Residents Back City’s Ousting of Parks

Despite strong reservations about the process that led to Police Chief Bernard C. Parks being denied a second term, Los Angeles residents generally accept the decision, according to a new Times poll.

And despite weeks of tension between Parks and Mayor James K. Hahn, who sought Parks’ ouster, the approval ratings of the two men remain about the same as they were a month ago.

Among all residents, 46% said they approved of Hahn’s work, with 23% of those polled saying they did not. Parks received the positive appraisals of 50% of those questioned; however, 31% said they did not approve of his performance as chief.

The poll, which was conducted April 18-22 and supervised by Los Angeles Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, surveyed opinions of 1,163 city residents, including 262 African Americans. It has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points; for blacks, it is 6 points.

More than half of those polled disagreed with the commission’s decision to hold Parks’ job interview behind closed doors, rather than in public, as Parks requested. And more residents, 63%, said Hahn was wrong to voice his disapproval of Parks before the Police Commission took the matter up.

“It was the commission’s decision to start with,” said Sylmar resident Teddy Goad, 68, who participated in the poll and agreed to a follow-up interview. “Hahn should have stayed out of it completely.”

Woodland Hills resident Lucretia Brown, 46, said she wanted the meetings between Parks and the commission held in the open.

“It seems to me that they are hiding something,” she said. “It would be nice to let the public know exactly what is going on.”

And yet, despite concerns such as those about the process, half of the respondents said they agreed with the commission’s decision; 34% disagreed. “Really, it didn’t seem like [Parks] was keeping up officer morale,” Goad said.

Generally, people living in the San Fernando Valley were more accepting of the commission’s decision to oust Parks, with 57% of those interviewed from that part of the city agreeing with the move, while 24% disagreed.

Just over a year ago, a poll taken before the March election for mayor found that 61% of voters surveyed had a favorable impression of Hahn, then the city attorney. Since then, his standing with the public has suffered, according to a Times poll last month. But the new survey suggests that it has stabilized even as Parks and his supporters sharply criticized the mayor.

In the last month, Hahn has “managed to stop the downward spiral,” Pinkus said.

A gender gap also is emerging in residents’ assessments of the mayor. According to the poll, Hahn is far more popular with men in the city than with women. More than half the men surveyed said they liked the job Hahn was doing, compared to 40% of the women interviewed.

However, Hahn’s standing with blacks remains precarious, with many feeling betrayed by his decision to oppose Parks. More than four out of 10 blacks surveyed said they disapproved of Hahn’s performance, compared with 32% who gave him good marks. Blacks were the only racial group to give Hahn negative marks.

Some Blacks Criticize Hahn’s Performance

“I respected the fact that he stood by his decision,” said Angela Ammons, a 36-year-old African American woman from Van Nuys. “He can think for himself. The only thing I questioned was that I heard that he said during his campaign that he said he would support the chief. Maybe he should have waited until he got all the facts.”

Ammons said she concluded that Parks did not deserve a second term after she talked to an LAPD officer about low morale and recruitment difficulties in the department.

“I wasn’t happy with [Parks’] performance,” Ammons said. “How do you run a successful police department with no policemen?”

Carlene Gillestie, a 29-year-old African American woman from South Los Angeles, said she supported Parks. She said Hahn misled voters who believed he would back the chief’s reappointment.

“He said during the campaign that he was with Parks,” Gillestie said. “Now all of a sudden he’s changed and he’s not backing him?.... I just didn’t feel like they judged Parks on his job performance.”

That sentiment was widely shared among poll respondents. Half of the people surveyed believed that the commission opposed Parks because of politics, not because of his qualifications. And 25% thought commission members acted because they did not think the chief was right for the job.

On Monday, Parks announced his retirement, formally ending his quest for a second term and dropping his threats of a lawsuit.

With that, the city government has turned to the question of who should replace him. Hahn and the Police Commission will lead that effort, and one important issue will be whether to promote a candidate from within the LAPD or recruit one from elsewhere.

Asked about their preferences, 52% of those surveyed said they want someone appointed from the department, while 26% preferred an outsider.

“People who have worked for years in the department deserve a chance at top billing,” Goad said. “I think they should chose from someone inside the building.”

Decision on LAPD Chief

Mayor James K. Hahn’s job approval rating:

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Approve 46% 47% 32% 51%

Disapprove 23 20 42 23

Don’t know 31 33 26 26

Police Chief Bernard C. Parks’ job approval rating:

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Approve 50% 43% 72% 48%

Disapprove 31 35 15 36

Don’t know 19 22 13 16

Do you approve or disapprove of the Police Commission’s recent decision not to reappoint Parks to a second term as chief of police?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Approve 50% 54% 17% 59%

Disapprove 34 28 72 29

Don’t know 16 18 11 12

In your opinion, did the police commissioners who voted against giving Parks a second term as LAPD chief do so because they truly believed he was not right for the job, or was it a political decision?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Believed Parks not right for job 25% 34% 9% 18%

Political decision 50 41 75 53

Both/neither (volunteered) 10 11 6 13

Don’t know 15 14 10 16

Regardless of whether you agree with the Police Commission’s decision not to reappoint Parks, do you think the next police chief should come from inside the ranks of the LAPD or from outside?

All Whites Blacks Latinos

Inside LAPD 52% 46% 45% 62%

Outside LAPD 26 25 34 27

Don’t know 22 29 21 11

Times Poll results are also available at www.latimes.com/timespoll.

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,163 adults in the city of Los Angeles by telephone April 18-22. The main sample was supplemented with an additional sample of 125 African Americans, increasing that subgroup to 262, which was then weighted to its proportionate share in the city. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the city of Los Angeles. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and area of city. The margin of sampling error for the city of Los Angeles is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for African Americans it is 6 points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. Asians were interviewed as part of the entire sample, but there were not enough to break out as a separate subgroup.