LAPD OVERSIGHT REMAINS SHAKY, INSPECTOR SAYS

*Police: In candid speech, he tells bar group that civilian bosses can be
swayed and that he is unsure of their support.

The Los Angeles Police Department remains a secretive, closed-off
fraternity, resistant to outsiders and capable of seducing its
civilian bosses into taking its side rather than upholding their
oversight duties, the department's chief watchdog told a group of
attorneys Thursday.

In fact, LAPD Inspector General Jeffrey C. Eglash said, he often is
not entirely sure if he has the support of the five-member police
commission to which he must answer.

"I have no fixed term of office, no Civil Service protection and I
have to count votes every morning," said Eglash.

He added: "If I take on unpopular tasks, I have to worry about my job
protection," which is not conducive to effective scrutiny of a
department currently enmeshed in the worst corruption scandal in its
history.

Eglash made his remarks during a panel discussion on civilian police
oversight held downtown at the Hotel Inter-Continental and sponsored
by the Los Angeles chapter of the Federal Bar Assn.

In some of the most forthcoming and provocative comments he has made
since being appointed inspector general nine months ago, he said
civilian police commissioners are prone to becoming victims of a
condition called the "Stockholm syndrome," in which hostages or
kidnapping victims come to sympathize with their captors and adopt the
captors' ideological views.

"The commission at times is capable of being captured or co-opted,
seduced by the Police Department in a way that makes it hard to
provide oversight," said Eglash.

He related disturbing incidents in which the department's Internal
Affairs division seemed more interested in discovering the names of
officers who had come forward with complaints than in investigating
the substance of those allegations. Police officers have a duty to
report misconduct, noted Eglash, but the department's actions had the
effect of scaring them off.

"I have seen cases where an officer was alleged to engage in
misconduct and was exonerated," said Eglash. "But then the officer who
brought the allegations was charged with failing to bring the matter
to the attention of supervisors in a timely manner."

A spokesman for the department said he had not heard Eglash's remarks
and would not comment. Police Commission President Gerald L. Chaleff
could not be reached for comment.

The other participants on the panel made up a Who's Who of the
nation's most prominent law enforcement authorities and included
Raymond C. Fisher, a federal appeals court judge and former president
of the Los Angeles Police Commission; Merrick Bobb, special counsel
for Los Angeles County in charge of monitoring the Sheriff's
Department; and Michael Bromwich, former inspector general for the
U.S. Justice Department.

The panel was prompted by the burgeoning Rampart Division police
corruption scandal in which officers from that division are accused of
framing, beating and even shooting innocent victims.

The bar association's executive director noted that Los Angeles County
Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti and Police Chief Bernard C. Parks had both
been invited but declined to attend. But the Police Protective League
and mayoral candidates sent representatives and former Dist. Atty. Ira
Reiner and former LAPD Inspector General Katherine Mader showed up.

Much of the interest centered on Eglash, who, in a frank and
wide-ranging discussion, ran through a laundry list of weaknesses--and
some strengths--of the current civilian oversight, which includes the
Police Commission and the inspector general, who is charged with
investigating the LAPD for the commission.

The good news, said Eglash, is that there is a system. He said the
police commissioners were by and large dedicated, that the commission
enjoyed broad support from the public through civilian advisory boards
and was generally supported by the rank and file of the Police Department.

Eglash also said he was optimistic that a panel recently appointed by
the Police Commission--the Rampart Independent Review Panel, made up
of several former prosecutors and other prominent figures--would
successfully investigate the Police Department from top to bottom and
make suggestions for change.