'
INDEPENDENT COMMISSION
ON THE Los ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT
Warren Christopher
OWR
John A. Arguellei.
VICE OIAlll
MEMBERS
Roy A. Anderson
Willie R. Barnes
Prof. Leo F. Estrada
Mickey Kantor
Richard M. Mosk
Andrea Sheridan Ord.Jn
John Brooks Slaughter
Robert E. Tranquada, M.D .
Gilbert T. Ray
EXECl.ITIVB DIRECTOR
Prof. Bryce Nelson
DIRECTOR FOR PRESS
INFORMAnON
May 23, 1991
Paul H. Logan, M. D., M.P.H.
P.O. Box 26598
Edendale Station
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Dear Dr. Logan:
John W. Spiegel
CEllERAI. COUNSEL
DEPUTY GENERAL COUNSEL
Percy Anderson
Richard E. Drooyan
Gary A. Feess
Raymond C. Fisher
Ernest J. Getto
Lawrence B. Gotlieb
Thomas E. Holliday
Barbara J. Ke lley
Louise A. LaMothe
Yolanda Orozco
Dennis M. Perluss
John B. Sherrell
Brian A. Sun
On behalf of Warren Christopher and the Independent
Com.mission on the Los Angeles Police Department, I am writing
to thank you for your letter of May 20, 1991 .
With its very short deadline and heavy
responsibilities, the Com.mission hopes that you will
understand that it is not possible to respond in detail to
your letter. However , your letter has been read and will be
made a part of the Commission files for further review by the
Com.miss ioners and staff.
GTR
We again thank you for writing.
Very truly yours,
~~//-
Gilbert T. Ray
Executive Director
Suite 1910 400 South Hope Street Los Angeles. California 90071-2899 Telephone (213) 622-5205 Facsimile (2 13) 622-7318
PAUL H . L OGA l, ;11.0. , fll . P.H.
P.O . So)t 26:::98
Edendale Station
L os Angeles, C a . 90025
213/255-0431
20 May 1991
The Independent Commission
On The Los Angeles Police Department
400 South Hope Street , Suite 1910
Los Angeles , California 90071 - 2899
Warren Christopher
Chair
Dear Commission ;
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ISSUES
Most of what follows was planned before I attended the public
meeting this evening at Woodrow Wilson High School (talk about a
lot with a view) , the focus being on Hispanic concerns .
The Commission
My first concerns are on the composition of the Commission. It is
regrettable- and thus ultimately and fundamentally counterproductive­that
the Commission has several vital deficits in membership . It is
grossly overloaded with lawyer.s , six out of ten . I assume that the
**' see p5 13 people under the heading , deputy general counsel , are all lawyers.
While I am in the general age group of most of the members and Black,
I consider the group rather traditional and ' old boy'. There ought
to be at least one or two more women, and someone who is an "activist"
in the community . There are many people who are active and not the
routinely called upon people . No one represents the youth of the city ,
a group much involved with the police . No one is expert in ethics , nor
in organizational dynamics . Neither Mr . Anderson nor Mr . Estrada fit
well to the dynami cs area as is needed . There is no Asian-American .
* status Exact proportionaltis not my aim, there being no such thing as
perfection . While more women on the staff is admirable they will not
operate at the decision impact level of commission membership . Given
the experience of the Chair I am a bit surprised that he accepted
the job without calling for a broader spread . The Executive Director
is also an attorney I discover , while the letterhead label for
Bryce Nelson, professor , is a bit of an oddity. That the Director
for Press Information is a professor(at USC) should not show up in
his listing . The composition of the Commission does not speak well
for the stated purpose and goal , " the entire scope of the problem'.'
While there were many good features about the meeting , there were
also difficulties . Such things as radios for instant translation
were excellent . Mr . Ray the Exec . Dir . and some others should have
**see~ had nametags . Microphone positioning for speakers should have had a
monitor as it was hard to understand some speakers . Emily Post would
have said , I think , that there should have been an accounting-apology
for the short speaking time when people had been told they would have
15 minutes , not five or six. The meeting program should have stated
five minutes not J to 5 . The audience needed to hear the apology
regardless of any possible motivations by the speakers . These are
the kind of " details" that are vital given the depth and intensity
of feelings involved. This was not your first meeting . It would
have been ' creative ' to have offered speakers (at . lea?t by p~o~e)
a coaching service on how to make the most of their time. I~ is
not in your i nterests to have people muddle through, etc . This might
**see p5
@ see p4
2
have facilitated more questions from the commission members. The
"bumps on a log" tone was not impressive, while granted much was
not new at this point. A different style might have also promoted
more focus on solution ideas and not just complaints. Relationship
and confidence will have a lot to do with support for implementation
of your final report. Has the Mayor visited any of the meetings ,
members of the City Council? While my comments may seem "technocrat",
an issue raised at the meeting,my goal always,is to use technique to
promote people. As the recent incident on the bus-two people killed­shows
, precision and exactness have their value . One has only to
read the dialog of the emergency calls . The dialog around Rodney
King was also telling .
LAPD and Chief Darryl Gates
As with the Commission in some respects there is a "generation gap" .
In addition to the major changes in diversity the Chief is not nearly
in touch with his younger officers , the changes in social order, as
he thinks. His tendency to slogara does not meet the true needs. For
all of his fairly good administrative abilities basically,the police
dept . has not changed a lot organizationally since Chief William
Parker set up things . Gates did not need to disown his son in order
to disavow his behavior ; as a parent he bears some of the responsibility
for how his son turned out. He is much more career driven than was
Parker, sensing himself much more as a leader than a doer as did
Parker. When at UCLA in the 60s doing graduate work I had the
advantage of 3 hours or so with Parker in a behind closed doors
seminar. Very useful when Watts occurred, though I was not in Los
Angeles at the time . While demographics cai change a lot faster than
an organization can respond in some respects, attitudes count for
a great deal. The noting of the jungle attire of the SWAT team was
important. One should not underestimate the abilities of ordinary
people . Gates' " foot in mouth" comments are important in their own
right , but also they function as the iceberg tip when it comes to
the import of what he says and does day by day when the words are
not so obvious. His confidence level,etc. is different from what it
was when he first took the job . He has been in office for 1J years!
As with other things that he does , endorsing political candidates
is quite contradictory- he is a civil service employee , etc . Not
that I would deny him his citizenship perogatives but a contradictory
leader promotes a contradictory department. He clearly sees himself
as an ''abberation", abberation in the sense of different from the
rest . On the other hand one does not usually give much attention to
a program abberation , as importance is not part of the definition­concept.
What a difference a few feet of TV tape made! His
"arrogance" is what many people react to . Likewise for his officers,
not that he started it all. While I do not always agree with their
views I think that it is significant that the other people who
followed Parker as chief did not stay , though they had been long in
/
olice work .
s ·ee p4
Gates is not the whole department but at this point he is vital to
what it is like~It may be time to turn the motto around from
'to protect and serve' to 'to serve and protect' . A new uniform
generally? A prime concern of mine is that many of the vital
answers lie not in the big-ticket items but in the small ones that
tend to go unnoticed or which get labeled unimportant. Had I been on
the Police Commission I would have ordered Gates to set up regular
weekly attendance at such as Toastmasters . He needs impactful
feedback , when he cannot use his authority position to evade impact ,
what perhaps most antagonizes people since the TV tape. The dept.
** seep5
**seep5
3
has hired a consultant at the Academy to work with officers on
interactions with peQple , use of body language , etc. The question is
did Gates and other senior people take the course? ! This is also
one way to keep in touch with what is "below" one in an organization.
American business and industry have paid a dear price for not learning
this lesson . What is continuing education like for the top brass at
LAPD?
¢ see p5
I am not ready to say that Gates must go as that should be part of
a final and total plan of answers . The civil servi ce position has
merit.
The Community , The Charter , Etc .
;0'1ad to leave the meeting after the f irst three non- scheduled speakers .
The community , City Council , and the Mayor all have responsibilities
for how things have turned out. All have operated episodically , to
Gates advantage . The Mayor and Counc i l also have vital political
agendas , some contradic tory and quite personal.~The City Charter
clearly needs to be modified so as to specify the rules for department
heads such as Gates who are leaders not 9 to 5 janitors, typists , etc.,
or line LAPD officers . Officer s also have rules and laws that muddy
things .
I might note here that Gates is outdated in some r espects . The
computer system was in but not being used i n a new sense to monitor
things , hence offi cers were u s ing it i n old -fashi oned ways . Hence , the
TV tape brought a lot to light.
Santayana spoke of the consequences of not remembering history and
t h i s is important when i t come to c hanges p eople i n the communi t y
see as answers . Hiring non - white personnel takes time, civil service
status being important to all . Ethnic officers in ethnic areas also
has limits . The goal should be that all officers can operate well
in any area . An areas compos i tion can chan ge rapidly , and then what? !
It appears that the LAP D rotation format needs attention in general .
Obviously the Academy training and street training need to diverge a lot
less fr~m each other . I hope the final report will make the
connections between t h e speci f i cs-individual concerns and the overall
picture . Change needs to be provided for . I have mixed feelings
about a review board as success depends on how it is set up. As for
history we all need to remember how the chief's position got to be
a civil service pos i tion in the first place . People need to be more
aware of the differenc es among goals , techni cs , strategies and
programs- as well as the relationships involved. It is alsoi:paestop
making an issue of the small size of LAPD compared to other cities .
Those ci t ies are not exactly free of difficulties . I t is also c l ear
that citi es that have seen major improvements have gotten them via
attitude changes more that via other means . Non - whites i n LAPD need
to be more involved and assertive in all of the affai rs of the dept.
Al l have to make some c hanges . As an examp le , whi l e an abused wife h a s
to stop what her spous e do es , she a l so has to change herself in
i mportant ways- regar dless of ho w her husband changes . I n the fervor
and clamor for change p eople often ignore this part of the process ,
only t o f i ndboy t later t hat the ea i ns were seriou sly flawed , or not
lasting . ~ym o s neea more atten~i o n . This is especially true when
diversity increases .
It's of interest to see Gates and others(cornmunity) to do the same
thing- to go f or the i mmed i ate , obvious answer . Little or no thought
to t h e l ong-term consequences . Abberation and civi lian review board .
4
Other Concerns
There are some things that are relevant to solutions that the
Commission and LAPD cannot do much or anything about. However one
can develop responses that prevent troubles in living with the
realities. The city fathers(& mothers) paid scant attention in their
drive for growth and "progress" to the preservation and enhancement
of basic housing stock , especially at the more ordinary levels. Our
minority 'parents' have been as about remiss asras anyone-else in
the matter . The increases in population(legal and illegal) have has
a major impact in the development of some of LAPD ' s problems . The
Mayor ' s many tri ps are another one of those important contradictions ,
given what he said to get elected over Yorty . I t was of interest to
hear someone at the meeting recall another of his promises. I also
remember Parker's reactions when politicians left town or shunned
the leadership roles when Watts blew up. I 'm well aware of Parker's
flaws . Economic forces have had a major impact on the situation , as
have the issues of education . I was saddened recently when Gates
saw the need to show up at the latest large drug bust, another
counterproductive behavior . One cannot brag in the way he did and
demote substance abuse , D. A.R .E. notwithstanding . Transportation is
another relevant area .
Conclusion
More could be said but I think that i have set my perspective . Born
and reared in a segregated South I know California is not Paradise .
I know what it i s to be stopped for being law-abiding but Black in
** see~
a "white" neighborhood. Restrictive covenants are not all that long
gone . My basic field is clinical psychiatry but I am also a trained
and experienced administrator and manager- and supervisor and teacher.
I am as well, educated and experienced in systems and community
organization-programming. LAPD has not made the most of its
opportunities. As for law, people have sometirres thought me a lawyer.
The Commission can make a vital contribution but only if it presents
an integrated totali ty. The trouble with 'if' statements is that at
the time of statement what comes after if does not exist. Too often
people behave as though the after does exist. 'But ' is another
interesting word- concept-process. It essentially destroys what
predeeded its use .
Yours truly ,
QcuJ?_ JI. gO-Oarvv 1
fh.o, 1 fh.f!;{,
# p2
lihad to smile recently on reading what the jurors in the Vernon case
had to say about their reaction to Gates showing up at the trial in
uniform,and gun obvious . The consequences were the opposite of what
he desi red, if he thought about it at all. Consideri ng the importance
of what was involved it would have been wise to have changed clothes
even though he had recently appeared where the attire was appropiate .
@ p2
It is a contradiction to claim unimportance , etc . only to make such a
large fuss, go to court,etc. when the Police Commission(wise or unwise)
ordered the suspension . Pay and benefits were not at risk . The'house
arrest" was a bit much. Does he still live on the beach , as I once
read? ! He forgets the compromise style of our country .He could have
asked for a sabbatical format , visited the chief in Charleston,S .C.,
etc. A missed opportunity probably. Humor always has a negative base
but a bit of it might do all parties some good.
5
¢ P3
Well before the Rodney King incident I was aware that officers were
badly informed on what real people are like under drugs (PCP and
others) , hit by tasers , etc . They are ill-prepared for the full
range of possibilities, much less that that on how to properly
manage them . There is much mythology and medical professionals are
not exempt . We forget(Santayana) what people can do in emergencies,
"super-human strength , etc." and that older descriptions of behavior
of the mentally often included descriptions of great strength at
intense moments of the i llness and drugs were not involved. But then
few talk of receiving radio waves anymore when ill. lt' s TV outer
space and computers . Ignorance - or mis-information- is.not h17ss :
It just dawned on me that I not once used the word racism . this is
the last thing written for this letter.
** p1 , 2,3, 4
Nametags,etc . do not negate one 's persona nor attire. There is communicating
and then there is "communicating" . Intended or not , there are unfortunate
elitism and snobbism threaded through this tragedy~ LAPD and elsewhere .
STAMP AS ?llESSAGE
l
J ,.