Ex-Chief Allegedly Used False Gang Data

Baldwin Park’s police chief, fired Monday by the City Council, knowingly presented false statistics about a gang prevention program that won his department state and national honors, city officials said Tuesday.

Richard A. Hoskin, who had been chief for the last three years, stated in applications to several awards committees that from fiscal year 1986-87 to 1987-88 his department reduced the number of gang incidents in the city by 53%.

City and police officials said, however, that two separate investigations in the last three months have concluded that gang activity had been reduced by only 19% and that Hoskin had been told by his officers that the higher figure was incorrect.

While the discrepancy between the two figures was the work of inexperienced personnel and was not intentional, officials said Hoskin knowingly used the higher figure.

They added that Hoskin had been alerted to the problem before the gang program was honored by the League of California Cities and the National League of Cities at conferences last year.

“Yes, that’s what the investigation concluded,” Mayor Leo W. King said. “My face is very red.”

Hoskin, 43, who joined the department as an officer in 1968, could not be reached for comment. His attorney declined to discuss the matter.

Hoskin was fired by a 3-1 vote of the council, which cited “incompatibility of management philosophy” as the reason for its decision.

He had been on administrative leave since Oct. 5, and his department had been troubled by a protracted labor dispute that left officers in the 70-member police union without a contract for part of last summer.

Union officials said that they had numerous grievances about Hoskin’s performance and that the association had been planning to seek a no-confidence vote against the chief before his dismissal.

The department’s gang activity and prevention program, dubbed GAP, was launched in the summer of 1986 when the city received a three-year grant from the state office of criminal justice planning.

The program featured a full-time gang investigator, a new computer devoted to gang files, classroom presentations and beefed-up patrols.

The San Gabriel Valley city is a predominantly Latino community of about 62,000 where gang turf battles have been a nagging problem.

By 1987-88, reported gang incidents had been reduced from the previous fiscal year from 418 to 349, or about 19%, police said. But in his presentation for the Helen Putnam Award for Excellence, given each year by the League of California Cities, Hoskin reported a 53% reduction.

The league at its San Diego conference last October awarded honorable mention to Baldwin Park from among 12 entries in the public safety category. In December at the National League of Cities conference in Boston the gang program was chosen after a nationwide contest as one of 10 exhibits featured in the Solutions Showcase. The display was meant to show innovative solutions to urban problems.

“It’s an unfortunate situation, and I’m sure it’s something the city feels embarrassed about,” said Clark Goecker, assistant director of the League of California Cities. “But it’s certainly something we understand and are not going to make a big issue over.”

Capt. Carmine R. Lanza, who was named acting chief by the council, said in a prepared statement that he hoped the error would not detract from the GAP program, which had still been effective in cutting gang activity in the city.

“Unfortunately, the inaccurate crime statistics were submitted to . . . award committees,” Lanza said. “For that, the city and Police Department apologize for any inconvenience or confusion caused by our mistakes.”