Riordan Said to Favor Parks for Police Chief

As the Los Angeles Police Commission presses ahead with its search to replace Police Chief Willie L. Williams, sources close to Mayor Richard Riordan, who ultimately will select the LAPD’s new leader, say he now is inclined to tap Deputy Chief Bernard C. Parks for the vital and coveted job.

That represents a shift in Riordan’s preference--or at least, a shift in the speculation about his preference. Although Riordan publicly touted Parks for the interim chief job, he has long spoken glowingly of Deputy Chief Mark Kroeker. Because of that, many LAPD insiders and Riordan associates have assumed he would back Kroeker for the department’s top job.

But sources say Riordan and Parks, whose relationship dates back years, have spoken a number of times in the two months since the Police Commission voted not to renew Williams’ contract. According to those sources, Riordan has come away from the sessions--including a long talk at the mayor’s official residence in Hancock Park--impressed with Parks’ command of the department and the issues facing it.

Among other things, the two have discussed policing and management philosophies and LAPD staffing. Sources say Riordan has warmed both to Parks’ ideas and to his forcefulness.

“They are managers,” one person who knows both men said. “The more they talk, the more the mayor has been impressed.”

Such impressions count. Unlike selection of an interim chief--a decision that rests with the city’s Police Commission--picking the next permanent head of the LAPD is a matter left to the mayor.

Under City Charter rules adopted by voters in 1992, the Personnel Department will evaluate the candidates for chief and produce a list of six finalists. From that list, the Police Commission will tap three and submit their names, ranked in order of preference, to Riordan.

The mayor may select any one of the three. But if he is not satisfied with the three names forwarded to him, he can ask the commission to send another slate; if he still is not satisfied, he can select any of the applicants.

Effectively, that gives Riordan the chance to mull over an unlimited number of possible candidates until he gets to one he feels comfortable backing. The nominee then must be confirmed by the City Council.

Parks, who is traveling to New York next week as part of a group that includes top LAPD brass and Riordan’s leading public safety aides, is benefiting from the high-level backing of some of the mayor’s closest advisors. They include lawyer Bill Wardlaw, who is Riordan’s best friend and closest confidant, and Assistant Deputy Mayor Joe Gunn, a trusted City Hall insider who oversees law enforcement issues for the mayor.

Sources say Wardlaw has long championed Parks, and Gunn--who, like Parks, is a protege of retired Chief Edward M. Davis--lately has been lobbying hard for Parks to take over the Police Department.

Parks, who was close to the top job in 1992 before being passed over for Williams, declined to comment on his meetings with Riordan or his prospects for selection.

“I’m very pleased that the mayor has shown faith in me,” the deputy chief said in an interview. “I’m fully willing to go through the process that the commission puts together and to let the competition go forward.”

Despite growing support for Parks inside the mayor’s office and among his confidants, there are months to go, and Kroeker remains a formidable candidate.

Backers, including Police Commissioner Herbert Boeckmann Jr., have been calling key officials and trying to drum up support for their man. What’s more, Kroeker remains the favorite of many rank-and-file police officers. A recent straw poll by the police union showed that 75% of the officers who completed ballots favored Kroeker’s selection.

Deputy Chief David J. Gascon also is considered a longshot candidate for the job, though his support is less strong than that of either Kroeker or Parks.

Meanwhile, a smattering of outsiders have sent out feelers regarding their interest. The most closely watched include former LAPD Deputy Chiefs Lawrence Fetters and William Rathburn, though former New York Police Commissioner William Bratton still looms as a dark-horse candidate, given Riordan’s often expressed admiration for the NYPD’s approach to crime-fighting. So far, none of those candidates has attracted much support at City Hall.

That has left most attention focused on Parks and Kroeker.

Riordan declines comment beyond noting that he believes Parks and Kroeker both are experienced, valued leaders of the LAPD--and that either is qualified to serve as chief of police. Behind the scenes, however, Riordan has been reaching out to Parks.

Just last week, when the Police Commission was considering whether to make Parks interim chief, the mayor pulled out his heavy lobbying artillery on Parks’ behalf. Commissioners heard from a variety of community leaders, including Rep. Julian C. Dixon (D-Los Angeles), who weighed in on Parks’ behalf and at Riordan’s request.

“The mayor made it more than clear that Parks was his first choice,” said Commission President Raymond C. Fisher. “There is no doubt in my mind about who the mayor wanted.”

On the morning of the decision, sources say, Riordan telephoned Parks at home to brace him for the news that he was not going to get the job. Riordan aides had been counting votes and realized that despite their efforts, Parks was one vote short. On a 3-2 vote, the commission instead tapped Assistant Chief Bayan Lewis for the interim position.

Although the recent overtures have signaled a new warmth in the relationship between Parks and Riordan, in fact they have considerable history.

When Parks was a candidate for chief in 1992--a race he narrowly lost to Williams--Riordan provided him with office space at his law firm and personally helped prep the deputy for the examination. The next year, Parks appeared at a number of Riordan fund-raisers and participated in the private Mass that Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said before the mayor’s inauguration.

They also share some basic views on policing: Both are admirers of UCLA professor James Q. Wilson, the intellectual force behind community-based policing. Last week, when Parks was in Washington, D.C., for a conference, he sought out Wilson and spoke briefly with him.

Although the mayor and Parks have much in common, there have been moments of mutual wariness. In the early years of Riordan’s first term, his then-Chief of Staff Bill Ouchi had a cool relationship with Parks.

Then, in 1994, Williams abruptly demoted Parks in a shake-up of the LAPD’s top brass. Riordan stood by, publicly insisting that Williams had the right to structure his top command however he liked. Although the mayor said his nonintervention should not be interpreted as unhappiness with Parks, some of the deputy chief’s supporters viewed it as an indication that Parks no longer enjoyed Riordan’s support.

Officials who were close to that process say that interpretation was inaccurate.

“When Mayor Riordan came to office, one of the few high-ranking police officials he knew was Bernie Parks,” said Enrique Hernandez Jr., who served as Police Commission president at the time of the demotion. “I think there was a sense of frustration and dismay by Riordan when Parks was demoted. . . . But it was Williams’ authority to do that, and he had to be allowed to do it and to be held accountable for his leadership.”

This time, though, the decision on whom to promote will be Riordan’s.

Though his choice must be confirmed by the City Council, Parks long has enjoyed strong support from many of its members. When Williams demoted Parks in 1994, the council made clear where its loyalties lay: It voted to give Parks a raise.

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