Retraction of Support for Gates Sought : Police: Members of black LAPD group demand that their leaders take back statement praising chief’s leadership. The board did not poll rank and file before making announcement.

Members of a black Los Angeles police officers group have demanded that the organization’s leaders retract a statement praising Police Chief Daryl F. Gates’ “strong” leadership in the aftermath of the Rodney G. King beating.

The demand was made Friday at a packed general meeting of the Oscar Joel Bryant Assn., where between 100 and 150 officers, in a near-unanimous vote, demanded that the board of directors retract the statement or issue another making it clear that it does not represent their views.

The statement--which condemned the beating of the Altadena motorist by white officers, but praised Gates’ leadership--was read at a March 22 press conference by the association’s president, Sgt. James Craig, as other directors looked on.

Craig did not return a phone call to his office Monday, but another board member said the group’s 300 members were not polled before the statement was made public.

“There have been a number of occasions when there was a need to take a stand and the membership was not polled,” said Sgt. Nicholas Wade. “This was no different than any other.”

Wade said he believed some of those who were most vocal in their opposition at the meeting were there to “attack the department at a time when it is vulnerable” because of personal vendettas. He added, however, that the “membership has given us a mandate.”

The statement was intended to speak only to the King affair, said Wade, adding that Gates had taken the right steps in handling the controversy. The matter of a retraction, he said, will be taken up when the board meets in executive session this week or next week. One board member said he thought the board would honor the membership’s demand.

Officer Garland Hardeman, another board member, said he was not involved in the decision to support Gates and sided with the membership at the meeting. He said that the membership should have been polled before the statement was made and that the group should also have talked to leaders in the black community.

He discounted Wade’s contention that some officers made the demand for personal reasons.

Those who drafted the statement “just did not represent the general membership’s views,” said Hardeman. “They did not even have the support of the higher-ranking officers in the LAPD.”

Hardeman said the atmosphere created by the King beating has allowed some officers who believe that racism and brutality exist in the Police Department to speak out. In the past, he said, those officers may have been afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation.

Hardeman said black officers plan to present Gates with a list of recommendations to ensure that racism is banished.

Cmdr. Ron Banks, a past president of the association and the only high-ranking black officer in the South Bureau, also said that rank-and-file members were of one mind at the meeting.

“It was probably the largest representation of the (association) in years,” Banks said. “The statement that (Gates) is a strong leader was interpreted as a 100% backing of him.”

Banks said he did not vote on the motion for a retraction because he was confused about its wording.

Some of those at the meeting said officers became so vocal that all board members except Hardeman threatened to walk out. They decided to stay, Hardeman said, after he made it clear he would reconvene the meeting alone.