Police Officers Disciplined for Actions Similar to Top Officials

The San Diego Police Department has repeatedly scolded, demoted and suspended rank-and-file officers for the same kinds of offenses that top officials now openly admit to, a review of police discipline cases shows.

Officers have been punished for conducting personal business on duty, misusing city equipment and making false reports. These include such minor offenses as making trips to the bank, driving short distances off their beat and transporting friends in police cars.

Although some of the disciplinary cases contain more serious complaints, many lower-ranking officers believe the cases reveal a double standard. They point to Police Chief Bill Kolender’s acceptance of thousands of dollars in gifts while the department has disciplined officers for taking gratuities worth less than a dollar.

“There’s one hell of a double standard going on there,” said one veteran officer, who asked to remain anonymous. “These guys live by their own rules. . . . It’s ‘OK, we’re good ol’ boys. We can do these things. We can take what amounts to gratuities, which is a forbidden thing for patrolmen out here.’

“But if I have to play the game, then I think everybody else should. It goes all the way to the top. They are our leaders.”

Kolender, Asst. Chief Bob Burgreen, Deputy Chief Norm Stamper and other top police officials assigned a uniformed officer to run personal errands in an unmarked police car on a near-daily basis between 1980 and 1982, according to a diary kept by former Officer Jeanne Taylor.

Kolender has admitted using Taylor to do personal “go-fer” work, including depositing the chief’s paycheck and driving his children to dentist and doctor appointments. Kolender said he used Taylor because he was a single parent working long hours.

City Manager John Lockwood is expected to conclude this week a wide-ranging administrative investigation into alleged improprieties in the department. He said Kolender and other top police officials may not be held to the same standards or face any punishment for violating department rules.

“A department head who establishes a rule . . . can adjust that anyway he likes,” Lockwood said. “He can change the rule (and) doesn’t have to comply with the rule in a moment’s notice.”

Kolender and his department are being investigated by Lockwood for allegations that include misusing city employees and property; improperly dismissing thousands of parking tickets and at least 30 moving violations since the beginning of last year, many for friends, relatives, fellow police officers and influential San Diegans; using his influence as police chief to help a friend buy a handgun without waiting the mandatory 15-day “cooling off” period, and sending San Diego police detectives to Riverside County in connection with a dispute in his wife’s family.

Kolender continued to refuse to accept calls from the media on Friday.

Cmdr. Keith Enerson, a police spokesman, disagreed that a double standard exists when it comes to meting out discipline within the department.

“You cannot compare one personnel action against another one . . . “ Enerson said. “They are all weighed on their individual merits. You don’t ever compare them to somebody else’s (case) in deciding what you do about it.”

But attorney Dan Krinsky, who defends numerous police officers who have been fired or suspended, said Kolender and his administrators are ruling by edict rather than example.

“Whether you are running a Police Department or raising a family, you lead by example,” Krinsky said. “That is not the way the San Diego Police Department does it. What they do is set bad examples then punish the troops for doing what they’re doing.”

Executives of the Police Officers Assn., including President A.L. (Skip) DiCerchio, declined to comment on members who receive discipline.

“I think we’re reaching the point now where we’re trying this in the press,” said POA board member Ty Reid. “The manager has promised an expeditious investigation, and I’m hopeful that they’ll be able to complete it in a timely matter so we will have enough information to make an informed decision.”

An examination of dozens of police disciplinary actions reveal numerous cases of officers being punished for conduct that top police officials are now under investigation for. These examples include:

- Officer Bill Farrar was fired by the Police Department in November 1985 for a variety of allegations that included twice conducting “personal business at a downtown banking institution” while on duty. Farrar appealed his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission, which is still considering his case.

Taylor wrote in her diary that she deposited Kolender’s pay check 19 times and ran banking errands for the chief’s secretary and two former deputy chiefs.

- Sgt. Jack Dougherty confirmed reports that he was investigated in 1982 for using city equipment to photocopy personal papers. Dougherty said he did not receive a formal reprimand, but refused to discuss results of the personnel investigation.

Taylor said that on several occasions Burgreen used city copy machines to reproduce issues of his monthly fishing newsletter, the “Bass Club.” One police source told The Times that Burgreen used the city postage meter to mail the newsletters.

“Yeah, I used the city’s Xerox machine,” Burgreen said in a recent interview. “I paid for the stamps out of the Bass Club. I used to do it on my lunch hour. I’d write a little newsletter. I’d send it out in our own envelopes and our own stamps. I may have used the city Xerox a couple of times.

“I only did it for a couple of months . . . And that was inappropriate.”

Burgreen is also under investigation for using police video equipment last year to film a personal fishing trip to Lake Powell. Burgreen and Officer George Head, who works in the police videographics unit, had formed a company called “Burhead” to produce a commercial fishing show for local television.

The City Council Code of Ethics prohibits any city employee from “using time, facilities, equipment or supplies of the City of San Diego” for private gain. Lockwood said Kolender, Burgreen and other police officials must adhere to this policy.

- Detective Daniel Aleman was given a one-day suspension in October, 1985, because he “left the city on personal business, using a city vehicle.” During an investigation, Aleman stated that he drove to Spring Valley with a fellow detective who was having “severe personal problems” and wanted to talk.

Detectives in Aleman’s unit had been ordered not to double up while driving police vehicles. An investigation concluded that Aleman violated a series of department rules, including a regulation which says “members shall utilize department equipment only for its intended purpose with established department procedures . . . “

Former Officer Art Velasquez received a formal letter of reprimand in 1984 for driving a half-mile off his South Bay beat to the Imperial Beach pier to check the waves. He had planned to go surfing at the end of his shift.

On two occasions, Taylor said she was told to drive to Lemon Grove to pick up Clyde Leach, a friend of the Kolender family, and deliver his great Dane to a pet motel. Leach said he could not recall being picked up by Taylor.

Taylor said she drove a police vehicle to the Talmadge area to pick up a portrait of Kolender, but had to get a city van because the painting was too large. She made several trips transporting the portrait between Kolender’s home and the painter’s residence.

In addition, Kolender directed Taylor to use a department vehicle to drive his friend, Philip del Campo, to a party; transport his wife, Lois, to a date before they were married, according to the diary. Kolender has admitted Taylor’s claims that she drove his sons Michael and Dennis and daughter, Randie, to the doctor and dentist on six occasions.

- Farrar also was disciplined for writing “out of service” on his daily journal when he actually was “conducting personal business” while driving in the Kearny Mesa area. He violated a department rule requiring that such reports “be truthful and complete and no member shall knowingly enter . . . any inaccurate, false or improper information.”

Kolender and his top assistants approved the use of fabricated excuses to dismiss parking and traffic tickets, The Times investigation found. Burgreen signed off the cancellation of a parking ticket issued to Kolender’s wife received on Prospect Street in La Jolla. The dismissal form contained the written explanation “parked in front of his own driveway,” even though the Kolenders have never lived in La Jolla.

Burgreen also said that tickets for moving violations are dismissed only after a thorough investigation that included interviewing officers and consulting their notes. However, The Times found that at least six police officers who wrote moving citations were never contacted.

Officer Don Cone, told of an excuse used to dismiss one of his traffic tickets, responded, “If that’s what they’re saying, that’s bull. I don’t like that at all.”

The police chief and his top assistants have the authority to write rules of conduct for the department’s 1,500 police officers. The police regulations, which are signed by Kolender, cover many areas including orders that officers must be truthful.

But the same authority that allows Kolender to set rules also permits him to break them, Lockwood said. Asked if Kolender or other top city administrators are held accountable to the rules they make, Lockwood said:

“No, absolutely not.”

The same does not apply, however, to policies established by the City Council. If top-ranking city employees such as Kolender and Burgreen violate those policies, Lockwood said, he decides on the appropriate punishment.

When punishing rank-and-file officers, the department’s vigor in pursuing some charges borders on the ridiculous, some police officers believe.

In one case, Officer Christine M. Farmer was recently suspended for five days and transferred off the prestigious canine unit in connection with lewd comments. The department generated 34 pages in reports and interviewed 14 officers between April and June to prove that she told a dirty joke in Riverside and talked of swimming in her underwear after a police training session.

In another case, Officer Nate Caplan was demoted as a field training officer because he engaged in “immature behavior” such as wearing a mask to a briefing session last year on Halloween Day.

The Times obtained an internal police memo written to Caplan, which said in part:

“On October 31, 1985, you wore a costume pig nose to squad line-up. Captain Hall visited that line-up and presented you with a safe driving certificate. You continued to wear the pig nose during the presentation and the remainder of the line-up.”