Kolender Reprimanded for Fixing Traffic Tickets

City Manager John Lockwood on Tuesday reprimanded Police Chief Bill Kolender and his top assistant for fixing traffic tickets for friends and relatives and improperly using city employees and equipment for personal benefit.

Concluding a two-week administrative review, the city manager also found that Kolender failed to report gifts on conflict-of-interest forms and improperly used his position to help a friend buy a handgun without waiting the mandatory 15-day “cooling off” period.

Lockwood said he didn’t seriously consider firing Kolender and Assistant Chief Bob Burgreen because many of their actions were based on longstanding police practices and Kolender is an “outstanding” police chief.

“Chief Kolender is a gregarious and popular person who likes to do things for people,” Lockwood wrote in his 11-page report. “This is a strength. But it is also a weakness, as he is apt to assist individuals in instances where the chief of police should not.”

Lockwood turned over the results of his review to the San Diego County district attorney, but said he saw nothing more than “technical” violations of the law.

A grim-faced Kolender told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that he was “embarrassed” and regretted his actions. But he said he felt that the city manager’s review did not have “any serious implications” regarding his effectiveness as head of the 1,500-member Police Department.

“Needless to say, I am very pleased to see that the city manager’s investigation makes a distinction between a corrupt Police Department and some poor administrative practices,” Kolender said. “This is, despite everything that’s been said over the past several weeks, an honest, professional Police Department.”

Lockwood began his inquiry after a Times investigation found that Kolender and his top aides had dismissed thousands of parking tickets and at least 30 citations for moving violations since the beginning of last year--many of them for friends, relatives, former police officials, the media and prominent San Diegans.

The Times reported that police administrators used fabricated or flimsy excuses when dismissing tickets, and failed to consult the officers who had issued the citations. The Times also reported that an internal police audit warned Kolender and his top assistants two years ago that tickets were being dismissed improperly.

Lockwood said he read the audit but didn’t examine it closely because it only confirmed what had been common knowledge in the department for years.

He also said in an interview Tuesday that his investigation was not a “whitewash” because Kolender and Burgreen will have to live with the stigma of a public rebuke. The city manager said he doesn’t believe his findings signal deeper problems within the Police Department.

“In terms of police corruption,” Lockwood, said, “I’ve got to tell you, in my opinion, you’ve got a speck of foam on a sea of emotion. It’s wrong, but . . . .”

Lockwood said he considered forcing Kolender and Burgreen to repay the city for using personnel and equipment, but decided against it. He said the choice came down to either a termination or a reprimand.

“I could have given a suspension to prove that I was tough, no-nonsense and government is pure and all that kind of stuff,” Lockwood said. “But if you think those two people haven’t paid a price . . . you’re mistaken.

“When Chief Kolender passes away or retires, you know what they’re going to write? ‘Chief Kolender, who was publicly reprimanded in 1986 by the city manager for accepting gifts. . . .’ They’re going to be writing that forever.”

The results of Lockwood’s investigation have been forwarded to Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller. A spokesman said Miller’s office will study the findings before deciding whether to pursue criminal charges.

Lockwood said that City Atty. John Witt told him early Tuesday that Kolender may have violated state law in at least two areas--using his position to help a friend buy a gun without waiting the 15 days mandated by state law and not reporting a gift of tickets to San Diego Chargers games on his financial disclosure form.

Asked if he is concerned about the district attorney’s investigation, Kolender said: “No, I’m not.”

Lockwood’s administrative review focused on six categories of allegations that surfaced in the past month. In all but one case, Lockwood concluded that Kolender and Burgreen were either wrong or violated city policy. The categories:

- Kolender and his top aides fabricated excuses to dismiss parking and moving citations for friends, relatives and influential San Diegans.

“The department’s actions as to family or personal acquaintances appears to be similar to that practiced by the Department over several decades,” Lockwood wrote. “While there is historical precedence for this conduct, it is wrong.

“As to the fabrication of excuses, I believe it to have been generated from an expediency in processing the paper work rather than from an intentional desire to deceive anyone. However, in any event, the fabrication of any data on any official city form is wrong.”

Lockwood stressed Tuesday that his report was not intended to reflect a “holier than thou” attitude, especially since ticket-fixing has been a standard police practice for decades. He said it wouldn’t be “fair” to fire Kolender and Burgreen for following that practice.

- Kolender and Burgreen used then-Officer Jeanne Taylor to run personal errands almost daily, ranging from picking up Kolender’s laundry to driving his children to dental appointments. Taylor wore a police uniform and carried a handgun while she was assigned to the chief’s office between 1980 and 1982.

Lockwood said that interviews with officers who have worked in the chief’s office since Taylor did showed that personal errands have not been performed as often. In most cases since then, they were limited to depositing payroll checks and no relatives or friends were transported.

Lockwood concluded that Kolender didn’t send two San Diego detectives to Riverside to locate the address of his wife’s former son-in-law. Instead, the detectives took a 30-minute side trip to drive by the man’s last known address at the request of a lieutenant, who overheard Kolender mention a problem with his former son-in-law during “idle conversation,” Lockwood wrote. The detectives were in Riverside on other city business, he wrote.

- On two occasions, Burgreen used a city-owned video recorder and camera to film fishing trips at Lake Powell. Lockwood said the film was edited on city equipment and that old videotapes from the city also were apparently used.

Burgreen also acknowledged that he occasionally used city photocopying equipment and envelopes to mail his monthly newsletter, the Bass Club. The review found that Burgreen did not use city postage.

Such improper use of city personnel and equipment have occurred in the chief’s office since the 1930s, Lockwood noted.

“Despite this long standing practice, the transporting of family members by subordinate staff, the personal use of city-owned equipment for fishing trips, the use of photocopy equipment for non-city purposes is wrong and should not be permitted,” Lockwood wrote.

- The Police Department has accepted four season tickets from the San Diego Chargers football team--two for Kolender and two for Burgreen.

“The receipt of Charger tickets is a violation of city policy and should not have occurred,” Lockwood said.

The report concluded that other gifts, such as the use of a condominium in Hawaii and free lodging in Palm Springs, were appropriate and proper under the circumstances.

“In considering gifts, the amount of the gift and the purpose of the giver and of the receiver are of paramount importance. . . . ,” Lockwood wrote. “To most of us, a corrupt public official is one who receives something in value in return for special considerations. . . . In this investigation, there were no allegations nor was there any evidence which would indicate that corruption exists in the common understanding of that word. . . .

“The problems are genuine, but they were the doings of good people who are dedicated law enforcement professionals.”

- Kolender helped a friend, La Jolla businessman Jim Ciancimino, buy a gun in September, 1985, so he would not have to wait the mandatory 15 days for the state Department of Justice to approve the purchase. Such a violation is a misdemeanor, according to the city attorney’s office.

Lockwood said the gun sale serves as an example that Kolender has a “weakness” when it comes to doing favors for friends.

“I do not believe that it was Chief Kolender’s intent to, in a devious way, circumvent the law in order to avoid a criminal justice investigation of the purchaser,” the report said. “Chief Kolender had known the purchaser for some time, understood him to be of high moral character, and did not consider him to be a threat to society.

“However, as honest as the chief’s intent may have been, his action was wrong.”

In addition, Lockwood disclosed that Kolender figured in a previously unreported transfer of a gun between two San Diego bankers in late 1981. He said that the chief sent Taylor to the home of John Athaide, former vice president of U.S. National Bank, to pick up a gun that was left behind in an attempted bank robbery.

Kolender eventually had Taylor deliver the 1920s vintage firearm to Thomas W. Sefton, president of San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, as an addition to Sefton’s gun collection, Lockwood said. Sefton is a well-known benefactor of the Police Department.

Athaide told The Times he doesn’t recall giving a gun to Kolender. Telephone calls to Sefton’s office were not returned.

- Lockwood investigated allegations that top police administrators occasionally took time off to attend afternoon ballgames or leave for an extended weekend vacation without filling out the proper paper work.

“This did occur,” Lockwood ruled. “The actions taken by the chief officers of the department have been consistent with city policy, and I find no wrongdoing.”

Lockwood said that Kolender has his “full and complete support and confidence.”

“If I had an arrogant chief who tried to alibi and make excuses, I would have a deep concern,” Lockwood said. “I don’t. I have a very candid chief. Throughout this investigation, both Chief Kolender and Chief Burgreen were completely honest and open.”

Yet statements by Kolender and Burgreen to the media have resulted in several contradictions. They told The Times that tickets were dismissed only after thorough investigations, which included consultation with the officers who wrote the citations. But six officers who wrote traffic tickets told The Times they were never contacted before the charges were dropped.

Kolender also said he never personally approved the dismissal of moving violations. Police department records show that he had.

Mayor Maureen O’Connor praised Lockwood’s handling of the administrative investigation.

“I think Mr. Lockwood, if he’s shown anything here, he’s shown that he is going to be a strong city manager,” she said.

“You could say . . . that Chief Kolender was very, very popular and some people didn’t want him disciplined at all,” O’Connor said. “They felt it was kind of witch hunt. (Lockwood) had anywhere from not disciplining him to firing him. He took a look at his record and he chose the written reprimand.”

Kolender--who held a press conference in the new police headquarters on Broadway to symbolize a “new start” for the department--said his department will announce new policies regarding dismissal of tickets in a few days.

“Obviously, it’s embarrassing for a police chief to have a reprimand, but that’s the way it is and we’re going to go forward from here,” he said.

Lockwood denied that the written reprimand represents a double standard compared to stiffer disciplinary actions taken against rank-and-file officers for violating department rules. A review of civil service files by The Times showed that some officers have been scolded, demoted or suspended for such offenses as taking a cup of coffee, telling a dirty joke and wearing a mask to roll call.

“On the contrary, if you’re talking about punishments here, what those chiefs have gone through over the last three weeks and the action of this office is more severe than it would have been for a police patrolman,” Lockwood said.

In explaining his actions, Lockwood repeatedly said that ticket-fixing has been a way of life in the Police Department since the 1930s.

A city employee since the 1950s, Lockwood said that he knew about the practice of dismissing tickets for influential San Diegans when he worked as an administrative assistant for the police chief from 1958 to 1962. He was also the deputy city manager in charge of the department between 1971 and 1974.

Lockwood concluded his report by saying: “When this investigation began, I believed that San Diegans were blessed with one of this nation’s outstanding police departments and one of this nation’s outstanding police chiefs. I was willing to be persuaded differently, if the evidence developed during the course of my probe proved my belief to be wrong.

“The investigation is now complete. . . . In summary, we have an excellent police department and I hope that we can now put this unfortunate episode behind us.”

A sports fan, Lockwood used a football analogy to describe Kolender’s standing.

“I’ve got a Pro Bowl quarterback that threw into triple coverage, and we’ve talked about that, and I don’t want him to throw into triple coverage again,” Lockwood said. “And I’m sure he won’t.”