CRISIS IN THE LAPD: THE RODNEY KING BEATING : Foothill Division Officers Hit With More Complaints : Police: LAPD official calls the number ‘exceptional.’ Most of the 23 filings came after the beating of Rodney King.

Twenty-three complaints of police misconduct are pending against officers at the Los Angeles Police Department’s embattled Foothill Division, an “exceptional” number generated in the wake of the Rodney G. King beating, the San Fernando Valley’s top police official said Monday.

“Normally, we’ll run three to five complaints at any one time,” said Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker, “so this is an exceptional flurry of complaints.”

Fifteen complaints, ranging in severity from discourtesy to excessive force, were generated by citizens, Kroeker said. The other eight were initiated by the department, which Kroeker said signifies the Police Department’s efforts to restore public confidence after the now-famous March 3 King incident.

The complaints, some of which involve alleged misconduct dating back to July, 1988, are in various stages of investigation, most by supervising officers in the Foothill station, Kroeker said. By comparison, Foothill received 24 misconduct complaints alleging excessive force over a recent three-year period.

All but one of the 23 complaints was initiated on or after March 6, Kroeker said, acknowledging that they came after King’s highly publicized arrest in Lake View Terrace.

“I think there’s no question the incident has heightened public awareness, sensitivity and interpretation of certain forms of police work as misconduct,” Kroeker said.

“Despite all that,” he added, “I am looking at this positively. I see this as an airing of sentiments and just a natural growth out of the past. And as we get past that point . . . then I believe we’ll move to a new and better relationship with the community.”

Kroeker declined to discuss details of the complaints or disclose the identities of officers under investigation. He said none of the 21 Police Department officers present during King’s arrest appear to be involved.

Kroeker said “three or four open complaints” at any given time is standard for each of the five divisions he oversees in the Valley, and that “if it’s up to five or six, we’re pushing it.”

The Van Nuys Division now has an estimated 10 personnel complaints under investigation, according to Kroeker, who called that figure “quite high.”

A comparison among all 17 of the Police Department’s divisions over a recent three-year period shows that Foothill ranked among the lowest in excessive-force complaints, among the highest in complaints of improper tactics, and in the middle for discourtesy complaints, according to police statistics compiled by The Times.

Between 1987 and 1989, Foothill officers were the subject of 24 excessive-force complaints, of which only one was sustained, the statistics show.

Similarly, Foothill officers were the subject of 17 improper-tactics complaints, of which two were sustained, and the subject of 14 discourtesy complaints, of which one was sustained.

Foothill ranked among the lowest in the number of excessive-force complaints received for that three-year period, 13th out of the 17 divisions. It ranked high in improper-tactics complaints, or 4th out of 17. In discourtesy complaints, Foothill ranked about average, ninth out of 17, The Times’ compilation showed.

Capt. Paul Jefferson, who recently took over supervision of patrol officers at Foothill, declined to comment on the recent flurry of complaints except to say, “All will be fully investigated.”