Police Chiefs Group Endorses Garcetti

Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti got a much-needed boost Thursday when an alliance of Los Angeles County police chiefs and several advocates for crime victims endorsed his campaign for reelection.

The endorsements will give Garcetti some armor to deflect fire from rival Steve Cooley’s own arsenal of law enforcement endorsements. Cooley, who has led in every poll conducted in the race, was endorsed by a crime victims’ group earlier in the week.

Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian said Garcetti’s enforcement of the three-strikes law was a major factor in the endorsement by the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Assn. Melekian is president of the group.

“There is absolutely no question about this district attorney’s application of the three-strikes law,” Melekian said.

Three-strikes--the law mandating a sentence of 25 years to life for a felon who commits a third serious felony--has been a major issue in the district attorney campaign. Garcetti has said he strongly supports its use, even in cases involving relatively minor crimes, provided the suspect has a history of violent acts. Cooley has called for a policy of “proportionality,” in which a third strike would be set aside in most cases involving minor, nonviolent crimes.

Melekian announced the endorsement at a news conference outside the Pasadena police headquarters. He was joined by the police chiefs of Glendora and Monrovia, but not by Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks, who has clashed frequently with Garcetti.

Melekian said Parks, who is a member of the coalition, did not actively oppose the Garcetti endorsement.

While the group was staunch in its praise of Garcetti, it hedged its bets somewhat by writing a highly complimentary non-endorsement letter to Cooley.

“The chiefs, individually and collectively, hold you in high regard,” Melekian wrote. “Should you prevail in the November election, we would look forward to working closely with you.”

Also joining Melekian at the news conference were the heads of three crime victims’ organizations--the statewide Citizens for Law and Order, the Doris Tate Crime Victims Bureau, and the L.A. Coalition of Crime Victim Advocates. The leaders of the first two organizations said they were speaking only for themselves, not for their organizations.

Jackie Ravel Knezevich, president of the L.A. Coalition, said her group was endorsing Garcetti because of “his total commitment to making the Los Angeles County victims’ assistance program responsive to the needs of victims.” She praised his three-strikes enforcement, saying, “Nobody does it better.”

Knezevich appeared reluctant to criticize Cooley, but said she was uncomfortable with his stand on three strikes.

Another crime victims’ group, the statewide Crime Victims United of California, endorsed Cooley earlier in the week. Spokesman Al Pross said the group had been particularly swayed by Garcetti’s handling of a case involving convicted killer Robert Rosenkrantz, who shot a teenage acquaintance to death with an Uzi assault weapon.

Garcetti’s office took the unusual position of not opposing parole for Rosenkrantz, then reversed itself earlier this year. Cooley has made the case a major campaign issue.

Cooley has been endorsed by several major law enforcement organizations, including the Assn. for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, the Southern California Alliance of Law Enforcement and the Peace Officers Professional Assn.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, representing LAPD officers, has said it is reconsidering an earlier endorsement of Garcetti.