San Diego Chief Reportedly Won’t Be Charged for Fixing Tickets

Nearly five months after the San Diego County district attorney’s office began evaluating evidence of ticket fixing and other improprieties by Police Chief Bill Kolender, prosecutors have decided not to seek charges or conduct a formal investigation, according to sources close to the inquiry.

Kolender and Asst. Chief Bob Burgreen received written reprimands in November from City Manager John Lockwood for fixing traffic tickets for friends and relatives and improperly using city employees and equipment for personal benefit.

The district attorney’s office, which began reviewing evidence furnished by Lockwood at the time of the Nov. 25 reprimands, recently concluded that Kolender and Burgreen should not be held directly responsible for dismissing parking and traffic tickets, the sources said.

‘Isn’t Trying Real Hard’

“The D.A. isn’t trying real hard to get this one in the bag,” said a law-enforcement source familiar with the probe. “The argument is that the cops didn’t fix the tickets, technically, but it was the judge or court clerk that fixed tickets by dismissing them on police recommendations. Of course, the judges didn’t know (that Kolender and Burgreen were recommending dismissal of tickets) and the clerks can’t be blamed. So there is no one to blame.”

Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller Jr. could not be reached for comment. On Wednesday, Miller’s spokesman, Steve Casey, said prosecutors were not ready to announce the results of their review.

Kolender said Wednesday that he agrees with the district attorney’s decision.

“I never thought there was anything criminally wrong with it in the first place,” he said.

Lockwood, after a two-week administrative review, found that Kolender and Burgreen had improperly dismissed tickets for friends and family. He also found that Kolender used a uniformed police officer and a police vehicle to run numerous personal errands over a three-year period and Burgreen used police video equipment on a fishing trip to tape a film segment for a local television project.

After his review, Lockwood announced new procedures that prohibit Kolender and his top aides from dismissing tickets.

The district attorney’s decision here contrasts with two recent Los Angeles County cases.

Charges Against Judge

On Jan. 29, Beverly Hills Municipal Judge Charles D. Boags was charged with three misdemeanors, including conspiracy to obstruct justice, for improperly suspending fines during 1985 and 1986 on 207 parking tickets issued to his son and the boy’s friends at Beverly Hills High School. The Times disclosed last April that Boags had suspended fines on tickets issued to his son’s 1984 Honda.

Ralph Weldon, the former administrator of the Santa Anita Municipal Court, was charged with misdemeanor conspiracy last month for allegedly dismissing 73 traffic tickets for friends over a one-year period without consulting a judge.

If convicted, each man faces a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a $10,000 fine.

Allegations of ticket fixing were first raised in November when a monthlong Times investigation found that Kolender, Burgreen and other top police officials improperly dismissed hundreds of parking tickets and dozens of traffic citations for relatives, friends, fellow police officials, the media and influential businessmen since January, 1985. The police administrators had used fabricated or flimsy excuses, and in many cases traffic tickets were canceled without any investigation by the department.