Police Investigation Widens : Use of Cameras, Detectives Added to Probe

San Diego City Manager John Lockwood said Friday he has added three new allegations to his investigation of Police Chief Bill Kolender and his top administrators.

Lockwood said he is looking into charges that Assistant Chief Bob Burgreen and Officer George Head used police video equipment last year to film a personal fishing trip to Lake Powell. Burgreen and Head had formed a company called “Burhead” to produce a commercial fishing show for local television.

The newest allegation against Kolender focuses on the chief using two of his police detectives to attempt to locate his wife’s former son-in-law while the officers were on business in Riverside County. Kolender said Friday he and his wife, Lois, were planning to sue the man “five or six years ago” over the disputed ownership of a pickup truck.

Lockwood also is investigating a report in Friday’s Times that two officers stopped the president of the Police Officers Assn. and took him to a coffee shop instead of giving him a sobriety test and arresting him on suspicion of drunk driving.

The Police Department launched its own investigation Friday into the February, 1984, incident involving Lt. A.L. (Skip) DiCerchio, who denied he was drunk but confirmed that he accompanied an officer to a restaurant.

On Thursday, Burgreen said the department twice attempted to conduct an investigation because it did not know the names of the officers who pulled over DiCerchio. But one of the officers who stopped DiCerchio told The Times that he was interviewed by an internal affairs investigator.

Cmdr. Keith Enerson on Friday confirmed that Lt. Greg Clark, then a sergeant in internal investigations, had talked to the officer who detained DiCerchio.

“Everybody involved is going to be talked to in this investigation,” Enerson said. “I’m sure the officers by this time have all been contacted.”

Sgt. Mike Lodge said he directed the patrol officer to write a report after DiCerchio was taken to the coffee shop. The patrol officer said he later was told by his lieutenant not to write a report because the matter would be handled “administratively.” (The Times incorrectly identified Lodge in Friday’s edition.)

Several police sources said the DiCerchio incident is typical of how many fellow officers get special treatment when they are stopped for traffic violations.

The city manager’s investigation began after The Times found that Kolender and his top aides sometimes fabricated excuses when dismissing thousands of parking tickets and at least 30 moving violations, many for fellow officers, friends, businessmen and the media.

Lockwood said Friday he first learned about the new allegations on Wednesday when Burgreen called to explain the use of city equipment to videotape a fishing trip. He also heard then about allegations that Kolender sent two detectives to Riverside County.

Lockwood said his growing list of complaints and allegations means he will not complete his investigation by Friday, as he originally estimated.

“Let’s not set a date,” he said.

Lockwood said he has reached conclusions on about half of the allegations. He declined to disclose his findings until the remaining, more complex charges have been investigated.

“This is a serious matter,” Lockwood said. “It affects the reputation of a Police Department, it affects the careers of people in law enforcement and it affects the community. There are some potentially serious consequences . . . All I’m suggesting to people is that it is very inappropriate for people to jump to conclusions.”