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Cloud of Controversy Hangs Over Chief Selection Process

2008-05-02


Los Angeles Sentinel

March 18, 1992

BYLINE: Mitchell, Marsha
 
Cloud of Controversy Hangs Over Chief Selection Process.
In what can be considered as more than an ironic twist, Bill Pavelic , an 18-year veteran detective, charged that Police Chief Daryl Gates is the arget of a Los Angeles Police Department probe for allegedly interfering with internal investigations of top-ranking LAPD officers. The charge comes on the heels of the Police Commission's decision to allow Gates to supervise the investigation of three top-ranking officers who are now finalists to succeed him.

Notwithstanding the fact that Police Commission President Stanley Sheinbaum denied Pavelic's allegations of an internal investigation, the detective maintains that it is a well known fact in the department that Gates protects his top personnel even when misconduct is evident.

"There's a double standard in the Los Angeles Police Department when it involves staff and command officers, even when they are engaged in a criminal misconduct," Pavelic told the reporters. "Chief Gates has always protected members of management." Pavelic went on to further say that even when undisputable evidence of wrongdoing has been presented, Chief Gates has shielded favored personnel. The seasoned officer, who is assigned to the Southwest station, added that taxpayers would be shocked if they knew how many investigations had been retarded and impeded at the command of Gates.

Although the police chief has yet to comment on the allegations, his spokesman, Cmdr. Robert Gil, said that they had not heard of any such probe.
Gil challenged Pavelic's integrity because the detective has apparently raised similar accusations about other top personnel in the past that proved to be unfounded.

"This is a man who has had problems with authority in the past," Gill said. "The chief has had the integrity and ethics to carry this department for 14 years. For him to say the chief is covering up is ridiculous. If he had hard evidence, we'd see an investigation." In his defense, Pavelic said he felt he had come forward because of the Police Commission's decision to allow Gates to head an inquiry into charges that three finalists to succeed the chief either obstructed justice or abused departmental policies. And to prove his credibility, Pavelic said that he would repeat his claims under oath.

 The investigation was launched as a result of NEWS For America telling the Police Commission that three of the six finalists in the race to be chief are under internal scrutiny. The group, which is composed of a coalition of Latino business, community and public employee group's became incensed because the police selection process includes no Latino finalist. And although the group wanted swift action from the commission, it is dismayed that former assistant chief Jesse Brewer has been placed in charge of the probe.

"I think it raises some serious questions...They have a situation where Mr. Brewer either supervised, was involved in the promotion of, or had personal relationships with some of the candidates in question. I'm talking about cop relationships. Policemen stick together. Why not have two commissioners who were not police officers," said Xavier Hermosillo.

Currently, the names of the targeted officers have yet to be released, but it is believed that Deputy Chief Bernard C. Parks, Matthew Hunt and Assistant Chief David D. Dotson are the commanders in question. Parks allegedly intervened in the release of his daughter's boyfriend after he was arrested last December on two counts of attempted murder. Hunt is accused of refusing to release a suspect whom detectives believed was innocent.

According to sources, Hunt detained the man even though he had asked for a blood test to prove his innocence. Dotson, the only officer to cknowledged that he is involved in an internal inquest, has been under investigations since last July for an improper, romantic involvement with a female subordinate.

Despite Sheinbaum's statements that the ongoing investigations will not affect the three commanders chances to become chief, and that the nvestigation will be completed within two weeks so it will not impede the selection process, Leroy Baca believes that it should. Baca, who commands  the sheriff department's Court Service Division, filed an appeal with the city's Civil Service Commission because he was eliminated from the police chief selection process.

The would-be chief contends two participants on the seven-member citizens panel "could have been biased" toward him and another Hispanic emifinalist who was also passed over. Baca said that he doesn't plan to pursue a court battle, and that his only motive is to be reinstalled to the selection process. He does not feel that his appeal is unreasonable due to the fact that he received the third highest score of the 12 semi-finalists. He contends that his score proves he is more than qualified to be in the running to be the next chief of police.

He also charged that the panel headed by former California Attorney General John Van de Kamp, ignored established rating standards used by interview panels for candidates seeking top municipal posts. Those standards, Baca said, hold that individual panelists' ratings cannot diverge from one another by more than five points. But, officials say that despite the fact that Baca scored well, he failed to outscore all of the LAPD insiders competing for the job, as candidates are required to do by the City Charter, to advance to the final phase.

As if the selection process for the new chief needed any further aspersions cast upon it, earlier this month Chief Gates told the commission that he knew of "a couple of people" who had their essays prepared for them. LAPD Cmdr. Frank Piersol, a contender who failed to make the semi-finalist list, made the same allegation. Later, however, both Gates and Piersol retracted their accusations stating they had based their comments on hearsay.

The fact that Gates would make such damaging charges proves to some that he is a hindrance to the process which he has openly criticized from the beginning. Because Gates and Piersol withdrew their statements, and the 12 finalists signed affidavits stating they had prepared their own material, the commission was convinced that nothing was amiss. Neither Gates nor Piersol would return the Sentinel's calls, however, sources within the department assured reporters that the finalists' characters were not being called into question, as much as the process of "take-home exams."
"He (Gates) said from the beginning that the process is flawed. If you want to measure someone's knowledge and skills to be the police chief for a major department, why don't you lock them in a room and test them. There were no controls in place," said police spokesman Gil.
Other finalists for Gates' job are Philadelphia Police Commissioner Willie L. Williams, who scored at the top of the list, and LAPD deputy chiefs Mark A. Kroeker and Glenn A. Levant.
Article copyright Los Angeles Sentinel.

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