BACA UNDER FIRE OVER DEPUTY PROMOTIONS POLICY.

Byline: Douglas Haberman Staff Writer

Sheriff Lee Baca is skirting a court-ordered system of promoting deputies to sergeants, by putting his favorites on the promotion list, according to complaints lodged by the deputies' union and an attorney monitoring the process.

Baca apparently named at least 40 deputies for promotion who were not selected through the approved process, said Dennis Harley, a Pasadena attorney who monitors the Los Angeles County Sheriff Department's compliance with a 1991 court order intended to increase women's opportunities.

``It's just a flat-out end-run of a pretty detailed system,'' Harley said Thursday.

Baca was unavailable for comment.

The sheriff's press information office refused to discuss the accusations and declined to make available either Baca or any other high-level official to address the allegations.

The department is not commenting because the matter is scheduled for a federal court hearing, said sheriff's Capt. Doyle Campbell. He said he did not know the date of the hearing.

``The issue is, what is the process and did we go outside the process?'' Campbell said. ``(Critics) have perceptions and they have questions based on those perceptions and that's what we intend to answer in court.''

Late Wednesday, Baca issued a memorandum to department employees, acknowledging ``recent unofficial disclosures concerning promotions to sergeant.''

Baca's memo said a list of approximately 151 candidates for sergeant was put together after department executives evaluated candidates. ``The list was then expanded by an additional 37 candidates for a total of 188,'' the memo said. ``The matter has been set for a hearing in federal court.''

``That is absolutely false,'' said Harley, who said he has filed documents with the federal court raising serious concerns about the recent promotion activities but has not requested a hearing and is not aware of such a hearing.

However, a charge of unfair labor practices was filed against the Sheriff's Department - including allegations Baca manipulated the promotion process - by the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, which represents more than 7,000 deputies in collective bargaining.

ALADS' charge was filed July 6 and is expected to be taken up Wednesday by the county Employee Relations Commission. Secretary Louise Terry said the commission will determine if the matter should be scheduled for a hearing at a later date.

Harley said three of the deputies allegedly chosen outside the authorized process were promoted in March and 37 others are on a new list from which sergeants will be chosen.

ALADS, whose officials declined comment Thursday, sent out a memorandum to all its members on Wednesday accusing Baca of putting together the list of 37 names ``over the objections of the commanders and chiefs'' - high-ranking members of the department who are supposed to put together the recommended promotion list, under the court-approved system.

Critics, including some ALADS members, say Baca was instrumental in helping a group of deputies try to stop the organization by decertifying it as their collective bargaining unit.

ALADS endorsed then-Sheriff Sherman Block for re-election last year against Baca. Block died days before the November election.

The union's unfair-labor practices charge against Baca says he manipulated both the sergeants' exam and the court-ordered promotion process to promote one deputy, and added the names of two deputies to the promotion list that commanders had drawn up.

The department's promotion process was put in place as a result of the 1991 court order to assure promotional opportunities for women. Harley represented female deputies in that class-action lawsuit, and he continues to represent them as a monitor of the department's compliance with the order.