Lawyer for Panel That Probed NYPD Will Testify Here

The Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department has turned to the chief lawyer for the renowned citizens panel that exposed widespread police corruption in New York City in the early 1970s for advice on how to conduct its examination of the LAPD.

Michael Armstrong, a New York lawyer who was the main architect of the Knapp Commission’s probe, will testify next week before the local panel, also called the Christopher Commission after its chairman, former Deputy Secretary of State Warren Christopher.

“The methodology of the Knapp Commission is, I think, one of the main precedents in this field,” said Christopher. “I want to be sure that we learn all we can from the way they went about it.”

The Christopher Commission, which has promised a top-to-bottom probe of the LAPD, was formed by the merger of two panels named by Mayor Tom Bradley and Police Chief Daryl F. Gates after the police beating of Rodney G. King. It held its first meeting Tuesday.

The panel expects to look at a wide range of issues, including police training, the way brutality complaints are handled and the role of the chief of police. Already its volunteer staff of 11 lawyers has begun examining files and documents.

The Knapp Commission spent more than a year investigating corruption in the New York Police Department. Its investigation, which resulted in major reforms, found that police officers had routinely accepted bribes and payoffs.

In an interview Thursday, Armstrong noted that the Knapp Commission encountered resistance from New York politicians and from the police union, which sued to try to keep the panel from using its subpoena power. The commission ultimately used that power extensively, and also conducted undercover operations.

That is not likely to happen in Los Angeles. While the Christopher Commission does have subpoena power, its members have said they hope not to have to use it. “We foresee a high level of cooperation with the Police Department,” said the commission’s general counsel, John Spiegel.

Nonetheless, Armstrong said, there will likely be similarities in the two probes: “The task is similar, and that is to find out . . . whether you have an isolated instance or whether you have a systemic problem.”

Armstrong will be among four witnesses to testify during closed hearings Tuesday and Wednesday. The others are: Hubert Williams, president of the Washington-based Police Foundation; James Q. Wilson, a noted criminologist at UCLA, and former LAPD Assistant Chief Jesse Brewer, who was the highest-ranking black officer in the history of the LAPD until his recent retirement.

In other developments Thursday:

* Representatives from 11 state and local law enforcement agencies announced that they are backing legislation that would create a statewide body to study the use of excessive force by police officers. The legislation will be introduced Monday by Assemblyman Bob Epple (D-Norwalk).

“There is no question that public confidence in law enforcement has been dealt a severe blow, and will make police work infinitely more difficult,” Shaun Mathers, president of the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said in announcing the proposal.

* Police Commission President Dan Garcia disclosed that he has received 41 death threats in the aftermath of the commission’s vote to place Gates on an involuntary 60-day leave. Garcia made the remarks in a taped television interview, to be aired Sunday on Channel 4.

He also said that two weeks before the vote he received what he considered “a very serious” death threat. “Somebody knew where I lived,” Garcia said. “They knew what car I drove. In fact, for a couple of days I did ask for police protection.”

Times staff writer John L. Mitchell contributed to this story.