Horace Frank, a department spokesman. This is our moment to put Los Angeles and the LAPD on the top of the map, and we feel very confident in the plan that we have in place. Not everyone seems to share that confidence. Police officials say they were told that they won't be allowed to hold daily media briefings with the Democratic National Convention Committee at the convention site. The decision means that word of possible trouble with protests will be separate from briefings on activity inside the convention.
Some city officials are critical of aspects of the department's convention planning.
Working with other law enforcement agencies, the department created a wide security zone around the Staples Center convention site. Last month, however, a judge ruled the zone was too big, infringing on protesters' rights to convey their messages to convention delegates. That decision forced the department to rewrite its plan and shrink the buffer zone. This is way too late to be working out these details. The civilian police commission has ultimate supervision of Parks, whose appointment will be reviewed in 2002.