Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 2, 1991 TAG: 9104020054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
Announcement of the seven-member panel, which is to seek private funding to assure its independence, appeared likely to be the principal response to the King affair from Bradley and the city's political establishment.
The influential Los Angeles Times, which has a 1.2 million daily circulation and is a longtime supporter of Bradley, was told of the appointment in advance and said in an editorial Monday that the Christopher commission "can restore full confidence in a proud department."
"The Christopher Commission will begin a comprehensive effort to deal with the entire problem of police brutality in Los Angeles," Bradley said. He said it is expected to report in 90 days on "the structure and operation of the department, determining its efficiency, fairness and service.
None of the commission members lives in minority areas that have complained most often about police use of excessive force. Christopher indicated that the commission would hire staff members from those neighborhoods and said "we will not neglect any part of our community."
Critics of Gates say racism is imbedded in his department and was revealed in the King incident, in which four white officers, including one who had made apparently racial statements, have been indicted for assaulting the black motorist.
The commission has one black member, John Slaughter, 56, former chancellor of the University of Maryland and now president of Occidental College in nearby Eagle Rock. Its lone Hispanic member is Leobardo Estrada, 45, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California at Los Angeles who helped draw up new Los Angeles County supervisor districts.
Defenders of the department have decried efforts to tar all police with the King incident, videotaped by an amateur cameraman. Several police-related groups placed a full-page advertisement in the Los Angeles Times on Monday asking, in part, "Where was this outcry for the cops killed protecting you?"
Christopher, 65, chairman of the law firm of O'Melveny and Myers, is a former deputy attorney general and deputy secretary of state, his position when he negotiated release of U.S. hostages in Iran at the end of the Carter administration. He also was vice chairman of the McCone Commission that investigated the 1965 Watts riots here.
Bradley said the panel is expected to suggest reforms in police department practices.
by CNB