Ric has been described by friends and adversaries alike as: 
"...mentally quick and unafraid to be frank","likes things to move along 
quickly",  "...intelligent, quite decisive,...a quick study", "...a straight 
shooter, he gets to the point",..."honest--sometimes too honest","a class 
act",

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The State:

LEADER OF POLICE PANEL STEERS CLEAR OF 
POLITICS LAPD: Rick Caruso remains calm above the fray 
as question of  Parks' reappointment looms.

By Jill Leovy
Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times
February 6, 2002

The mayor's discontented, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks is out of sight and 
the chief's defenders are up in arms.

But the man at the center of all the turmoil, Los Angeles Police Commission 
President Rick Caruso, is annoyed.

"I'm just annoyed by the politics on both sides of it," said the 43-year-old 
real estate developer. "It has no impact on me." Caruso serves part-time 
without pay as the head of the five-member board to whom now falls the 
controversial question of whether to reappoint Parks.

That question became more complicated Tuesday after Mayor James K. Hahn 
announced he does not support a second term for Parks.

Hahn appoints the Police Commission, but under the City Charter, the 
commission is also given the power to independently manage the department, 
and Caruso has been especially adamant in his contention that--no matter what 
the mayor says--the commission will go its own way.

And to that end, Caruso has remained calmly above the fray in recent days as 
the mayor's intentions leaked out in the media and African American community 
leaders, many of whom have strongly supported both Parks and Hahn, reacted 
first with stunned disappointment, then with anger, to what many viewed as a 
betrayal.

Some observers inside and outside the Police Department question whether the 
commission can truly act with independence given that the mayor has made his 
preference clear. But Caruso breezily brushes off such concerns.

He says it won't be so easy to influence the commission as people might think.

And if he ends up disagreeing with the mayor?

"What's the worst thing that can happen--that I get fired?" Caruso allows 
himself a short laugh: "Then I get more personal time for my family and my 
business."

Caruso was named to the Police Commission after serving for years on the 
board overseeing the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

He was born in Los Angeles, the middle son in an Italian American family. His 
father built a rental car business from scratch; his grandfather, an Italian 
immigrant, worked for a time as a coal miner.

Caruso attended Catholic schools, and later what is now Harvard Westlake, the 
University of California and Pepperdine Law School. He worked in private 
practice for a while but found he would rather be a client, and launched his 
career in real estate.

It was a natural. Since childhood, he says, he had always loved real estate. 
His first project, a shopping mall at the intersection of La Cienega and San 
Vicente, made money, as did every project after.

His most recent project is the Grove, a large mall development adjacent to 
the Farmer's Market in the Fairfax district.

Caruso's shopping centers are distinguished by upscale design touches--his 
favorite part of the job.

He even chooses the flowers for his developments, he said.

That same aesthetic sense has won him a reputation as a sharp dresser, for 
which he is occasionally teased. "Your tan is fading," fellow Commissioner 
Rose Matsui Ochi said she chided him recently.

Jerry Snyder, another developer, who has competed with Caruso on projects, 
praised his rival as "a class act" who has been successful in developing 
shopping malls because of his "incredible taste."

Caruso and his wife, Tina, have four children, and are active in charitable 
work related to children's services. Caruso is a Republican, socially 
moderate and fiscally conservative, he says, but has supported Democratic 
politicians such as Gov. Gray Davis.

Assessments of his personality by those who work with him on an off the 
commission are strikingly consistent. Most people mention that he likes 
things to move along quickly and that he is mentally quick and unafraid to be 
frank.

"He is intelligent, quite decisive, and ... is a quick study," Ochi said.

"Rick is a straight shooter, he gets to the point," said Commissioner David 
Cunningham III, who has known Caruso since their days as young lawyers.

One frequent adversary was S. David Freeman, former head of the DWP. Freeman 
said he frequently clashed with Caruso, but found him honest--sometimes too 
honest.

That's an observation that Caruso would probably not resent.

The speculation about political influence of the Police Commission "amazes 
me, because I've got no interest in the political bent of it," he said 
Tuesday. Over and over, he emphasized that the commission will make its own 
call.

So far, Caruso isn't saying which way he leans. Under his leadership, the 
commission has made a point of signaling that it is not a rubber stamp for 
the mayor or for the City Council on various issues. Caruso has also made it 
plain he is highly concerned with how communities are affected by gang- and 
drug-related crime, comparing gangs to terrorists in a recent commission 
meeting.

On police reform, he said, "I would never oppose civil rights, but my sense 
is that the pendulum has swung to the point that proactive policing isn't 
occurring out on the streets."

The charter leaves some ambiguity over how the process of the chief's 
reappointment will play out, reserving some veto power, in essence, for the 
City Council. But Caruso argues he is not ambiguous about the commission's 
independence from the mayor.

"If the mayor gave me a directive, I wouldn't accept," he said, emphasizing 
that the commission works for the community, not the mayor.

"I am probably not going to make a lot of friends through this," he added.