Tales of the Chief

BRATTON MAKES A MOVE

Yesterday, Chief Bill Bratton made a rather startling move when, at the morning press conference with Mayor Antonio V, he announced that he was demoting and reassigning Cayler Carter Jr., the Deputy Chief in charge of the department’s Central Division. Bratton has reassigned Carter’s next in command, Commander Louis Gray, out of Central Division too.

Carter and Gray were the highest ranking officers on the scene at the MacArthur Park command post on May Day. Thus it is likely one of the two who authorized the use of the rubber bullets on the crowds….and approved—of failed to control— heaven knows what other actions.

[Thanks, by the way, to commenter Pokey for posting parts of the LAPD manual relating to such issues, on an earlier thread.]

Acting to discipline two officers at command staff level, before any investigations are concluded, is unusual to say the least—and gutsy on Bratton’s part. Police union president, Bob Baker and his board have been worrying loudly for days that any rush to judgment will have a disastrous effect on rank and file morale. And for law enforcement, they warn, morale is everything

Yet, it’s precisely this fear about hurting troop morale that has hog-tied Bratton in the past when it came to aggressive discipline. And also it’s why so many of us have called for outside oversight—because we recognize the nearly impossible nature of his conflict. The top cop, we figured, needs someone to play bad cop to his good cop.

So far, though, he’s making all the right moves—in this instance anyway. Disciplining a deputy chief and a police commander is a risky choice—and exactly the decisive signal that’s called for.

[more tales after the jump]

The CHIEF PAYS UNION DUES

Later in the day yesterday, Bratton made another good move when he met with the union’s governing board to talk specifically about the morale issue. According to the LA Times, when the union folks came out of the meeting, while they weren’t exactly chipper, the gesture has had its effect.

So far, the union has not been critical of Bratton’s handling of the situation, per se, but has instead directed strong words to city leaders, in some cases, in the form of open letters—as with Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez and City Councilman, Herb Wesson, both of whom made unhelpful race-baiting remarks after the May Day melee.

BERNIE AND DARYL RUN IT DOWN

Meanwhile, on the NPR Show “Tell Me More,” two former LAPD Chiefs, Bernard Parks and Daryl Gates, talked about what they knew and thought about the May Day mess. Parks is the most interesting of the two, in part because, as a city council member he’s still very much in the game, while Gates sounds…a bit…disengaged. But both are worth tuning in.

For instance, when Parks was asked about protocols for crowd control, he said that when declaring an unlawful assembly, those gathered were supposed to be given proper notice, including routes that they should take to leave, and the media should be instructed where they could be. “But none of that was done,” he said. “Instead you had families with children running away…”

In terms of the use of the rubber bullets, Parks said quite conclusively that “ordinance”—of any kind—is not supposed to be “a preventative or proactive effort” that it is only to be used to defend officers.

“What was the immediate danger to the public or to the officers?” Bernie asked. ”There are protocols. Why the urgency? Why was there an emergency?”

Here’s the Parks link.

Gates…..who seemed a bit flummoxed by it all…. was critical of Bratton for giving a “deep apology” on Sunday.

Then, when asked about the rules for using rubber bullets, he punted. “During my time we didn’t have all that fancy equipment,” said Gates (who was known during his tenure for his love of large, gee-whiz gadgets). The former chief who was boss during both the Rodney King episode, and the 1992 LA riots, also enthused warmly that the Metro guys’ high-tech black suits were “kinda nice….!”

Here’s the Gates link.