Los Angeles Panel Denies Police Chief Second Term

LOS ANGELES, April 9 civilian Police Commission voted overwhelmingly today to deny a second five-year term to Chief Bernard C. Parks.

Chief Parks, who is black and who enjoys broad support among black leaders in the city, had battled for a new term, insisting he was the only qualified person for the job. He dismissed his many critics

Mr. Caruso also said the commission held the chief responsible for a steep two-year rise in crime and falling numbers of arrests.

"The facts have led us to where we are today," Mr. Caruso said.

Chief Parks has said he will try to appeal the commission's decision to the City Council.

Many black leaders described the decision, and Mayor Hahn's opposition to the chief, as a betrayal. Even before today's 4-to-1 vote, the battle over Chief Parks, 58, who is the only black holding a citywide office in the country's second-largest city, had opened a bitter schism between the mayor and many blacks, whose votes were crucial to his election last year.

Mr. Hahn defeated a popular Latino politician in the 2001 election by forging a coalition between blacks, who had been fearful of losing influence in a city undergoing rapid demographic change, and conservative whites. Some black leaders expected support of a second term for Chief Parks in return.

Mr. Caruso insisted that the mayor's opposition played no role in the decision; David S. Cunningham III, the only black member of the commission, provided the only vote in favor of Chief Parks.

Black leaders said they were not convinced of the merits of the commission's decision.

"There will be a sense of disappointment, of anger, of outrage in the African-American community," said John Mack, president of the Urban League and a prominent black leader here. "It means that the Police Commission made the decision based on politics, not the merits. The question is whether the department is going to be run by the union or an independent chief."

But even some people who describe Chief Parks as a strong leader said they were disturbed by what they called his imperious manner and by his resistance to strong civilian oversight. The police union, the Police Protective League, has fought a new term in part because of what it says is the unfair and harsh way he has meted out discipline.

"We feel the chief has had his chance to lead," said Mitzi Grasso, the president of the union. "He was unable to do so. He has failed by his own standards."

Dean Hansell, a lawyer and a member of the Police Commission under the previous mayor, Richard J. Riordan, said that, in spite of his admiration of the chief's great knowledge of the department, the problems were just growing.

"I think the big issue is morale in the department," Mr. Hansell said. "Morale is at such a low ebb that I have to believe that was a big factor. And it's not just a rank-and-file issue. There's the command staff, too."

Chief Parks, a tall, commanding figure, was unbowed by today's lopsided decision.

He later held his own news conference in which he rejected all the criticisms, said the Police Commission politicized the process and ignored the facts.

"Your police department is not in crisis," Chief Parks declared.

He blamed the force's personnel department for the failure to fill the 1,100 open slots, and he insisted that a campaign of misinformation by the police union had poisoned his chances for a second term. He also promised to continue his fight by trying to force the City Council to overrule the commission.

At City Hall today, Mayor Hahn said: "This is not a win for anyone. This is a decision that the Police Commission had to make in the best interest of the department and the city."

Chief Parks's five-year term formally expires on Aug. 12. The City Council can now vote to take jurisdiction, but only if 10 of the 15 members are in favor, and an additional vote with at least a 10-member majority would be required to overturn the commission's decision.

It appears unlikely that Chief Parks enjoys that much support, but Mr. Caruso said the commission would not begin the process of selecting a successor until the City Council had concluded any debate.

Some black officials have said they would find some way to protest the Police Commission's decision, and there have been hints of street demonstrations.

The vote came nearly 10 years to the day after the city was torn by riots prompted by the beating of the black motorist Rodney G. King. Mr. Caruso said earlier that the Police Department had made contingency plans in case of any unrest.

But there were no reports of violence today. Indeed, in a reflection of how much has changed in Los Angeles over the past decade, the old, largely black neighborhoods that were burned in those riots are all predominantly Latino now.

The riots began a long and frustrating process in which the city's civilian leaders have sought to open the insular culture of the Police Department, bring more diversity to the rank and file and bring the force closer to the communities it serves. The department was forced to accept a federal consent decree two years ago because of its failure to move more quickly on the changes.