WILLIAMS MAY REVIVE SHOOTING-REVIEW UNIT.

Byline: Jaxon Van Derbeken Daily News Staff Writer

Police Chief Willie L. Williams is reviewing a plan to re-establish the LAPD's officer-involved shooting team, the controversial unit he quietly disbanded last year without notifying the Police Commission.

Williams said Wednesday through a spokesman that no formal decision has been made about the future of the unit.

Cmdr. Tim McBride said there have been two "very cordial" meetings between Williams and Robbery-Homicide Division detectives, who currently are handling the investigations, and that Williams has sought a proposal from them for a revived unit.

"They submitted a proposal and he's reviewing that proposal," McBride said. "He's not ready to make an announcement and, formally, hasn't made a decision."

But Lt. William Hall, who headed up the former Officer-Involved Shooting Section, said Wednesday that his superiors have told him to plan on reviving the unit and begin recruiting officers for the job.

"We are going back, and we are trying to accomplish his direction as fast as we can," Hall said. In addition to new officers, Hall said he has to procure the desks and other support for a unit that will handle expanded duties.

Police Commissioner Art Mattox said Wednesday that the chief has not shared with the commission any ideas about reviving a single unit to investigate officer-involved shootings.

"With all the visibility, the importance of the unit, I would expect we would be fully apprised before any changes occurred," he said.

Williams was criticized in 1995 by the Police Commission for not formally providing notice to the panel about the reorganization plan. Williams went ahead with the changes.

The latest proposal to revive the former OIS team came after detectives in the Robbery-Homicide Division complained in a Nov. 28 letter to Williams that in the first seven months of the reorganization, only four murder investigations had been assigned to 36 detectives.

The letter concluded that the reorganization had left homicide detectives "with literally hundreds of years of experience investigating murders" instead investigating officer-involved shootings in which no one is injured.

"To be blunt, we are wasting expertise," the letter said. "To be blunt again, most of us cannot figure out why the Officer-Involved Shooting Section was disbanded."

Williams said at the time that he hoped that disbanding the unit would improve the speed and efficiency of investigations.

Since Williams disbanded the unit, the district attorney has stopped responding to all officer-involved shootings because of budget cuts.

Hall said Wednesday that the unit's new mission will be to investigate all officer-involved shootings, not just those where someone is wounded.

"I think it is good for the department to consolidate the investigations into one unit, lead to more consistent investigations," Hall said. "In that respect, it will be good."

Hall said that the new squad will have six three-detective teams instead of four three detective teams in the old officer-involved shooting team.

Detectives in Robbery-Homicide Division are waiting - and watching.

"It hasn't happened - we'll wait and see if it happens," said Detective Jerry Stevens. "I think it will happen. I think it's good."

Detective Richard Aldahl, one of the investigators who signed the letter to the chief, said the fate of the proposal is unclear.

"We're going to have to wait and see what's decided," he said. "As soon as they come back with what they want to do, I will know."