Police Association Angered : Public Meeting Proposed on Demand to Fire Blair

In the wake of a unanimous vote by the San Diego Police Officers Assn.’s board of directors calling for City Manager Ray Blair to resign, Councilman Mike Gotch has proposed a public meeting at which Blair, POA President Ty Reid and Police Chief Bill Kolender would air their differences.

Gotch proposed the meeting in a memorandum Wednesday in response to the POA board’s sharp criticism of Blair that claimed “unresponsiveness” to the problem of officer safety--specifically his opposition to two-officer patrol units. The POA board reportedly voted to recommend that the City Council ask Blair to resign. The matter will be voted on by the association’s full membership within two weeks, Reid said.

The March 31 shooting of Officer Thomas Riggs had been the “catalyst” for the POA’s strident attack on Blair’s performance, Reid said. But in his memo, Gotch, chairman of the council’s Public Services and Safety Committee, said that views such as those expressed by the POA board were “becoming counterproductive to the city’s efforts to address the problem (of officer safety).

“Neither the public nor our officers are well-served in such a politically and emotionally charged atmosphere,” Gotch stated in the memo. “It is time to stop, come together and seek a swift and positive solution.”

But not everyone agreed that a public meeting was the way to approach the problem.

“I am appreciative of Councilman Gotch’s concern, but I think we should attempt to handle it in a private meeting first,” Reid said, though he stressed that the POA has yet to take a formal stand on Gotch’s proposal.

Reid’s feelings are shared by Councilman Uvaldo Martinez, according to Martinez aide Rudy Murillo.

“He didn’t think this meeting was advisable at this time,” Murillo said. “He thought there were other things that should be done first, like finding out what (the POA’s) concerns are and discussing them with the city manager. (Under Gotch’s proposal), we’re going from these reports (of the POA board vote), which are very sketchy, and going to a public meeting.”

Marla Marshall, aide to Councilwoman Gloria McColl, concurred.

“It would be a better idea for all concerned to get together to discuss what the problems are before taking them to the public,” Marshall said. Gotch, Martinez and Mayor Roger Hedgecock were in Toronto Wednesday for an urban planning conference and were not available for comment.

The long-simmering controversy between city management and the POA over the need for two-officer patrols and a higher police-to-citizen ratio boiled over last Thursday at a closed meeting of the association’s board of directors. In a private vote that Reid called “the worst-kept secret in town,” the board placed the responsibility for San Diego’s police mortality rate --the highest of any American city over the last year--squarely on Blair.

“It doesn’t just happen that you turn out with the highest mortality rate in the nation,” Reid said. “The buck stops with the guy who’s ultimately responsible, and the guy who’s ultimately responsible is the city manager.”

Attributing San Diego’s recent spate of officer deaths (three in the last seven months) to insufficient staffing, Reid said the city needs a minimum of two officers per 1,000 residents. On Tuesday, Blair reported to the Public Services and Safety Committee that, to reach this ratio, the city would have to hire 677 new officers at a cost of $47 million in the first year alone. Blair’s proposed budget for fiscal year 1986 provides for 53 new uniformed officers, an increase that only keeps pace with projected population growth.

The POA board also criticized the city manager’s “inaction” on the association’s longstanding request for two-officer patrols. Blair has consistently said there is no evidence that two-officer cars significantly increase officer safety. Although the city recently expanded the number of two-officer patrols from 20 to 40, Reid said this is not enough.

“It’s a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that we have consistently pointed out to police administration and city management for the last nine years,” he said.

Another point of contention between the POA and the city manager’s office is officers’ salaries and benefits. Reid claimed that San Diego’s police salaries are the lowest of any major California city’s and that its benefits are the worst of any large city in the nation. Although the POA is negotiating a new contract with a city management team headed by Blair, Reid maintained that was not a motivation for the association’s call for the city manager’s resignation.

“This is a safety issue, not a money issue,” Reid said. “The No. 1 concern is the officer mortality rate, the No. 2 concern is the injury rate. Yes, we are underpaid. Yes, we are the lowest paid in the state. But that’s a distant third.”

Although he refused to comment specifically on the POA board’s criticism, Kolender said it would be a mistake for the association’s rank and file to give Blair a vote of no-confidence.

“I think he’s done a good job and he’s been a good friend of the Police Department,” Kolender said.

Responding to Gotch’s assertion that the POA’s vote against Blair had “emotionally charged” the issue of police safety, Reid again cited the mortality rate.

“It’s very tough to divorce ourselves from emotion when we’ve had three of our members killed in the last 12 months,” he said.