Police in Santa Ana Win Ruling in Home Addresses Dispute

Santa Ana police officers won a court order Friday blocking City Councilman Daniel E. Griset from releasing their home addresses after he sent a letter to their homes critical of the officers’ endorsement of one of his opponents.

Sgt. Donald Blankenship, president of the Santa Ana Police Benevolent Assn., hailed Orange County Superior Court Commissioner Eleanor M. Palk’s issuance of a temporary restraining order as a victory that would help secure “the health and safety of the officers.”

The PBA’s attorney, Seth J. Kelsey, said that Palk had found that Griset had improperly used the officers’ addresses and that the order blocked him from doing it again.

Dispute Meaning of Order

But attorneys for Griset and the city disputed the meaning of the court order. Griset’s lawyer, Arthur P. Morello Jr., and Santa Ana City Atty. Edward J. Cooper maintained that the temporary restraining order did nothing more than restate existing law, which they say Griset had not violated.

After the hearing in Santa Ana, Griset said he does “not know” if he will send out any more letters to police officers. “The court decided I was entitled to have this information,” Griset said. “The order restates the law. . . . It doesn’t prevent me from communicating with any city employee.”

Griset sent the letters to about 300 PBA members earlier this week on behalf of the Washington Square Neighborhood Assn., whose board members signed the letters and endorsed Griset’s bid for reelection. Griset lives in Washington Square.

The letter harshly criticized the PBA’s endorsement of Richard L. Norton, Griset’s chief opponent in the race for the Ward 5 council seat.

Norton operated a swap meet at Santa Ana Stadium near the Washington Square neighborhood until the City Council shut it down last year. Residents of the neighborhood, including Griset, complained that the swap meet created too much traffic, litter and other problems.

In the letter to police officers, the Washington Square neighborhood group pointed out that Norton’s operation had placed a heavy burden on police officers and that he is being sued by the city for nonpayment of police service fees.

PBA president Blankenship said that about 150 officers had called his office complaining that their addresses had somehow been made available to the public and that they now feared for their families’ safety while they were on duty.

Griset said Friday that “four or five” campaign staff members helped him stuff envelopes--which had been addressed by his secretary, using an address list on a computer file--and that he personally mailed the letters. He said that the addresses were not made available to anyone from the Washington Square group.

Morello, Griset’s lawyer, maintained that his client had done nothing improper in obtaining the address list or in using it to send out the letters. City Atty. Cooper said the city had no choice but to provide a city official with such information unless it is to be used unlawfully.

PBA attorney Kelsey, however, claimed that both the city and Griset had violated state laws governing the confidentiality of personnel and police officers’ records.

In granting the PBA’s request for a restraining order, Palk did not dispute Griset’s contention that, as an officer of the city, he was entitled to obtain the addresses from the city’s Personnel Department. And she refused Kelsey’s request to include language in the restraining order that would have ordered Griset to return the address list to the city.

Political Use Questioned

But she did question his use of the addresses to send out political mail to aid his bid for reelection.

“This mailer has nothing to do with Mr. Griset in his official capacity,” Palk said. “My concern is for the officers’ safety.”

The restraining order prohibits Griset from “releasing, disclosing, disseminating or publishing in any way” the addresses of police officers.

Cooper and Morello said they were baffled by Palk’s decision. “There was no finding of any wrongdoing. . . . The mailing wouldn’t be included (under the terms of the order),” Morello said. “It’s merely a recitation of present statutes.”

Kelsey viewed the finding differently. “She apparently found that his use of the home addresses . . . was either releasing or disseminating,” Kelsey said. “His use of (the addresses), implicit in her ruling, was improper.”

Griset and his attorney claimed that the PBA’s request for a court order was nothing more than an attempt to produce negative publicity about the councilman before the election. PBA president Blankenship denied the allegation.

In any case, the matter will come up once again before the municipal election on Nov. 8. Palk scheduled a Nov. 1 hearing for a preliminary injunction.