Lawyers Doubt New Newport Beach Unit Will Offset Too-Tough Image of Police

Attorneys who have battled the Newport Beach Police Department over alleged misconduct said Friday that the creation of a unit within the department to investigate complaints and train officers to better deal with the community is not enough to offset its tarnished reputation.

On Thursday, Police Chief Arb G. Campbell said the Profession Standards Unit, which will be headed by two senior police officers, would begin operating Oct. 1 and would handle all investigations of lawsuits lodged against the department.

The police chief, who was out of town Friday, has not specified how the unit will function or how often the department’s 139 sworn officers will receive training.

The creation of the unit was recommended by a firm that audited the Police Department last year. Although the National League of Cities said the department generally performed “above average,” it also said the department at times had been overly zealous in arresting people.

23 Claims Filed

In the past 15 months, the department has had 23 lawsuits or claims filed against it for alleged excessive force, false arrest, civil rights violations or abuse.

Donald W. Killian Jr., a prominent Newport Beach attorney whose son has a lawsuit pending against the department for alleged brutality, said he welcomed the unit’s creation. But Killian said the unit must have some civilian representation so the community’s sentiments can be voiced.

“I think that would give it more credibility,” he said.

Killian’s son, Douglas, was involved in a police scuffle at a bar in Corona del Mar three years ago. The younger Killian claimed that an undercover police officer slammed his head twice against the floor after he asked the officer why he was questioning his girlfriend.

Advises Softening Image

The senior Killian said better community relations will be achieved only when the Police Department softens its tough image.

“The general feeling in the community about the Police Department is not what it should be,” he said. “I think they should teach the police officers a different psyche and tone down their behavior. But they have to convince the public that they have done that.”

Santa Ana attorney Randall L. Hite said the unit would be “a step in the right direction. But it does not get to the root of the problem.”

Hite is the attorney for Andy Diaz, who claimed that in June, 1983, four Newport Beach police officers illegally searched his apartment and framed him by planting drugs at his home. A criminal charge against Diaz was dismissed by a judge after a preliminary hearing, and Diaz, who now lives in Orange, filed a $2-million suit alleging that his civil rights had been violated. The case is still pending.

Hite said proper training is needed for Newport Beach police officers because they are “enticed by their superiors to go to extraordinary means to get convictions. But they are going to need more than an internal program. They need more than a frontal image to combat their misconduct.”

Los Angeles attorney Stephen Yagman, a frequent foe of the Police Department, also was critical of the unit for not including civilian representation.

“It sounds like a lot of baloney,” Yagman said in a telephone interview from New York. “They don’t have any power to discipline (officers). It sounds like a publicity gimmick.”

Yagman, who is representing eight plaintiffs in nine pending lawsuits against the Police Department, said cities that traditionally have had excessive-force problems have never solved those difficulties without creation of some type of civilian complaint review board.

“Police cannot control police,” he said. “They’ve been doing that in Newport Beach for a lot of years, and apparently they have not done a good job.”