POLICE CHIEF SEARCH DOWN TO 13 FINALISTS A 'DIVERSE GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS'.

Byline: Mariel Garza  Staff Writer

After several hours in closed session, the Los Angeles Police Commission on Tuesday narrowed the list of candidates for the police chief job to 13 - from 21 - but refused to give identify those still in the running.

``It is a very diverse group of individuals,'' said commission President Rick Caruso. ``It is gender-diverse, there's a diversity from an ethnicity standpoint. So there's a broad mix that reflects the diversity of Los Angeles in the group of 13.''

But the commission would not say how many are women, for example, or how many are from within the Los Angeles Department.

The original pool of 51 applicants included women and members of the LAPD's brass. Earlier this month, the field was narrowed to 21 who met the minimum established requirements of a bachelor's degree and 10 years police experience including time in a diverse metropolitan agency and experience at the executive level.

``(Among the 13) there are both men and women from within LAPD and there are individuals outside of LAPD,'' Caruso said.

Caruso said the commissioners decided not to release the names because they had made agreements with some to keep their names quiet.

``The sensitivity there is that they hold high positions, obviously chief positions, in many other parts of the country,'' Caruso said.

Interviews will begin Sept. 4 with the remaining candidates for the job that was left vacant by former police Chief Bernard C. Parks, who stepped down from the position in May after the Police Commission decided not to offer him a second five-year term.

There is no set date to complete the interviews, Caruso said, although the commission hopes to have a list of three finalists to take to Mayor James Hahn by the end of September.

The five members of the commission took the list of candidates into a closed session meeting Tuesday morning immediately after a citizen's Blue Ribbon Committee presented them with its recommendations for the criteria for a new police chief.

In interviewing the candidates, the commissioners said they will use the criteria.

Among the panel's recommendations are that the next police chief be a ``culturally competent'' and inspiring leader with an insider's understanding of the LAPD, and that he or she continue to transform the department from a quasi-military organization into a department concerned with community-based policing.

Connie Rice, a civil rights attorney and a member of the Blue Ribbon Committee, said that criteria the group came up with represented an ideal, and that the hope is the next chief of police embodies most of the critical qualities.

``There's no single human being who can fit every criterion, I think it would take one of those action-figure heroes to do everything,'' Rice said. ``We wrote the criteria of the perfect candidate.''

Mitzi Grasso, president of the police officers union, said she was pleased with the criteria the citizens panel produced and they do not conflict with the set of criteria that the union produced last week.

``They made it clear that what's important is the best candidate - not race, not ethnicity, not gender - somebody who's really willing to embrace the ideals that will push the Los Angeles Police Department forward.''