RIGHT CRITERIA KEY TO FINDING LAPD CHIEF.

Byline: Erwin Chemerinsky  Local View

WHAT criteria should be used in choosing a new chief for the Los Angeles Police Department? In the next six weeks, the Police Commission and Mayor James Hahn will pick the replacement for Bernard C. Parks.

The importance of this decision cannot be overstated. In any city, policing is the single most important public service.

Serious problems remain in the LAPD and the new chief will play a crucial role in determining whether and what reforms occur. After a review by a professional search firm, 21 candidates met the basic criteria and will be reviewed by the Police Commission starting next month.

Under the requirements of the City Charter, the Police Commission then must send three names to Mayor Hahn. The mayor can select one of those nominees or he can reject all three and ask for further names from the Police Commission.

The Police Commission has formed a blue ribbon committee to develop criteria for selecting a new chief. This is an important step: considering the right factors makes it much more likely that the best person will be chosen. Indeed, for this reason, it is important that there be public debate and discussion about the criteria to be used.

It is easy to begin by identifying factors that should not be considered. For example, there should neither be a preference for an insider from Los Angeles nor for an outsider from a different city.

An insider has the advantage of knowledge of the department and thus an ability to act much more quickly to deal with problems in the LAPD.

An outsider has the benefit of an external perspective and a truly fresh start.

The Police Commission and the mayor should look for the person who is best for the position and should give no weight to whether the person is from Los Angeles or elsewhere.

Nor should race be a factor in the decision-making process. Los Angeles is the most racially diverse city in the country, and it is essential that the new police chief be able to deal with the opportunities and challenges this entails.

The Police Commission and the mayor must carefully consider how each candidate will deal with the racial issues confronting Los Angeles. But there should not be a preference based on race. Not only is this illegal under California law, but it risks misdirecting the inquiry from picking the single best person to lead the LAPD.

Obviously, the new chief must have extensive experience in policing and substantial administrative experience as well.

Less obviously, perhaps the most important consideration should be to select a chief who can work closely and well with many different constituencies: the mayor, the City Council, the Police Commission, the District Attorney's Office, the rank and file and its unions, and the communities and people of Los Angeles.

The task of being police chief is made extraordinarily difficult because of the need to satisfy these many constituencies that often have conflicting interests. Recent police chiefs, such as Willie L. Williams and Parks, have failed because of their inability to work with some of these groups.

In selecting a new chief, the Police Commission and mayor must look for a person who has the interpersonal skills and political judgment to work well with all of these constituencies.

Also, it is crucial to select a person who has a clear sense of the serious problems confronting the LAPD and realistic ideas for solutions.

Morale in the department remains very low. The chief is responsible for discipline and the disciplinary system needs reform, from the system for receiving and screening complaints, to Internal Affairs which investigates them, to the process for adjudicating them in the Board of Rights.

Provisions of the consent decree with the federal government, including a new system for tracking infractions by officers, must be implemented.

Ultimately, the Police Commission and the mayor must consider the vision that the new chief articulates for the role and for the department.

The new chief must be a strong leader, but more than his predecessor, accept that he or she is subordinate to the Police Commission which is responsible for managing the department.

The new chief must articulate a vision for effective policing that is sensitive to the civil rights and civil liberties of all in the city.

The new chief must be committed to community-based policing and a new culture within the LAPD.

Without a doubt, being police chief in Los Angeles is an extraordinarily difficult job. The last three chiefs have been denied reappointment. But there are many excellent candidates and the mayor and Police Commission have a terrific opportunity to select a chief who will begin a new era of policing in Los Angeles.