THE LOS ANGELES TI MES - April 3, 1991
Bradley Asl{s Gates to
Quit for Good of City
• Police: The chief
promptly rejects the
demand. The mayor cites
damage to the
department's reputation
and lo~ of public
confidence.
Dy HECTOR TODAR
and RICHARD A. SERRANO
TIMES HArF WRITERS
Mayor Tom Bradley called on
Los Angeles Police Chier Daryl F. ,
Gates to resign Tuesday "for the
good or the LAPD and the welfare
of all or Los Angeles," a demand
the chief promptly rejected.
The standoff marked a sharp
escalation in the monthlong con­troversy
over the police beating of
Rodney G. King. transforming il
into a battle or wills between two
of the city's most powerful public
officials.
In a live televised address. Brad­ley
said he met privately with
Gates al City Hall earlier in the day
and asked the chief to step down
from the post he has held for 13
years. But Bradley said Gates told
him: "Mayor, I think you're wrong
and I will not resign."
Having failed in private lo per­suade
the chief lo resign, Bradley
went before the public. "The Los
Angeles Police Department Is al a
crossroads in Its great history," the
mayor said. "When the public be·
gins to lose confidence in lhc chief, •
and in the LAPD. the chief has
only one choice. He must step
Hide."
Gale!, emerging from his Parker
Center office after the mayor's
address, appeared calm and un­shaken
and vowed not lo resign.
"There are 8,300 members or this
department who arc depending on
me to stay and to provide some
leadership out or lhis situation,''
· Gates said. "I believe I can provide
lhal leadership and I will do lhaL"
He added: "I don't believe that
8.300 police officers will follow lhe
mayor anywhere."
King was beaten March 3 by
LAPD officers who struck him
more than 50 limes with their
batons after a car chase in the San
Fermindo Valley.
The beating, videotaped by a
amateur cameraman, has prompted
a national outcry . against police
brutality and many calls for Gates'
resignation. Gates has publicly
condemned the actions or the offi­cers,
but claimed it was an "aber­ration"
and not part of a pattern or
police abuse of citizens.
Bradley 's call for Gates' depar­ture
drew a wide range or predic­tions
about how the struggle be­tween
the two leaders wiU be
resolved.
'Jr the chief re!igns, it will create
a firestorm," said Councilwoman
Joy Picus, a Gates supporter. "ll
would polarize the city, not heal
the city. I believe the only person
who can make the changes re­quired
within the department is lhe
chief of police himself."
Police Commissioner Melanie
Lomax, who often has been critical
of the chief, predicted otherwise.
"Mayor Bradley's statements
will be given great weight," Lomax
said. "I think It's going to be one of
Please IH GATES, AIO
GATES: Mayor Calls
on Chief to Resign .i·
Continued fn>m Al
those pivotal events in this cnsis
that, in all likelihood, wlll increase
the pressure that has been brought
to bear on the chief of police."
In his speech. Bradley said the
King case, and Gates' refusal to
leave office. have damaged the
department's reputation and ruined
public confidence in the Police
Department
"l simply will not stand by as our
city is split apart." Bradley said.
... We must come together. We must
heal."
Directing many of his remarks to
the ch ief personally. the mayor
said: "Chief Gates. now is the time
for you to do the right thing-for
your officers. for your department.
for the public you serve."
Bradley also addressed the offi-
. cers under Gates ' command. "As an
LAPD veteran. I empathize with
the thou.sands of honorable officers
who have watched nelplessly as
the department's prestige has been
seriously tarnished. . . . The dam­age
to the department's reputation
cannot continue."
His remarks. which lasted 31h
minutes. were in sharp contrast to
his cautious statements in the past
four weeks in which he always
stopped short of calling for Gates'
· resignation.
Earlier. Bradley had said Gates'
resignation would be "the on ly
way to start the heal ing process" in
a city divtded by the beating. but
that the decision to resign was up
to the chief.
But Tuesday, Bradley crossed
the line. "Unfortunately. Chief
Gates has not recognized the im­:>
act he is haVlng on the LAPD."
·. he mayor said. "His reacttons to
e tngic Rodney King beating
ve made an ugly siwauon even
rse."
As mayor:· he added. "I have
reluctantly concluded that
an no longer wait for Daryl
. es to do whal is best for the
PD."
Instead. the mayor continued.
ates has embarked upon a public
·lations campaign to keep his job
.hat has only deepened our
ounds and widened our differ-
1ces."
Gatts denied that he has orches­ned
a public relations effort on
; own behalf. saying that thou­ids
of "just plain folks" have
'Tie to hil defense.
rhe chief stressed that he would
p down only if a panel he
>ointed lut week to review
PD procedures determines that
w:is "derelicl" in performing his
.. ,
"If they find that I have been
derelict ... I'll say goodby. But I
don 't think I have," Gates said.
He read from a 1989 report by
City Atty. James K. Hahn criticiz­in
g Bradley's ties to financial insti-
1 tut1ons that dealt with the city and ,
the mayor's efforts to secure city
funds for a scandal-plagued Afri- :
can trade group. i
"Ethics is what we're really
talkin g about," Gates told reporters ·
after citing the reporL "He's called
on me to do the moral thing,
gettin g into ethics. Well. no one's
ever questioned my ethics. No
one's ever questioned my integrity
or my honesty."
Last month. the Los Angeles
County grand jury indicted four
LAPD officers in the beating on
charges that include assault with a
deadly weapon and assault under
the color of authority. The officers
have pleaded not guilty.
In addition. six other govern­ment
inquiries into the Police De­partment
and the King incident are
under way.
Gates was appointed chief by the
Police Comm1ss1on in 1978. Ac­cording
to the City Charter. a
police chief has Civil Service pro­tections
and can be fired or disci­plined
by the commission only 1f it
can show "cause." usually inter­preted
to mean misconduct or will­ful
neglect of official duties.
As a result. there have been calls
in City Hall to change the Charter.
Despite the legal difficulties in
ousting Gates. a public ground­swell-
fueled in part by Bradley's
office and the American Civil Lib­erties
Union-has grown demand­ing
his resignation.
Others who want him removed
include several African-American
groups. such as the Urban League
and the National Assn. for the
Advancement of Colored People.
A variety of local and national
political leaders also have called on
Gates to step down, includtn1 City
Councilman Michael Woo, state
Assembly Speaker Willie Brown
<D-San Francisco) and U.S. Sen.
Joseph Biden (0-Delaware).
Woo. the only City Council
member to demand Gates' resigna­tion.
said after the mayor's speech:
"Mayor Bradley hu taken a very
bold step in the best interests of the
Police Department and the
city .... Now it is up to Chief
Gates to let the healing begin by
stepping down."
In contrast. Gates has received
the support of Gov. Pete Wilson
and several City Council members.
including Picus, Hai Bernson. Joan
Milke Flores and council President
John Ferraro. : ·
Bradley's speech. according · lO
sources at City Hall, culminated
weeks o( behind-the-scenes e{­forts
directed by his top aide.
Deputy Mayor Mark Fabiani. f
On March 15. Bradley appo int~
civil libertarian Stanley Shein­baum
to the Police Commission. a
move hailed by those seeking the
chief's resignation. On March 26,
Bradley replaced one of \}le five
Civil Serv1ce commissioners who
eventually could decide whether
Gates should be fired.
The mayor's office also worked
with community groups that are
demanding new LAPD leadership
and lobbied council members to
publicly denounce the chief.
In public. however. Bradley said
his office was not working to
unseat Gates. The mayor repeated ­ly
said he would not call for the
chief to step down because it was
unlikely that Gates would do so.
"I think he has been advised by
some people already and he's made
it very clear that he has no inten­tion
of leaving," Bradley said on
March 21 during a tour of South­Central
Los Angeles. "He's told me
thaL So I don't believe in engaging
in fruitless activ1ties."
Six days later. Bradley told a
press conference: "There have
been a number of people who have
called for the chief's resignation. I
have not done so .. . . I think that
the chief is the one who is going to
have to recognize when his retire­ment
is required in order to bring
about that process."
Under fire from various commu­nity
groups and political leaders.
Gates has responded with hi! own
public relations campaign. He ha.s
appeared on a number of television
talk shows-including "Prime
Time Live" and "Face the Na­tion"
-and addressed a crowd of
supporters at a Police Academy
rally. Los Angeles police omcers
and their supporters began wear­ing
blue ribbons to symbolize their
solidarity with the chief and his
department
Gates' most comprehensive ef­fort
to restore confidence in the
LAPD came last week. when he
announced a IO-point plan to im­prove
community relations and
explore the causes of police brutal­ity.
The cornerstone of the plan wa.s
·the appointment oC a committee
chaired by retired state Sui>remc
Court Justice John A. Arguelles.
The committee is to conduct an
exhaustive inquiry into the LAPD's
training practices and policies.
On Monday, Bradley countered
by announcing the appo intment of
his own review panel. headed by
former Deputy Secretary of State
Warren M. Christopher.
Arguelles and Chnstopher said
Monday they had discussed coordi­nating
the efforts of their commit­tees.
The Christopher Commission
was a key element in the mayor's
campaign to remove Gates from
· office. and the announcement that
the two committees could work
together appeared to temporarily
frustrate Bradley's attempts at
persuading the chief to resign.
In a statement released Tuesday,
Bradley spokesman Bill Chandler
hinted that accepting members of
the Gates-appointed Arguelles
Commission into the mayor's com­mission
would compromise the lat­ter's
independence.
"Areview (of the Police De-partment!
that does not
look to the city or the LAPD for
financing or staffing iJ the only
way to ensure the commission 's
independence." Chandler said.
" And a completely independent
review is what the city nttds."
By contrast. Gates said that
merging the two panels "makes a
lot of sense and so I'm all for iL"
In another development Tues­day,
ACLU officials said they had
gathered petitions with 20,000 sig­natures
demanding Gates' resigna­tion.
The ACLU also released a re­port.
compiled by staff in New
York and Washington. outlining
allegations of police brutality
throughout the nation. The report
said the get-tough rhetoric of the
"war on drugs" and the "war on
crime" encourages police to be­come
overly forceful "soldiers" in
their communities.
Ramona Ripston. executive di -
rector o( the ACLU of Southern
Caiifornia, applauded Bradley's call
for the chief's resignation .
.. That is certainly something this
community wants," she said. "It's a
beginning point. but no one should
think that all the problems of the
department will be solved when
Cates goes. Starting with new.
fresh leadership is the way to go."
A recently formed group called
Citizens in Support of the Chief of
Police presented the Police Com­mission
with 13.000 signatures of
people who support Gates and
want him to remain as chief.
TimH staff wrtt1rs LHllt ler11t.
Glenn F. 8untin1, John Ktnd•ll. John L
Mltchtll. Jam11 R1ln1y 1nd S"•ryt
Stolber1 contributed to t"l• story.