Charter Panel Votes More Autonomy for Civilian Police Post

A panel studying City Charter reforms voted Monday to grant greater independence to the Los Angeles Police Department’s civilian watchdog.

Amid controversy over the inspector general position, the elected charter commission approved steps intended to give the post more power and autonomy when investigating disciplinary problems and other departmental issues.

The commission voted to have the inspector general report directly to the Police Department’s civilian commissioners, instead of the commissioner’s executive director, as is the current policy.

The elected commission also decided that the inspector general should have the same access to departmental files as the Police Commission’s members.

Supporting greater independence for the position, resigning Inspector General Katherine Mader said Monday that “in its present structure, the public is not getting the diversity of five commissioners.”

Opposing some of the proposed changes, police Commissioner Gerald L. Chaleff warned against creating “an independent prosector, with no controls.”

The roles and responsibilities of the inspector general have been at the center of a recent Police Commission controversy. Mader resigned under pressure last month; had she not, she would have been fired, the Police Commission’s executive director, Joseph A. Gunn, told reporters. Gunn said the quality of Mader’s work was “not up to our standards.”

Shortly after announcing her resignation, effective Jan. 1, Mader said the Police Commission had undermined the position, and the public was being defrauded into thinking the job was truly independent.

Like the elected charter commission, the city’s appointed charter commission voted in November to propose that the City Charter be changed to have the inspector general report directly to the police commissioners.

Voters will be asked next year to approve a new charter based on the work of the appointed and elected charter commissions.