Chief Welcomes Federal Probe of LAPD : Police: Williams says Justice Department will not find a pattern of civil rights abuses.

Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams said Friday he is confident that a preliminary investigation into the Los Angeles Police Department by the U.S. Justice Department will uncover no pattern of civil rights abuses.

After the acquittal of O.J. Simpson--and comments by jurors that they were suspicious of the LAPD’s conduct, the Justice Department announced that it would investigate possible civil rights abuses. Key to Simpson’s defense was the claim that police planted evidence and that Simpson was merely one of many minority defendants victimized by racist officers.

When the Washington Post published a story Friday about the previously reported probe, it sparked another round of media interest and inquiries, prompting Williams to call a news conference.

Williams said his department has “nothing to hide” and that he welcomes the probe.

“Based on my observations, there is no pervasive pattern of abuse that involves anywhere close to the majority of sworn and non-sworn officers in our department,” he said.

Police and federal officials said the Justice Department investigation is in the preliminary stages and would rely in part on the results of a Police Commission investigation of police abuse that began near the end of the Simpson trial. The commission acted in response to tape recordings in which former Detective Mark Fuhrman claimed that he planted evidence against minority suspects and and that he beat them.

“The vast majority of the men and women support the clearing of the record,” Williams said, “and the vast majority of the men and women of this department also support ostracizing and moving out those individuals who have caused us problems over the years.”

Williams said the department has received 81 complaints of officer misconduct through August this year, down from a high of 268 complaints in 1992.

In response to the federal investigation, Police Commission President Deidre Hill sent letters to President Clinton and U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno. “I share your concerns regarding the public’s diminished faith in the justice system and perceptions of racial tension and disparate treatment by the department,” Hill wrote Clinton on Friday.

In a letter written Thursday, Hill pledged full cooperation with Reno’s investigation.

This month, members of the Mexican American Bar Assn. of Los Angeles urged the Justice Department to investigate alleged civil rights violations against Latinos.

The Bar presented a list of more than 30 police incidents that have resulted in the deaths of at least 23 Latinos since 1987.

Los Angeles Police Protective League President Cliff Ruff criticized the federal investigation as a “dog-and-pony show.”

“Mark Fuhrman is an example of an ugly case,” Ruff said. “The federal government can take a look, but they are not going to find any dirt.

“If there are bad eggs and they find them, then they are doing the public a service. We are like any other organization where occasionally someone steps out of line. But 98% of our officers are beyond reproach.”