Caught Off Guard

AS COPS GO, LOS ANGELES POLICE CHIEF DARYL Gates was rough. But he apparently wasn't ready -- at least not last spring, when the city exploded just hours after a jury found four police officers not guilty in the beating of motorist Rodney King. In a report titled "The City in Crisis," an investigative team led by former fbi and cia Director William Webster found there was an absence of any real and workable plan to respond aggressively to the crisis. While the report assigned blame to various members of city government, the lion's share of criticism was leveled against Gates for misleading other city officials into believing an adequate response plan was in place and ready to go. Initial response of the L.A.P.D. was marked by "uncertainty, some confusion and almost a total lack of coordination," the report found. Gates, even before reading the report, called Webster and Hubert Williams, president of the Washington-based Police Foundation and an adviser to the study team, "liars."

Along with its stinging critique, the Webster report prescribes a step-by- step plan of action. Not only does it recommend redeploying police officers onto patrols, but it also calls for a community-based approach to crime fighting, a style favored by new police chief Willie Williams. Unless city officials act quickly to correct major problems identified in the report, warned Webster, "it could happen again." The bottom line: the Gates era is over at the Los Angeles Police Department.