Right LAPD Call--for Now

On a wobbly 8-6 vote Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council brushed back a premature attempt to impanel a new and independent commission that would have installed another layer of scrutiny over the Police Department’s Rampart scandal. Now it’s up to the department, the Police Commission and the LAPD’s inspector general to ensure that the council not regret that vote.

The last independent panel to probe Los Angeles law enforcement was the widely lauded 1991 Christopher Commission. One of its most important recommendations was strengthening civilian oversight, including creation of the civilian post of inspector general, reporting to the civilian Police Commission.

The I.G. was created to monitor LAPD reforms and oversee police misconduct investigations, participating in the adjudication and punishment of the most serious cases. The LAPD’s internal inquiry into the Rampart case has not even been formally turned over to the Police Commission and Inspector General Jeffrey Eglash. They deserve first crack at the inquiry. Besides, the Rampart scandal has already gained the attention of the FBI and the California attorney general’s office.

Some members of the City Council voiced concern Tuesday over whether Eglash is tough enough. But Eglash, a former U.S. attorney, has prosecuted Colombian cartel money launderers and Los Angeles street gang drug dealers who were part of national trafficking networks. He also prosecuted seven Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies convicted of stealing seized drug money.

Some recent moves by the LAPD, however, do not inspire confidence. One involves Capt. Richard Meraz, a 35-year veteran of the force and until recently the commander of the CRASH anti-gang unit at the Rampart Division, which is at the center of a wide-ranging corruption scandal. Meraz, after an internal probe, received only a 20-day suspension for failing to disclose all he knew in the aftermath of an alleged beating at the Rampart Division station house. But Meraz was the officer in charge, and his duty was not just to tell what he knew but to bear responsibility for the actions of his officers.

Department spokesmen said, disturbingly, that they believed the 20-day suspension was the worst punishment ever levied against a senior LAPD commander. Find a business or institution that hasn’t fired or severely demoted a senior manager or supervisor in decades and you’ll see an operation with no sense of what internal discipline really means. The Rampart scandal, which covers allegations of perjury, falsified evidence, doctored crime scenes, bogus convictions and imprisonments and more, demands the toughest scrutiny at the highest levels of the organization.

That’s the test for Eglash and the Police Commission, and for the City Council, which has promised to provide all the resources necessary for a thorough review of the LAPD inquiry. The council should not be adding any new commissions just yet, but it should keep the idea on the table, ready if needed.