The mayor and two city councilmen said Friday that embattled police Chief Daryl F. Gates intends to resign by year's end, but the chief insisted he would only leave by that time under specific terms.
In bicoastal posturing, Gates said from North Carolina he may resign if a measure limiting the chief's tenure to 10 years goes on the ballot."Until it's submitted to the voters, I'm not prepared to leave," Gates told 2,000 police officers at an anti-drug conference in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The officers gave several standing ovations to Gates, who told reporters after his address: "I think there's going to be an effort to get that on the ballot and once that's on the ballot then I may feel that it may be time to announce a date of resignation, but it's got to go on the ballot first."
The term limit was a key recommendation of an independent panel's highly critical report on the Police Department and served as the basis for the suggestion that Gates, 64, take steps to retire after 13 years as chief. Currently, the chief has civil service protection and it's difficult to remove him.
The panel was formed to investigate the Police Department in the aftermath of the March 3 videotaped police beating of black motorist Rodney King.
Gates' statements Friday appeared at odds with those of two councilmen. The councilmen said in Los Angeles that they had met with Gates and their impression was that, even if the term-limit initiative fails to pass, a new chief would be found and would replace Gates.
"At approximately the end of the year, Chief Gates will pass the mantle to a new chief," Councilman Joel Wachs said at a news conference with City Council President John Ferraro.
They said they would work to get the council to approve a special election by November or December to consider the term-limit initiative. The measure must go to the voters because it would change the City Charter.
Mayor Tom Bradley also said he believes the chief has decided to leave, and that the city's personnel department would announce a search for a new chief in four to six weeks.
"I think the people of this city have won," said Bradley. "We are in a position now where the serious division following the Rodney King beating can now be healed."