Police Board Calls on Chief to Improve Performance

In a set of 1996 goals that reflects some of the Los Angeles Police Commission’s frustration with Police Chief Willie L. Williams, the board has directed the chief to improve his performance by, among other things, minimizing his days off, demonstrating a professional work ethic and establishing himself “as the internally recognized leader within the department.”

Copies of the goals, contained in the chief’s personnel package and discussed by the commission and Williams earlier this year, were obtained by The Times. The 49 objectives are grouped together under six categories such as “leadership and vision,” “communication” and “managing operations.”

They demonstrate the board’s determination to set written measurements to gauge the chief’s effectiveness at a time when his continued stewardship of the LAPD is in doubt. Williams’ five-year term expires next year, and the decision on whether to renew his contract will rest with the Police Commission.

Although he would not comment in detail Monday, Williams has told supporters that he believes some of the commission goals are unfair and should not have been included in the final list. Some sources sympathetic to the chief agreed, saying they found a few of the goals insulting to Williams.

Under the category of “leadership and vision,” the commissioners identified a number of areas in which they called for Williams to set higher standards for himself and his organization.

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“Establish and maintain a management structure and operation that provides effective leadership, control and accountability,” one goal reads.

“Establish yourself as the internally recognized leader within the department who is able to lead the LAPD with the support of the department’s employees,” another states.

And another directs Williams to “demonstrate a professional work ethic and commitment to leadership. Minimize the time absent from duty and from the city and respond timely to significant and unusual events.”

Williams declined to address the substance of the goals Monday. Speaking through a department spokesman, he instead alluded to the release of the material: “If the Los Angeles Times has a copy of a document or a draft that the Police Commission has shared only with the mayor, the City Council and the chief, then that is a significant issue in its own right.”

Some of the goals in the document are for the LAPD in general and for Williams as the department’s general manager. They highlight certain areas of department operations that the commission considers especially important.

The top three goals under the heading of “managing operations” direct Williams to reduce so-called “Part 1” crimes--serious felonies--by 10% in the coming year, as well as to identify and implement new ways of responding to disasters and to improve the 911 emergency response system. The commission also asked Williams and his staff to identify new types of police equipment and to manage the investigations of officer-involved shootings so as to speed those cases along.

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Those reflect broad LAPD objectives, and some dovetail with goals that the chief and his command staff set for the department in preparing the organization’s strategic plan. According to sources familiar with the document obtained by The Times, there was little disagreement between Williams and the board on the topics drawn from the strategic plan or those outlined in the operations section of the commission’s list of goals.

Other objectives set by the commission echo issues raised in previous evaluations of the chief. In 1995, sources say, the commission urged Williams to improve communications with the board. This year, the list of goals includes that one again, along with a further goal of ensuring “total candor in all communications both verbal and written with the board, the City Council and the mayor.”

Like that one, other listed goals direct Williams to carry out the most basic of his job duties.

One simply directs him to follow the directions of the commission, which is the Police Department’s policymaking body. Another says he should maintain effective, informative communications with the media and the community. Another calls on him to “maintain effective and harmonious relations with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.”

According to sources familiar with the goals, the list was first shared with Williams late last year, and the chief objected to some of the document’s language. One goal under the category of “planning and implementation” called on Williams to take responsibility for LAPD expansion efforts, “including but not limited to hiring, recruitment, civilianization, attrition and overtime.”

Sources said Williams balked at being asked to bear responsibility for LAPD attrition, since officers leave for a variety of reasons, chiefly discontent over salaries and benefits. Williams does not directly control police officer salaries and felt it was unfair that his bosses would hold him responsible for an area where he has only indirect control, sources said.

Based on his concerns, some of the categories were reworded. The final wording of the goal relating to attrition reads that the chief should “assume the appropriate responsibility” for meeting the expansion plan targets. It does not hold him solely responsible for that goal.

But other objections by the chief were not incorporated into the revised goals. Sources said Williams wanted some of the items deleted, but they were not.

On Monday, members of the Police Commission declined to comment.

“I really don’t want to comment on a personnel matter,” said Art Mattox, who is slated to become acting president of the commission later this week, when President Deirdre Hill resigns her post.

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As Williams enters the final year of his five-year contract, he is facing criticism from a number of quarters and much attention is focused on the question of whether his contract will be renewed if he reapplies by the end of the year. Confronted with so many potential problems and convinced that his rights previously have been violated by the improper release of personnel documents, he has hired a respected Los Angeles lawyer, Johnny Darnell Griggs.

Griggs did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

The written set of goals given to the chief this year represents a more precise and elaborate mechanism for setting objectives than the commission has taken in past years. In 1994, commissioners castigated Williams for lacking focus in managing the department and cited his handling of officer-involved shootings, his uncertainty about whether to demote then-Assistant Chief Bernard Parks, and his responsiveness to commission requests and deadlines as three areas needing attention.

In addition, the commission asked Williams to yield greater involvement to the board in developing policy regarding community policing, in combating sexual harassment and in writing a department mission statement. Those concerns all were addressed in a two-page memorandum given to the chief in May 1994 and were only touched on briefly.

Last year, sources say, the commission met with Williams and listed a number of areas for improvement. According to sources, those areas included taking greater responsibility for his top staff, improving his work ethic, cultivating the support of his officers, reorganizing certain areas of the department, improving investigations of officer-involved shootings and trying to ensure that he would be in the city during crises.

Again, those items were discussed in general terms, but not with the same breadth and detail as this year’s set of goals.

Commissioners would not comment on why they adopted the more specific and probing approach this year, but they have been urging department brass, including Williams, to insist on more rigorous accountability, a subject raised in a recent study of the department’s reform efforts.