Pubdate: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Author: Beth Shuster, Los Angeles Times Bookmark: MAP's shortcut to Rampart items: http://www.mapinc.org/rampart.htm. Note: Other MAPNews items mentioning Professor Chemerinsky: http://www.mapinc.org/find?BKChemerinsky L.A. POLICE CULTURE IS CRITICIZED Rampart scandal: Study says department's attitudes and leadership resulted in toleration of corruption. LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Police Department's deepest problem is an internal culture that not only gave rise to the recent corruption scandal but also tolerated it, according to the author of a new, highly critical study of the LAPD. Moreover, says the report's principal author, the department's culture -- its unwritten rules, codes, values and outlooks -- must be changed before Los Angeles can expect meaningful police reform. Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at the University of Southern California, undertook the analysis on behalf of the Police Protective League, which sought an independent review of the LAPD's internal Board of Inquiry report. LAPD Chief Bernard C. Parks convened the board to examine all aspects of the department after the revelations that have come to be called the Rampart Division corruption scandal. Chemerinsky's study, scheduled to be released at a news conference Monday, strongly criticizes the department's review, saying its authors neglected key issues that contribute to the deep problems in the department. One of those, Chemerinsky found, was that morale among officers has plummeted since the Rampart scandal began and that these officers lack confidence in their department's leaders. While Chemerinsky said he expected officers with whom he spoke to reflect the department's low morale, he described himself as startled by the depth and the hostility in the comments made by dozens of officers during one-on-one interviews. The problems in the department's culture run so deep, Chemerinsky reports, that they are likely to thwart the kind of systemic changes city negotiators and the city council now are working out with the Justice Department to forestall the filing of a federal civil rights lawsuit against the LAPD. Among many recommendations in the 154-page report, Chemerinsky said a consent decree by the city and federal authorities offers the only hope of changing the LAPD, which he says has been and remains ``incredibly resistant'' to change. Chemerinsky's report follows an independent survey conducted by Pricewaterhouse Coopers for the civilian police commission that found similar attitudes among police officers. Sources familiar with that survey say an overwhelming majority of officers say the only way to improve morale is to remove Parks and that many are so fearful of criticism that they frequently avoid responding to reports of crime. Police Protective League president Ted Hunt said these two analyses of the department reflect similar themes: a department that desperately needs leadership that the rank and file will respect and believes is fair. LAPD officials said they could not comment on the Chemerinsky report because they had not seen it. Parks was out of town Friday. But Cmdr. David Kalish, the departmental spokesman, said the chief is a strong believer in discipline and that he holds everyone in the department accountable. Moreover, Kalish said, to suggest that the department's culture allowed the Rampart scandal to exist is simply wrong. Chemerinsky, who strongly faults the department for failing to examine such cultural issues, alleges the department is far more interested in protecting its image -- even if it means ignoring or covering for rogue police officers. The Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey, the first independent anonymous poll of officers, found that officers say they would rather cruise the city than respond to radio calls reporting criminal acts. Officers also said they have misstated their whereabouts to avoid such calls and that they have witnessed misconduct by colleagues and not reported it. Chemerinsky believes more civilian oversight of the LAPD is necessary, suggesting that the city needs a full-time police commission with substantially more resources and staff. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck