CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS SEEK PUBLIC ROLE IN LAPD REFORM.

Byline: Rick Orlov Staff Writer

A coalition of civil rights groups called Friday for a role for the public in negotiations with the Justice Department over a possible federal court consent decree to reform the Los Angeles Police Department.

The Coalition for Police Accountability, saying it represented 55 groups from around the city, questioned the ability of the review panel appointed by the Los Angeles Police Commission to come up with a credible report.

Officials with the Police Commission said they would have no comment, but they have defended the panel as containing experts in law enforcement, management and other procedures who are needed to examine the LAPD as a result of the Rampart Division corruption case.

The coalition, however, is not the only critic of the makeup of the panel. Several City Council members have complained that it contains too few women and minorities.

Victor Narro of the Committee for Humane Immigration Rights in Los Angeles, and a member of the coalition, said he appreciated the involvement of the federal government, which is negotiating with city officials over whether a consent decree should be issued to provide federal monitoring of the LAPD.

``The federal government may be the only leadership we can count on to enact long-overdue reforms to stop widespread civil rights abuses within our city and to do it swiftly,'' Narro said.

Narro said members of the coalition are trying to set up a meeting with Assistant Attorney General Bill Lann Lee, who heads the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

``We must insist that negotiations between the Justice Department and the city over terms of a consent decree include local experts on police reform,'' Narro said.

Elizabeth Schroeder of the American Civil Liberties Union said such involvement was important because it needed to include people who were victims of police abuse and that the city needed a better system of civilian oversight.