Civil Service Commissioner Appointed to Police Panel : City Hall: Anthony De Los Reyes, named to board embroiled in controversy over move to oust Daryl F. Gates, says he sees no evidence of malfeasance by chief.

Mayor Tom Bradley on Friday named attorney Anthony De Los Reyes to fill the last vacancy on the Los Angeles Police Commission, which is embroiled in controversy over a move to discipline Police Chief Daryl F. Gates.

If confirmed by the City Council, the 48-year-old De Los Reyes, currently vice chairman of the city’s Civil Service Commission, would fill the seat left vacant by the May 7 resignation of commission President Dan Garcia. Garcia had complained that the civilian panel had been “severely damaged” by an ongoing dispute with the City Council in the wake of the March 3 Rodney G. King police beating.

“The rift has to be healed,” De Los Reyes said after his nomination Friday.

While some Gates supporters have accused the mayor of trying to pack city commissions to ensure the police chief’s ouster, De Los Reyes suggested that he probably would not back such a move.

“One thing I know better than most people (is that) the law says the chief is to be treated the same as any employee,” said De Los Reyes, who served eight years on the Civil Service Commission, hearing city workers’ appeals of disciplinary actions. “He has a property right to his job.”

For there to be any discipline of Gates, he said, “genuine evidence has to be shown (of) malfeasance. I haven’t seen any of that evidence brought up.”

The son of a Mexican-born tortilla manufacturer, De Los Reyes graduated from USC and Whittier College School of Law. He is a partner in the litigation firm Kern & Wooley, specializing in products liability and aviation cases.

He said Bradley did not ask his views on Gates when Bradley called last Friday to discuss his proposed move from the Civil Service Commission.

“I was surprised by the request,” De Los Reyes said. “The mayor just said to me, without any introduction, ‘How would you like to serve on the Police Commission?’ ”

If the Police Commission were to recommend disciplinary action against Gates, the matter would be referred to the Civil Service Commission for a hearing.

A spokesman for Bradley said the mayor did not “at this point” have a candidate to replace De Los Reyes.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, who had accused Bradley of trying to stack the city commissions against Gates, said Friday that she “chooses to take a benevolent view” of De Los Reyes’ transfer.

“Moving a commissioner around is a legitimate thing to do,” she said. “. . . Tony has served the mayor well and the mayor wants someone he has confidence in. . . . There’s no question about his competence,” she said.

De Los Reyes said he looked forward to dealing with more than “just the isolated issue of police brutality.”

“We’re reexamining (police activities) across the board,” he said.

Although he vowed to “go into the community” himself to gauge the perception of police, De Los Reyes said he will rely heavily on the ongoing review of the department by the Christopher Commission.

In a new facet of its probe--prompted by the King beating--the citizens panel is seeking information from about 200 training officers at four Los Angeles police divisions, including the Foothill Division, where the four officers charged with beating King were assigned.

At the same time, the Police Department is asking more than 1,500 officers to give their frank opinions on the quality of police training in community relations and the use of excessive force.

The Police Department survey, initiated by Gates last month, involves face-to-face interviews with up to 700 officers and written surveys sent to the homes of about 900 officers, police officials said Friday.

In both cases, the officers are being offered anonymity, but are not required to take part, Lt. Jim Vogue said.

“All of the questions are open-ended. It’s not a true-and-false thing because the chief wants to make a concerted effort to find out what we need to do to improve ourselves,” Vogue said.