Officers Say They Weren’t Contacted on Ticket Fixing

Six police officers who wrote citations for moving violations this year that were later dismissed by Police Chief Bill Kolender and his top aides said Tuesday that they were not contacted before the tickets were canceled.

The officers contradicted assertions by Kolender and Assistant Police Chief Bob Burgreen that thorough investigations had been conducted before any of the moving violations were dismissed.

On Monday, Burgreen told The Times that a lieutenant in the chief’s office inquires into each ticket dismissal request by “checking with the officer and the officer’s notes to determine what the officer had to say and, if necessary, asking a supervisor to go by and check a scene.”

But Officer Mark Butterfield said he was not contacted before Burgreen dismissed a ticket issued to Cornelia Gossage, wife of San Diego Padres pitcher Rich Gossage, who was cited for driving through a stop sign at La Cuenta Drive and Clairmont Mesa Boulevard. The explanation on the official police dismissal form said: “Driver had stopped back of the limit line out of the sight of the issuing officer.”

“It would be kind of stupid for me to sit in a place where I couldn’t see (the violations),” Butterfield said.

Butterfield said Gossage was one of numerous motorists he has cited for driving through the stop sign at that intersection. He said he believes that none of the citations had been thrown out in court, where most people must go to dispute tickets.

Officer Donald R. Cone was dismayed that his superiors canceled two citations without his knowledge, one of which was issued to the son of San Diego Padres General Manager Jack McKeon.

When told that a police official used the excuse that he stopped the wrong car in the McKeon case, Cone said: “I only stop people I know who have violated the law. . . . I don’t like that at all. Especially if that’s what they’re saying and they never asked me about it.”

No Explanation Offered

Asked Tuesday how his office could dismiss tickets without consulting the officers involved, Burgreen said he had no explanation.

“I don’t have anything to say because I haven’t done what you’ve done,” Burgreen told a Times reporter. “I can’t give you an answer now and I’m not going to try to.”

Reached at his home, Kolender said, “I will look into it. That’s all I can say.”

Kolender and his top officers are under investigation by City Manager John Lockwood in connection with thousands of parking tickets and at least 30 moving violations dismissed by the Police Department.

The Times reported Tuesday that a number of influential San Diegans have gone to the chief’s office, rather than Municipal Court, to take care of moving citations since the beginning of last year. The revelations followed a monthlong Times investigation which revealed Sunday that Kolender and his top aides routinely dismiss thousands of parking tickets for friends, family members, former police officials, influential businessmen and the media.

Reasons Fabricated

In many cases, officials in Kolender’s office fabricated excuses for dismissing the parking and moving violations, The Times found. In others, no explanation was given at all.

The Times has obtained a copy of an internal memo Kolender wrote in 1981 in response to an officer’s concerns that the Police Department had engaged in “ticket fixing.”

Officer Ann Hollinger wrote that she had issued a moving citation to “an extremely belligerent and verbally abusive” motorist, who had a high-ranking police officer immediately cancel the ticket on the basis of their friendship.

“I was under the impression that ‘ticket-fixing’ is not only a violation of department policy but that it is also illegal,” wrote Hollinger, who is no longer on the Police Department and could not be reached.

In a memo dated Feb. 25, 1981, Kolender wrote that he had determined that the motorist who had the ticket dismissed was a police informant. The chief explained that informants are responsible for most of the dismissal requests received by the Police Department.

Reputation of Department

He added, “This department has long had a reputation for professionalism and lack of corruption. One of the first indicators of problems within a department is ‘ticket-fixing.’ . . . I would like to personally assure you that requests for dismissal of this type are the extreme exception and are done only if it is clearly in the best interest of justice.”

Several officers who spoke with The Times said they were bothered by reports of ticket-fixing within the chief’s office.

“I specifically wrote a ticket to a woman who said, ‘I’ll have this fixed. I won’t go to court.’ That is exactly what happened. That really (upset) me . . ., “ said one officer, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.

Cone, a police veteran of nine years, said he was not surprised to learn that ticket-fixing occurs at any police agency, but he said the practice bothers him.

“If they want to dismiss tickets without my permission, that bothers me. I’m the one who wrote the ticket. I should be the one to dismiss it.”

Officers Contacted

The Times tried to contact 12 officers who had written tickets that had been dismissed by the chief’s office in the last year. The Times reached eight officers, two of whom would not speak for the record. None of the officers said they had been contacted by the chief’s office before the dismissals. Here are the cases:

- Cone cited Kelly John McKeon, son of the Padres’ general manager, in June for going 49 m.p.h. in a 35-m.p.h. zone. The written explanation on the dismissal form, signed by Deputy Chief Don Davis, read: “Further investigation reveals that another vehicle may have actually been the vehicle traveling at an excessive speed.”

Cone said he never talked to Davis about the ticket, and emphatically denied that he made a mistake.

He also said that he has never lost a court case for any of the tickets written for the stretch of Waring Road where the ticket was issued.

- Cone also wrote a ticket in July to Rodney Keith Carey, who was accused of going 35 in a 25-m.p.h. zone. Assistant Chief Burgreen dismissed the ticket, and the written explanation said: “Subject en route home due to emergency.”

Had that been the case, Cone said, he would not have written the ticket. “I would probably offer them a ride and get an authorization for . . . red lights and a siren.”

- Officer Justus Allen issued a speeding ticket to John Edwin Anderson of Poway for driving 70 m.p.h. on California 163 at Balboa Avenue. Lt. Charles Ellison of Kolender’s staff sent the ticket to a traffic division lieutenant with the note: “Per the Big Guy. Cancel.”

The ticket was dismissed by Burgreen because the “driver was en route to hospital on emergency--so excited he drove by hospital off-ramps.”

Allen said no one at the Police Department talked to him about the citations. He added that he could not recall the driver saying anything about an emergency.

- Officer Von Lee Dishong cited Conrad Burgreen, the assistant police chief’s uncle, in February for making an illegal left turn off El Cajon Boulevard. Kolender signed off the dismissal form, which said the “officer was in an inappropriate position to observe the violation.”

On Monday, Kolender said he dismissed the ticket because it was not legitimately issued.

“He complained about the ticket. We checked it out. I can’t remember the particulars. The man was right, so we canceled it. It’s just that simple.”

But Dishong said no one talked to him about the ticket. “It doesn’t make sense to write a ticket for something you can’t see,” Dishong said. “Especially me, because if I have any doubt at all, I’ll either give them a warning or I won’t stop them.”