In L.A., police walk a grim tightrope // Show of force puts department at

  center stage

  Haya El Nasser

  04/12/1993

  USA Today

  FINAL

  Page 03A

  (Copyright 1993)

  LOS ANGELES - Verdicts in the Rodney King case could be just hours away,

  but the trial of law enforcement is just beginning.

  Police agencies are taking center stage as they launch the most massive

  deployments in city history.

  Their hope is that calm prevails. Their goal is to avoid a repeat of last year's

  devastation that left 54 dead and $1 billion in damage.

  It's a crucial test for local law enforcement - widely blamed for not controlling

  last year's violence. Saturday night, hours after jurors got the case of four police

  officers accused of violating King's civil rights, authorities ranging from police to

  the California Highway Patrol and National Guard went on alert.

  By midday Sunday, convoys of police cars were in Koreatown - one of the areas

  hardest hit last year.

  While police officers across the country also prepare for possible backlash, their

  sympathies go to Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams, head of the nation's

  smallest big-city police force. There are 2.4 officers per 1,000 residents here,

  compared with 3.6 per 1,000 in New York City.

  A former police chief in Philadelphia, Williams has been on the job less than a

  year. He took over a department devastated by scathing criticism of its handling

  of the riots.

  The images still are vivid: police pulling out of areas where motorists were being

  attacked; police standing by as stores were ransacked; firefighters begging for

  police protection.

  "Willie's got no easy chore," says Dewey Stokes, president of the national

  Fraternal Order of Police, who had a special Easter prayer for Los Angeles

  police. "For them to come out of this unscathed, their response has to be perfect.

  That's tremendous pressure."

  Williams, the city's first black police chief, has been adamant about plans: "We

  will not tolerate this lawlessness. . . . We are prepared to the best of our ability to

  respond to any event."

  On Sunday, 600 extra officers were deployed. By verdict time, the city plans to

  have 6,500 officers on the streets. Non-lethal weapons are in place for unruly

  crowds: chemical sprays, rubber bullets.

  The sheriff's department has opened its emergency operations center and is ready

  to send seven 56-member tactical platoons throughout the county.

  800 highway patrol officers are assigned to escort and protect firefighters headed

  into potential trouble spots.

  Six hundred National Guard members are in place today at a dozen armories

  around Los Angeles. Another 5,000 are on call; Marines at Camp Pendleton are

  on standby.

  The massive show of force is comforting to some. "There's something to be said

  for a heavy police presence," says John Keuchle, 41, of Culver City. Violence "is

  stoppable if you have enough police out in force. And they do seem better

  prepared."

  But police still will be walking a very thin line.

  A Sunday Los Angeles Times poll shows that 50% of residents fear police will

  overreact and incite a new wave of violence; 17% say there's a danger of police

  underreacting and violence getting out of hand.

  "The pressure's on the officers to do enough but not to do too little," Stokes says.

  "The whole department is under a microscope."

  Lawyer Melanie Lomax, former president of the civilian Police Commission and

  a critic of former chief Daryl Gates, says Williams is doing the right thing. "He

  has been so low-key, so unhysterical and so serious . . . that it's inspiring a lot of

  confidence," says Lomax. "It's a fine balancing act to communicate preparations

  without inciting riots."

  The city is caught in a paradox, says clinical psychologist Shelly Harrell. "Police

  are on trial for violating someone's civil rights. Yet, we're being given messages

  that police are now going to protect us from violence."

  Some are so suspicious of police they believe the department actually would be

  disappointed if riots don't break out because they wouldn't have a chance to flex

  their muscles.

  "I know the psychology involved. They've set up that riot situation," says Ron

  Daniels, 47, a south central resident.

  Police spokesman Lt. John Dunkin promises that "timely appropriate responses

  designed to de-escalate that situation - not aggravate it."

  And Lt. Charles Roper of the Hollywood Division says he's certainly not looking

  forward to another riot: "I worked 22 days straight, 14 to 16 hours a day last

  year." Contributing: Carol J. Castaneda, Gary Fields, Jonathan T. Lovitt

  PHOTO,b/w,Craig Fujii,AP