Investigator hired by o.j. described as bitter ex-cop

In 1991, Bill Pavelic established himself as the foremost insider critic of racism and corruption in the LAPD.

Bill Pavelic has been the subject of many articles nationally and internationally for speaking out against and exposing racism that he personally witnessed as a LAPD Detective.

On June 30, 1992, Bill Pavelic sent the following letter to the Los Angeles Sentinel concerning the institutionalized racism, corruption, and sexism, of the LAPD under Chief Daryl Gates’ leadership.

To: Los Angeles Sentinel Opinion Section

As a 19 year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, I am elated that Chief Gates was forced into retirement. His corrupt managerial style, coupled with his inflammatory and intemperate public comments, have done irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles and its police department.

Daryl Gates and his close associates are suffering from a disease called megalomania……an exaggerated belief in their own greatness and that of the organization. In order to maintain a mythical status of being “the best law enforcement agency in the world” the LAPD management developed a bunker mentality and consciously impeded and retarded investigations or inquiries which reflected poorly on the organization. The “us against them” mentality required faulty analysis which was oftentimes based on pseudo reasoning, clever fallacies and distorted or manufactured evidence.

The disciplinary system under the leadership of Daryl Gates lacked consistency, uniformity and equality and sent a deplorable signal to others on the force, that it is OK to falsify official investigations, violate the LAPD manual, discredit the Code of Ethics and be dishonest as long as you are a member of management or have friends at the top who will protect you even when prima facie evidence of a crime is clearly evident.

Chief Gates has failed to hold accountable personnel under his control who were acting under the color of law and were exercising illegal direction under the guise of official authority. In no sphere of public life is this practice more repugnant than in law enforcement. Chief Gates, who morally bankrupt the Los Angeles Police Department, forgot, or never knew, that true leadership can be gained only by an intolerance of wrong doing…and…unless we all abide by the highest standards among ourselves, we have no business enforcing the law upon others.

Chief Gates used the Internal Affairs Division to intimidate those officers who dared to speak out against Los Angeles Police Department’s institutionalized racism, corruption, sexism, mismanagement, promotional cronyism and other sensitive issues. If the Internal Affairs Division didn’t get these “disloyal” police officers, like the Russian KGB, the organization could always count on the Medical Liaison Unit to send these officers to the Department shrink…to certify them as functionally crazy.

Under the leadership of Chief Williams, respect for individual dignity will once again become an integral part of the Los Angeles Police Department’s philosophy…a philosophy that will be based on the principles of professionalism, reverence for the law and harmony between the police and the community it serves.

Respectfully,

Bill Pavelic, Southwest Division

2007/11/20

Tags:

@ 07:41 PM (8 months, 5 days ago)

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

July 22, 1994, Friday , FINAL

SOURCE: P-I News Services

SECTION: NEWS LENGTH: MEDIUM: Pg. B1

LENGTH: 666 words

DATELINE: LOS ANGELES

A top investigator for O.J. Simpson has been portrayed in court papers as a bitter ex-cop with a vendetta against a former Los Angeles Police Department colleague assigned to the Simpson case.

Zvonko Bill Pavelic gave up a generous pension package when he quit the de-partment 18 months ago after nearly 20 years on the force. He contends he was forced out because he had complained about racism and corruption in the depart-ment.

"I was sick and tired of watching innocent people get framed, especially mem-bers of minority groups, and that includes African Americans and Mexicans," Pavelic told The Associated Press. "I was disturbed about officer-involved shootings, and how they covered up the incidents."

Bill Pavelic was hired to review the police investigation in the case, looking for mistakes, violations of LAPD policy and skeletons in investigators' closets.

Simpson, 47, is charged with murder in the June 12 stabbings of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, 35, and Ron Goldman, 25. He faces arraignment today .

Court papers describe Pavelic as angry, bitter and paranoid.

"Bill Pavelic thought there was a big conspiracy among the supervisors at South-west Detectives and command staff officers of LAPD who were 'out to get him,' " prosecutors wrote in a case in which the defense was considering calling Bill Pavelic as a witness.
In recent days, the Simpson camp has leaked unflattering details about Detec-tive Mark Fuhrman, who testified at a preliminary hearing that he found a bloody glove at Simpson's estate.

The defense reportedly was going to argue that Fuhrman planted the glove. However, an internal police investigation has concluded that scenario is virtu-ally impossible, police sources told the Los Angeles Times.

Many of Fuhrman's defenders suspect Bill Pavelic was responsible for revealing de-tails to the media of a 1983 lawsuit that portrays Fuhrman as racist and vio-lent.

A review of his personnel file suggests, however, that Bill Pavelic enjoyed a suc-cessful career. He strongly defended his reputation, pointing to 175 commenda-tions.

But his career apparently took a turn for the worse in his latter years, when he started openly criticizing command staff, including former Chief Daryl Gates.

Bill Pavelic retired in 1992 on a service-related disability pension of half pay, claiming his working conditions aggravated his health.

On Wednesday, the defense launched a toll-free tip line and a $500,000 reward for "the real killer."
Simpson's lead defense attorney, Robert Shapiro, said hot-line operators were receiving 100 calls a minute. Earlier, an AT&T operator had said technical dif-ficulties were blocking some calls.

"This is done totally outside our office. . . . This is totally O.J.'s thing," Shapiro said yesterday, adding that a message on the hot line had been changed to delete a referral to Shapiro's office for legal representation.

Meanwhile, officials said yesterday that a notebook detailing Nicole Simp-son's activities last winter was found in the car of O.J. Simpson's girlfriend and has been turned over to Los Angeles police.

Police in Newport Beach, 40 miles south of Los Angeles, said the notebook was recovered from Paula Barbieri's car Jan. 31 after the vehicle had been stolen and used in four armed robberies.

Newport Beach police spokesman Sgt. Andy Gonis said the notebook was handed over on July 12 to the lawyer of William Wasz, who stole the car, and was now in the hands of Los Angeles police.

Wasz's lawyer, John Stewart, told CNN that the notebook contained a detailed schedule of Nicole Simpson's movements.
"I found the contents very, very interesting as it relates to possible sce-narios relative to O.J. Simpson (and) . . . the ongoing prosecution of O.J.," he said.

TV coverage
ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC plan live coverage of O.J. Simpson's arraignment on murder charges today in Los Angeles. The court session also can be seen on Court TV. It is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. PDT.

- The Associated Press
sdh/md

LOAD-DATE: November 24, 1998

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH