PICK NEXT LAPD CHIEF FROM WITHIN, VALLEY LEADERS SAY; SEVERAL SPEAKERS BACK KROEKER.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

San Fernando Valley community leaders urged the Police Commission on Tuesday to select the next LAPD chief from inside the department, with nearly half saying former Valley Bureau chief Mark Kroeker should get the job.

At the commission's first public hearing on selection of a new chief, Kroeker, who now heads the South Bureau, was supported by eight of the 18 speakers.

At one point, Police Commission President Ray Fisher told the small crowd at Parker Center that the panel is looking for input on important issues to ask candidates about, not for a vote on individual candidates.

``We're not counting names today,'' Fisher said.

However, that did not silence Kroeker's supporters.

``(Kroeker) has the respect of the rank and file, and I believe the morale will be improved with him as chief,'' said Marvin Byron, a member of the Van Nuys Division's community police advisory board.

North Valley activists Ed Cholakian and Berdj Karapetian both noted that Kroeker was backed by 75 percent of police officers who responded to a recent survey by the Police Protective League.

``I think the attitude of the rank and file has to be weighed very seriously and very heavily,'' Karapetian told the commission, saying he spoke for many in the Armenian-American community.

``(Officers) need a leader they can look up to,'' Cholakian added. ``(Kroeker) has had the experience so necessary to lead this Police Department.''

Former congresswoman Bobbi Fiedler, a North Valley resident, said any outsider would have difficulty understanding the city.

``You cannot learn what the city of Los Angeles is all about in three months, six months or a year. It's too complicated,'' Fiedler said. ``My view is we definitely need an insider.''

Fiedler did not identify a preferred candidate and warned the commission not to allow the selection process to come down to a popularity contest.

If such a contest were held, the two leading candidates would likely be Kroeker and Deputy Chief Bernard Parks, both of whom have been out in the public in what some City Hall observers see as an effort to garner political backing for the chief's race.

Harry Coleman, who heads the North Hills Coordinating Council, urged the commission to appoint Parks, saying Kroeker would be a good No. 2 person.

``(Parks) has had experience in every field of operations in the Los Angeles Police Department,'' Coleman told the panel.

Celes King III, a supporter of departing Police Chief Willie L. Williams, questioned whether the commission itself is being honest in asking for public input into the selection of the next chief. King charged that the panel ``refused to listen to the public'' when the panel decided not to give Williams a second five-year term.

``To some extent, your commission is on trial,'' said King, state chairman of the Congress for Racial Equality. He said the panel must prove it has not ``predetermined'' who will be the next chief.

Commission spokesman Ken Ferber said other public hearings will be held throughout the city, including one possibly in the San Fernando Valley.

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PHOTO KROEKER