Vernon Denies Telling Officer ‘God Wants Me to Be Chief’

An attorney for Los Angeles Assistant Police Chief Robert L. Vernon, who has been accused of systematically injecting fundamentalist religious beliefs into department business, said Wednesday that Vernon flatly denies a series of allegations against him, including a sworn statement that he once told a police investigator, “God wants me to be chief.”

“He denies ever making that kind of a statement . . . to anyone in the LAPD,” said David Casterline, Vernon’s attorney. “That’s a fiction of someone’s imagination.”

Other charges that Vernon secretly investigated Police Chief Daryl F. Gates, boosted exam scores for Christian fundamentalist officers and doodled Christian “fish” signs on official memos are untrue as well, Casterline said.

Also on Wednesday, Vernon issued his first direct comments on the allegations, suggesting in a prepared statement that the charges are linked to the current competition for a new police chief. Three of Vernon’s rivals for the job--Assistant Chief David Dotson and deputy chiefs Glenn Levant and Bernard Parks--were among those who gave sworn declarations alleging that Vernon repeatedly mixed religion and police work.

Vernon said it is “peculiar that these allegations, most of which are many years old, have again come to light at this particular time from individuals who are reportedly candidates for the chief of police position.”

The charges against Vernon came in documents that the city filed in federal court Tuesday in response to Vernon’s lawsuit claiming his career was sabotaged last year by an internal Police Department investigation of alleged mixing of religious beliefs and city duties.

Casterline added that there is a “group of city officials . . . certainly organized in their opposition” to Vernon becoming chief. They include Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who last year requested the internal investigation, Casterline said.

Skip Miller, the attorney representing the city, scoffed at such charges, saying, “There isn’t a shred of evidence of any organized effort directed at Bob Vernon. . . . I challenge them to come up with any evidence to support these wild conspiracy allegations.”

Miller noted that the allegations against Vernon came in “declarations (made) under penalty of perjury,” and that several of them are from retired LAPD officers no longer involved with City Hall. He said he believes they “are telling the absolute truth.”

Unlike his lawyer, Vernon in his statement did not respond to specific allegations, but said he was “confident that the truth of these matters will become clear” as his lawsuit progresses.

Casterline said he will file a series of court papers and declarations next week that will refute allegations against Vernon.

In one of the most provocative declarations filed by the city, former LAPD Detective Neil K. Spotts said Gates asked him about 10 years ago to look into allegations that Vernon was conducting an investigation of Gates. Spotts described a clandestine meeting with Vernon in a dirty hotel basement, where Vernon confirmed he was investigating Gates and that he, Vernon, wanted to be chief. “God wants me to be chief,” Spotts recalled Vernon saying.

Casterline denied that Vernon was conducting a probe of Gates, saying he met with Spotts in the hotel basement at Spotts’ request because he wanted to discuss sensitive information about the chief. “Spotts was coming to him with information. (Vernon) was not investigating the chief,” he said.

Vernon did not tell Spotts that God wanted him to be chief, Casterline said. Vernon has told members of his church that “if God wants me to serve his will by becoming chief of police, it will happen,” the attorney said. “But he denies ever making that kind of statement officially or within the performance of his job.”

Spotts could not be reached for comment. But Bill Farley, a spokesman for Spotts, who is now western region chief of security for Playboy Enterprises, said Spotts “intends to stand on his declaration. He’s going to stick with the statement he made.”

Gates closed last year’s internal investigation of Vernon’s religious activities, saying no evidence of wrongdoing was found.

He also said this week that no proof was found in the earlier probe that Vernon was conducting a secret investigation and he “had not heard” about Vernon’s alleged claim that God wanted him to be chief.

Casterline said allegations that Vernon doodled Christian “fish” signs on his official memos is a misunderstanding. He said the large, loop-like marks are actually made by LAPD secretaries to indicate they have read or approved correspondence.

Cmdr. Robert Gil, Gates’ spokesman, said Wednesday that the marks are often made by Vernon’s secretary as a means of keeping track of the status of memos.

Another declaration filed by the city Tuesday criticized Vernon’s attitudes toward gays.

Levant, in charge of the Police Department’s West Bureau operations, said in his sworn statement that Vernon criticized police commanders for not ordering more arrests of gays during largely peaceful demonstrations last year.

Levant said Vernon criticized him and others for being “deliberately soft on gays.” Members of Los Angeles’ gay community have long complained that Vernon’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs improperly influenced his conduct as a police commander.

“We’ve been screaming for two years that this guy is a homophobe, and here it is in black and white,” David M. Smith, a spokesman for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Community Services Center, said Wednesday.

Smith said some gay activists were aware “through contacts in the mayor’s office” that Vernon had been pushing for a crackdown on demonstrations last October that followed Gov. Pete Wilson’s veto of major gay rights legislation.

Casterline said it was “ridiculous” to accuse Vernon of attempting to boost arrests of gays.

Levant responded Wednesday, “I stand by my statement.”

Times staff writer Scott Harris contributed to this story.