Deputy Police Chief in Long Beach Cleared by 3-Week Investigation

Deputy Police Chief David Dusenbury has been absolved of assertions of impropriety, city officials said this week.

City Manager James C. Hankla said no action will be taken against Dusenbury, the department’s chief of detectives, who was the target of a three-week investigation by a private detective hired by the city. Hankla ordered the investigation in April after the Police Department received an anonymous letter accusing Dusenbury of personal misconduct. The detective’s report has not been released.

Dusenbury said in an interview Wednesday that the letter accused him of drug and alcohol abuse, and asserted that he was “out to get the chief . . . and in cahoots with the (Police Officers Assn.)”

Dusenbury said that he was not surprised by the result and that he intends to take legal action, but he did not provide specific details.

“I can tell you I’m not pleased about the entire incident,” he said. “I intend to do something about it.”

He said the “poison-pen” letter to the department “made outrageous allegations” that were “absolutely preposterous. I knew the allegations were false.”

Dusenbury said the detective conducted a thorough and professional investigation. He said he fears the allegations have tarnished his reputation.

Woman’s Hiring Investigated

The detective, among other things, investigated whether Dusenbury three years ago hired as his secretary a woman with a misdemeanor arrest record for prostitution. The woman left about a month after taking the job, according to retired Deputy Chief William Stovall.

Dusenbury said the secretary had worked for the city 2 1/2 years before he hired her, and that her legal problems had occurred more than six years before she was hired by the city. He said he believed her legal problems were behind her when he hired her, and that she was a good employee.

In an unusual step, Hankla hired a private detective, Leslie (Pete) Norregard of Irvine, to investigate the charges.

Norregard is a 35-year FBI veteran who headed the agency’s Orange County office before retiring to plan security for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He was paid $9,422 to conduct the Dusenbury investigation, the city auditor’s office reported.

At the time of the hiring, Mayor Ernie Kell acknowledged that bringing in a private detective was an unusual step that may become more commonplace as a way of lending credibility to investigations involving city employees in Long Beach. Chief Lawrence L. Binkley told the city’s 650 police officers about the Dusenbury investigation in a memo asking officers to cooperate with Norregard in an inquiry that is “being conducted under and directly for James C. Hankla, city manager.”

Officer Informed Norregard

One officer and a former officer said they had been interviewed by Norregard.

Police Officer Jack O’Neil Jr. said he told Norregard that Dusenbury hired a woman with a misdemeanor arrest record of prostitution and petty theft as his secretary at the Police Department.

Retired Deputy Chief Stovall said he told the detective that he had become concerned when he found out about Dusenbury’s secretary because she had access to computer records and undercover operative files. Stovall said he raised the issue with then Police Chief Charles B. Ussery, but received assurances that Dusenbury knew of the woman’s police record and promised to fire her if she got into trouble again. Before he retired in August, 1987, Stovall said, he also told Binkley about the incident.