LAPD LEADERSHIP CRISIS FEARED : POLICE MORALE, IMAGE SEEN AS VICTIMS OF OPEN BATTLE BETWEEN CHIEF, COMMISSION.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The open conflict between Police Chief Willie L. Williams and the Police Commission over evaluation of the chief's performance is bound to harm officer morale and mar the LAPD's already tarnished image, city leaders and others said Friday.

The department still is trying to recover from the morale-bursting controversies of the Rodney King beating, the subsequent trials and riots, the contentious departure of former chief Daryl Gates and criticism of the investigation in the O.J. Simpson case.

The latest conflict broke out into the open Thursday when police commissioners went public with their evaluation criteria, and with letters from the chief's lawyers that accused the commission of having already made up its mind to fire the chief.

City leaders said the latest flap has created another leadership crisis in the trouble-plagued department.

City Councilman Richard Alatorre said the chief's open challenge to the voter-approved power of his civilian bosses raises questions about who is in charge and whether the chief and commission can work together for the good of the department.

``You can't lead a department and question the authority of the commission,'' said Alatorre, who previously had said the chief should not be given another term.

One command officer, who spoke under condition of anonymity, said the outbreak of open hostility has spurred renewed activity among high-ranking officers, including Deputy Chiefs Bernard Parks and Mark Kroeker, hoping to position themselves to take over the department.

``There is a certain unsettledness about having this going on, and we'd like to have this settled,'' said the command officer. ``We're dreading this being played out in the press.''

Williams has challenged the lawfulness of the criteria the commission is using to decide whether he should get a second, five-year term, and has charged that the commission already has made up its mind not to renew his job.

A strongly worded letter from the chief's attorneys on Thursday charged that the evaluation process begun by the commission is ``window dressing designed to sanitize the record and convey the mere appearance of due process.''

Commissioners, who have until April 7 to rule, said they have not made a decision on the chief's tenure, and they angrily denied his accusations that the evaluation is a sham.

Appearing Friday on KCET-TV's ``Life and Times,'' news show, the chief's attorney, Johnny Griggs, said in the most explicit terms yet that the chief may file a lawsuit if he believes his rights have been violated.

``If it should become necessary for the chief to file a lawsuit and prudent to do so I'm sure he will make that decision and he will file it in court, or a claim with the city,'' Griggs said. ``We won't be waiving it in front of the media and threatening with it.' ''

Williams had been out sick since Tuesday with laryngitis and was not available to comment again Friday.

But the public exchange has worried even some people who have been supportive of the chief, including former Police Commissioner Ann Reiss Lane.

``I think it's very damaging,'' said Lane, who was on the commission when it hired Williams nearly five years ago.

``It's very destructive and very disappointing because I have defended him consistently as a healer, as someone who brought the department and the community together, and now he's dividing,'' Lane said.

Lane said she believes the commission has set fair criteria, and she does not understand the chief's confrontational posture.

Lane and others said the current squabble has parallels to 1991, when a different Police Commission warred with then Chief Daryl Gates. Gates was put on leave by the panel but reinstated by the City Council when he threatened to sue the city.

It was that public battle that caused the Christopher Commission to recommend that the Police Commission be given more authority to hire and fire the chief. That reform, which removed the chief from civil service protections, was approved by the voters in 1992 in the form of Charter Amendment F.