Almost to a Man, Santa Ana Police Have Court Date

Santa Ana police officers plan to follow a judge’s order and appear in court Monday, but they are expressing concern over who’s going to be out there patrolling the streets.

The unusual situation began when Santa Ana city attorneys recently sought a court order restraining the Police Benevolent Assn. from engaging in sickouts or strikes. The attorneys wanted to be sure that PBA members would not decide to call in “sick” based on personal, rather than group action, so they named nearly all 370 police association members in the lawsuit.

That included all of the Santa Ana Police Department’s sworn officers through the rank of sergeant. Each was served with a summons for a court hearing scheduled Monday.

On Monday morning, as ordered, PBA members plan to appear--en masse--in Division 21 of Orange County Superior Court.

‘City Has Put Us in a Bind’

“The PBA doesn’t want to see the city devoid of police cars,” association attorney Seth Kelsey said. “But the city has put us in a bind.”

Kelsey maintained that the city acted “vindictively” against the PBA, with which it is engaged in tough salary negotiations, by serving all its members and exposing them to legal costs and potential damages.

However, City Attorney Ed Cooper said the move was necessary to ensure that the restraining order would apply to all police officers and not just the association. Cooper has told police officers who are scheduled to work Monday that they need not show up in court, and that he would reschedule their court appearances for days when they were not working.

Nor do other officers need to show up in court Monday, Cooper said: “Their attorney can argue the case.”

On Friday, officers scheduled to work Monday were told by superiors to report to their posts, Kelsey said.

But that puts association members in the position of either violating a court order to appear or violating a superior’s order to show up for work, Kelsey said.

“We have an obligation to give them proper advice so they aren’t disciplined (by the city) and so they don’t lose favor with the court,” he said and added that he will instruct his clients to show up in court unless the city signs a stipulation this weekend excusing them.

“I would tend to feel that a court of competent jurisdiction . . . takes precedence over some captain who, on the advice of the city attorney, tells them to violate an order.”

Salary talks between the city and the PBA remain deadlocked. The city has reportedly offered a 4.5% increase, while the PBA is asking increases of 11.9% for officers and 24.9% for sergeants, which would make them the highest-paid law enforcement officers in the county.