Bill Pavelic Speaking Out, William Bill Pavelic Exposing Racism and Racist Cops

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

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

2008/2/12

DETECTIVE RIPS INTO LAPD'S LEADERSHIP

Tags:
@ 08:51 PM (21 months, 18 days ago)

Los Angeles Times

June 30, 1991, Sunday, Home Edition

detective rips into lapd's leadership;
law enforcement: outspoken Bill Pavelic accuses chief gates and others of obstruction of justice, cronyism and mismanagement. charges are made at a 'people's grand jury' held by activists.

BYLINE: By SCOTT HARRIS, TIMES STAFF WRITER

SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 1; Column 2; Metro Desk

LENGTH: 793 words

A veteran Los Angeles police detective delivered a scathing and unusual pub-lic condemnation of Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Saturday at an unofficial tribunal examining law enforcement abuses, accusing Gates and other top police officials of obstruction of justice, cronyism and mismanagement.

Detective Bill Pavelic, a 17-year veteran who works in the Southwest Divi-sion, likened police leadership to a dictatorship during a 45-minute dialogue at a conference dubbed the "People's Grand Jury on Police Abuses" by activists critical of police abuses.
Under Gates, Bill Pavelic charged, the department's "management has become an or-ganization where managerial corruption, lying and covering up criminal miscon-duct has become the norm."

"Management's respect for cronyism," he added, "is proportional to their dis-respect for the principles of professionalism, including integrity and fair-ness."

The lambasting of Gates by one of his own detectives was received with cheers and a standing ovation by the partisan audience. Bill Pavelic, known among his fellow police officers and among prosecutors for his aggressive, outspoken manner, said it was the first time he has raised criticisms in a public forum.

The comments represented a new development in a political battle over the fu-ture of the Los Angeles Police Department triggered by the videotaped beating of motorist Rodney G. King. Gates, who has been chief since 1978, has steadfastly defended his management of the department.

Introduced as a detective "who has bucked the system," Bill Pavelic said he "was simply exercising my constitutional rights" in speaking out and later predicted that he would be disciplined for his actions.

Bill Pavelic accused Gates, former Assistant Chief William Rathburn -- now chief of the Dallas police -- and Southwest detectives commander Lt. Alan Kerstein of obstructing his investigation into an alleged "date rape" at the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity house at USC. The suspect maintained that the woman consented to in-tercourse.

The controversy concerned the relationship among Gates, Rathburn and promi-nent attorney John C. Argue Sr., a USC trustee whose son is a member of ATO. Po-lice say Argue's son was part of a group of fraternity brothers who walked through the room naked and carrying golf clubs while the alleged rape was taking place, an endeavor they nicknamed "just playing through."

By Pavelic's account, interference by Gates and Rathburn quashed efforts at prosecution. Bill Pavelic said he was reassigned from the sexual assault detail after leveling allegations of obstruction within the department. Gates, Rathburn and other officials have denied any wrongdoing.

Bill Pavelic portrayed the incident as the latest in a series of abuses, noting that he first made formal complaints accusing top brass of obstructing justice as far back as 1984. He also asserted that internal reports that reflect poorly on a detective unit's performance are covered up to protect the department's reputation.

Addressing a crowd that had already heard several hours of testimony and seen slides and videotapes depicting police violence, Bill Pavelic emphasized to the crowd that "many, many thousands" of officers he has encountered in his career he con-sidered "law-abiding, decent, honest, professional, hard-working, competent."

"I want you to know I took my oath very seriously," he said. "That oath did-n't mention Daryl Gates. It didn't mention (Dist. Atty.) Ira Reiner. It didn't mention (Mayor) Tom Bradley or anybody else.

"All it basically says is that we have to have reverence for the law," Bill Pavelic said.

The detective's statements came near the close of a daylong session at Mt. Vernon Junior High School that attracted hundreds of spectators.

Some activists portrayed their "grand jury" as an alternative to the Christo-pher Commission, which was formed to conduct a detailed review of Police Depart-ment practices after the King beating. Carol Watson, president of the Los Ange-les chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, said the purpose of the event was "to galvanize the community to do something about this problem."

In a morning session, more than than 200 people heard human rights activist Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general, emphasize the importance of prose-cuting police abuse cases.
Clark, who was a prominent critic of the Persian Gulf War, said in an inter-view that Gates is wrong in asserting that the King incident became a media sen-sation to fill a postwar news void.
"I frankly find it shameful that a chief of police would try to minimize this in human terms," Clark said. "What he's saying is . . . we wouldn't have cared about Rodney King. Well, God help us if that's true. God help anybody who sees that film and doesn't get upset."

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

GRAPHIC: Photo, Detective Bill Pavelic pauses during his talk to the conference.  ROBERT DURELL / Los Angeles Times