Open-Door Policy Ends : Press, Police Relations Chilly in Wake of Stories Critical of Chiefs

The San Diego Police Department has made several recent changes in its working relationship with the media, reversing a decade-long practice of being extraordinarily accommodating to news reporters.

Late last year, police assigned a commander to field questions and relay responses for Chief Bill Kolender, Asst. Chief Bob Burgreen and other top police administrators. In some cases, other officers have been ordered not to speak with the press.

The department also has begun charging both the press and the public for data requested under state public records laws. As part of the move to the new police headquarters last month, reporters were denied freedom of movement inside the building. (Responding to complaints from newspapers, police earlier this month revised the policy, but it remains more restrictive than it was in the old building.)

Kolender, who in the past has made himself available to journalists at virtually all hours of the day, for the first time in memory turned down requests for interviews during November, December and early January. He declined to talk to a Times reporter for this story about police policies toward reporters and recently cautioned aides to be “careful about being so helpful, open and candid” with the media, according to one police official.

Police say the timing of these actions and policy changes is coincidental. Some journalists and police sources, however, say the changes reflect a new attitude among police administrators toward the media that stems from recent stories uncovering numerous improprieties by Kolender and Burgreen.

“It’s almost symbolic of the move from the old building to the new,” said Tribune police reporter James Grimaldi. “The Police Department has changed from the warm, friendly, open-door atmosphere to an atmosphere that seems to reflect the building they’re in--cold, sterile and gray.”

Police officials have blamed the press for sensationalizing stories that led City Manager John Lockwood to investigate Kolender and Burgreen.

Lockwood, who issued letters of reprimand on Nov. 26 to Kolender and Burgreen, found that the two top police administrators improperly dismissed parking and traffic tickets for friends and relatives and used a uniformed officer to run personal errands. The city manager’s report, which confirmed most of what news reporters had found, concluded the chief was “wrong” for committing errors of judgment.

Today, Kolender remains bitter at reporters for writing the stories. He recently told the San Diego Union that reporters were “unfair, rude and officious.” He added, “They literally wanted me. Right or wrong, truth really had no impact on it.” He said the issues were “way blown out” and “trite and unfair.”

Despite his anger, Kolender has insisted that he has not changed his personal policy of being open and candid with the media. He told a Times editor that he is willing to speak with any reporter except Times staff writer Glenn F. Bunting, who reported many of the stories involving Kolender and ticket-fixing practices.

However, Tribune reporter Grimaldi said Kolender told him during Christmas week: “I’d rather talk to Bunting or (Times staffer Ralph) Frammolino than you any day.”

According to police officials, Kolender will no longer grant interviews to every reporter who asks for one. Instead, the chief will limit his conversations to reporters with whom he feels “safer and more comfortable,” said one police source.

“You uncovered irregularities that ultimately embarrassed him,” the source told a Times reporter. “The bandwagon effect came into motion, and pretty soon all the media did stories on it. That not only embarrassed him but also resulted in him being reprimanded. He’s worried about that, and he’s scared even to a point.”

Kolender’s newly appointed spokesman, Cmdr. Keith Enerson, said that neither Kolender nor the Police Department has changed the way each responds to the media.

“We haven’t made concerted plans that we’re going to close ranks and not talk to the media on certain occasions,” Enerson said.

He added, “That doesn’t mean that Bill Kolender has to talk to every reporter whenever they want. It still doesn’t mean he’s not being open and accessible . . . I think he is going to be open, but I think he can be open through me.”

Of Kolender’s decision not to grant an interview to The Times, Enerson said, “You don’t pet the dog that’s biting you.”

Kolender has repeatedly said that his self-imposed silence lasted only during the city manager’s investigation and does not represent a new closed-door policy. But he repeatedly refused to comment on police stories or to be interviewed for several weeks after he was reprimanded by the city manager. He declined to discuss reports that he had purchased nine handguns since 1980 and that two of the weapons were later registered to two influential businessmen.

Kolender, who has been a popular figure among minority leaders for being responsive to their concerns, was unavailable for comment last month on reports that two police officers tied a handcuffed black man to a horse and led him several blocks through a busy Southeast San Diego neighborhood.

Since The Times asked about his accessibility to reporters last week, Kolender has been quoted in several routine news stories and fielded questions on a radio talk show.

In past years, Kolender has made himself available at all hours for interviews and has routinely given reporters his home telephone number as well as the unlisted numbers of his top assistants. Reporters who call Kolender’s office are now referred to spokesman Enerson.

Since he moved last month to his spacious seventh-floor office atop the new $44-million police headquarters, Kolender’s access to the public and press has been severely restricted. The public can no longer walk into Kolender’s outer office without first getting clearance from security officers on the ground floor.

The San Diego Police Department’s past openness to the media and public was unusual among the nation’s largest police departments. In major cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, police chiefs are isolated from reporters, who must deal with public affairs officers. One police source in San Diego said Kolender is beginning to adopt a similar strategy.

City Manager Lockwood said last week that he thinks Kolender’s new approach to the media may be the result of how certain reporters covered the stories on ticket-fixing and other improprieties.

“Of the previous chiefs we’ve had and previous department heads, few have gone out of their way as Bill has done to keep good media relationships,” Lockwood said. “Again, I think that is one of his pluses.

“If he’s made some changes, it could be because of some individual who he doesn’t have confidence in to be fair or it could be the volume of (media requests). That would be his call.”

Since stories about Kolender’s problems were first published in early November, the following developments concerning police-media relations have taken place:

- Enerson, a 25-year police veteran with no experience in media relations, was chosen the department’s chief spokesman. This ended a decade-long practice in which public affairs spokesmen handled breaking news events such as murders and bank robberies and Kolender and other top police officials responded to other media inquiries.

Enerson said the department had intended to appoint him as chief spokesman a year ago but because of other commitments, he did not assume the new role until the time of the ticket-fixing controversy.

“Both Kolender and Burgreen had a lot of time spent with reporters just walking in and they would out of courtesy talk to them,” Enerson said, adding, “Probably the time wasn’t well spent.”

He said Kolender and other administrators will continue to speak with reporters and to attend press conferences when they choose to, such as Thursday night’s announcement of the arrest of a CHP officer on a murder charge.

- On at least two occasions, officials ordered officers not to talk to the media, citing a policy that prohibits police personnel from responding to criticism without authorization.

After The Times reported on Nov. 12 that many moving citations had been dismissed without talking with the patrol officers who wrote them, a police sergeant told his squad not to speak to the press, according to one officer who attended the briefing.

Recently, Cmdr. Calvin Krosch ordered a police officer not to talk to a Times reporter, even though Enerson had encouraged The Times to conduct the interview. Krosch wanted a supervisor--not the officer--to respond to department criticism, Enerson said.

- Police public affairs personnel were ordered last month by a lieutenant not to respond to press inquiries on breaking stories by certain reporters, sources said. The police have a standing policy to “cooperate fully with the news media in providing information to the public about the affairs of this department in which the public has a legitimate interest.”

The edict was overturned by police administrators the next day.

- The Police Department adopted a policy last month that required reporters working at the new police station on Broadway to check in at the front counter each time they sought to interview a police official or get a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. The reporters were then issued a badge with a number that restricted their movement to one floor.

“It’s a security building,” Enerson explained. “Like any other major department of the United States, we have certain rules for people going from one floor to another and one division to another. That was not a conspiracy to make us not open.”

At the old police building, reporters freely moved from office to office to conduct interviews and report on stories. Under revised procedures approved last week, reporters will be allowed access to public areas throughout the building without being required to check in at the front counter.

Enerson noted that the new policy gives reporters more access to the police building than even visiting law enforcement officials. “So I think that would be one way of showing you we’re not closing you down,” Enerson told a reporter.

But last week Lt. William Price told Tribune reporter Grimaldi that he could not “loiter” in a hallway outside an elevator to wait for homicide Lt. Phil Jarvis. Grimaldi said he wanted to catch Jarvis before his 8 a.m. deadline to inquire about the homicide of community leader William Thompson the night before. Price escorted Grimaldi to the public affairs division on the seventh floor so officials could further explain the new press policy.

Lt. Charles Ellis, head of the public affairs division, said that reporters are required to make appointments in advance with police officials and are not permitted to “lurk” in hallways.

- The Police Department adopted a new policy last week that requires the press and the public to pay for requests for information. Enerson said that anyone who requests information requiring more than two hours of research will be charged an unspecified hourly fee. The Police Department also will begin charging a copying fee of 15 cents per page.

In the past, police officials usually provided information at no charge.

“The city has had a policy of charging for reports for quite some time,” Enerson said. “As I understand it, we are just coming in line.”

For Fred Minshall, a college student and free-lance reporter for a black community newspaper, the new policy appears likely to prevent him from completing a research project on police shootings of minorities.

Minshall said he first became interested in police shootings while doing a research paper for a black history class at San Diego City College in 1984. Since then, his requests for information repeatedly have been denied by the Police Department.

Last year, Minshall said, an officer told him he could have the information if he could guarantee that the data would not be used to criticize the department. Minshall refused to give police a guarantee.

Under its new policy, the department told Minshall that the information would cost $2,000 and he was required to pay 50% of the fee in advance. Minshall said he obtained similar information on a national basis from the FBI at no cost.

“It’s an absolute stone wall,” Minshall said. “The public has a right to this information for considerably less than 2,000 bucks.”

Enerson said the department changes have been in the planning stages for some time. He acknowledged that recent stories critical of the Police Department have led some officers not to cooperate with the press.

“The chief’s a very popular chief with his people, probably one of the most popular of any major department,” Enerson told a Times reporter. “A lot of them feel . . . you’ve treated him unfairly. They don’t like that.

“I think that as time goes on, we all forget and we all forgive. So I don’t think it will be that way all the time.”