commission or LAPD positions and policy.

In short, because of this an often pleasantly surprised community had felt that it had participated.

He went on to say he'd attended each of the criteria development meetings and had heard over and over that the residents of Los Angeles want to be fully included. "I think when people say they want a chief to come to community meetings," Bill said, "it's not that they simply want him to show up, because Chief Parks certainly went to a lot of meetings, but he wasn't approachable, you couldn't talk to him ... and if you ever did get to talk to him he immediately turned you over to somebody else. There was never an opportunity for a one-on-one exchange with the Chief and we are very, very lucky to have a Commissioners like you and the rest of your group. You're doing a great job for the community, and I'd like to see many more of the meetings we have in the future be free of Brown Act restrictions."

"The other element," Bill continued, "is the officers' relationship with the chief, and the command staff." He explained that the officers need to feel they have the backing of their superiors all the way up to the chief, and that line officers and command officers alike need to feel that they can have strong relationships both with the chief and with the community. "Unless it's a forum like this, without the Brown Act restrictions," he concluded, "we never get a chance to really dialogue."

At the close of the meeting, several questions from people seated in the audience were fielded by Commissioner Cunningham in a truly engaging dialogue. The informal dialogue at this point was encouraged to continue and everyone seemed to be having a relaxed, good time.

One participant asked the Commissioner, "What are your qualification for picking the new chief? What are you looking for?"

Commissioner Cunningham replied that his criterion for a candidate is a deep and true understanding of "to protect and to serve." He'll want a chief with accountability, with good management and people skills, and someone who's a supporter of community policing. The Commissioner went on to say that he has heard from many people including the Senior Lead Officers, C-PAB members, and participants at community relations meetings that it is essential the new chief work to communicate effectively with community stakeholders as well as the City Council and the Mayor.

Someone made the comment that she thought there should be a change in the two five-year term system for a chief, suggesting a flat six years in office be given and no more. "After that," she said, "good, bad or indifferent, you're GONE."

Joe Gunn replied, "You have to keep in mind this is a system that was voted in by voters. It wasn't put in by City Hall, and it wasn't put in by the Police Commission. The voters went to the polls and said, 'this is the system.' " By the same token, he reminded the group that if the community wanted to change this, it could always go through the process of making an amendment to the LA City Charter.

Finally, when queried about the Rampart incident, Mr. Cunningham answered, "People tend to look at the story, and the byline, and not always the problem. The truth is … the perception of the average person is that we have huge problems. The facts though, are different. Try to understand and back the department, and do that fairly … see the reality. The story that you get on the first page [of a newspaper] is not a complete story."

Commissioner Cunningham said we need to understand when something goes wrong but then be ready to ask ourselves, "What's the solution?" and "What are we going to do next?"

And what are we going to do next? Well hopefully, we'll all be a part of the solution ...

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See Choosing the New Chief to find out what was shared
at the six other public meetings held out in the communities.

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