LAPD chief could face no confidence vote from rank and file

Bernard C. Parks

March 30, 2000
Web posted at: 10:41 p.m. EST (0341 GMT)

From Correspondent Charles Feldman

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- The union representing most of the more than 9,000 Los Angeles Police Department officers said it is giving serious consideration to a vote of no confidence to the police chief as a way to show displeasure with the way he is handling a department corruption probe.

"We have not done an official vote of no confidence yet," said Officer Mitzi Grasso of the Los Angeles Protective League, "but we're considering it."

Grasso said that if such a vote among officers were conducted now, she believes the outcome for Parks would be "very negative."

VIDEO CNN's Charles Feldman looks at dissatisfaction among the Los Angeles Police Department's rank and file with Chief Bernard Parks. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Policing the police     ALSO Four more cases dismissed in LAPD probe

More than two dozen officers have resigned, been fired or relieved of duty in connection with the scandal, and dozens of tainted criminal cases have been overturned because of the scandal.

Since the scandal broke last year, disputes over how to handle the investigation and prosecution of possible wrongdoing has pitted Police Chief Bernard C. Parks against both the civilian police commission and Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti.

In an interview with a union official and two union delegates, a picture was painted of a police chief increasingly estranged from the men and women he leads.

"They (police officers) have a sense that there's a vacuum of leadership," said LAPD Sgt. Alfred Ruvalcaba.

The union's newspaper, Thin Blue Line, challenges a recent internal police department report that said mediocrity helped set the stage for the corruption scandal. The union asked for an apology from the deputy chief weeks ago and is still waiting.

Making matters worse is a new poll by the union of how members feel about middle management in the police department. More than 3,200 officers responded, and graded more than half the command structure poorly in six categories.

Grasso said there were "a lot of comments about the chief" in a write-in section of the poll and "they are very negative."

The police chief elected not to be interviewed for this report. But his spokesman said some officers have always opposed Parks because he sets high standards.

"I think it's important to realize that the union did not want this individual to become chief of police," said LAPD Cmdr. David Kalish. "Bernard C. Parks is a strict disciplinarian. He terminated over 100 officers in two years."

Meanwhile, District Attorney Garcetti has promised confidentiality to any officers who supply information about the corruption scandal within the Los Angeles Police Department.

The amnesty offer made Tuesday is aimed at enticing police officers to come forward and break the so-called "code of silence," Garcetti said. The confidentiality offer is expected to help the district attorney expand the corruption probe into other areas of the department.

So far, allegations of wrongdoing seem to have originated with one source: disgraced former Officer Rafael Perez.

Perez turned informant last year after he was convicted for stealing cocaine worth about $1 million from a police evidence room.

Perez said he and fellow officers falsified evidence, framed innocent people and lied under oath to win convictions in scores of cases. Officers also shot and brutalized innocent people, he said.

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The Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles County District Attorney
United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California
Federal Bureau of Investigation

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