Pomona Draws Demands for Probe, Censure

An organization of police chiefs has called for state and county investigations into the Pomona City Council’s firing of Police Chief Richard M. Tefank, and a state assemblyman has urged that a council member be censured for personal attacks on police officers.

These are among the latest developments in a growing controversy that began with the firing of Tefank three weeks ago and accelerated last week when Councilman C. L. (Clay) Bryant used a televised council meeting to disclose that the head of the Pomona Police Officers Assn. has been seeing a psychiatrist.

Assemblyman Charles Bader (R-Pomona), a former Pomona mayor, wrote council members this week, asking them to publicly censure Bryant for his comments.

Montclair Police Chief Gregory C. Caldwell, president of the San Bernardino County Police Chiefs Assn., said his group has asked state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner to begin a public investigation of the Pomona City Council.

In his letter to Van de Kamp, Caldwell said, “Without going into great detail, we feel that a thorough investigation by the attorney general will uncover numerous, serious violations of the law by at least four members of the City Council.” Tefank was fired by a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Donna Smith dissenting.

Caldwell said in his letter that Tefank’s ouster is just the latest in a series of terminations of department heads and other senior-level managers by the Pomona City Council. Although only Tefank and former City Administrator A. J. Wilson have been fired, others have been forced to retire or resign, he said.

He wrote to Van de Kamp that the action by the council “borders on the behavior Hitler exhibited in the ‘30s. The means justifies the end. And an investigation will demonstrate the means used by these individuals was illegal.”

Caldwell would not specify the possible law violations but said that “there’s enough going on that somebody ought to investigate it.”

Caldwell said San Bernardino police chiefs are concerned even though Pomona is in Los Angeles County because “good government is everyone’s responsibility” and “Richard Tefank is a brother chief and he was one of the better police chiefs in the area and the state.”

What is particularly disturbing, Caldwell said, is that Tefank was fired without a formal reason. When Tefank was dismissed, council members offered only general complaints, alleging that the Police Department was less effective than it should be against crime and that morale was poor.

Bryant said the council doesn’t have to list a reason when a department head is fired. The City Charter, he said, states that department heads serve at the pleasure of the city administrator, and can be removed at any time by the administrator, with the approval of the council.

In Tefank’s case, the council directed Tom Fee, the city’s fire chief and acting administrator, to remove Tefank and then ratified the action.

Fee appointed Capt. Jack Blair acting chief on Oct. 19, but Fee said Blair does not want to continue in that role, so Fee has begun a search for an interim chief. Fee said he will make the appointment only after both the City Council and the Pomona Police Officers Assn. meet the candidate. The council was scheduled to interview two candidates Wednesday night.

Fee said he invited the police association to participate in the process because “I don’t want them to think someone is coming in the back door.”

Raul Camargo, president of the police association, welcomed the offer and said the association would undertake “a complete and thorough investigation” of anyone proposed as interim chief. The search for a permanent replacement for Tefank hasn’t started.

Meanwhile, Camargo said the association has offered to help pay any legal expenses Tefank incurs in contesting his dismissal. Camargo said it is an unusual offer for an association of rank-and-file officers, who often are adversaries of management. But, he said, “in this case, we feel that Chief Tefank was wrongfully terminated.”

The association also has asked the district attorney’s office to determine whether Bryant violated state law protecting the privacy of personnel records of police officers when he made a personal attack on Camargo at the Oct. 30 council meeting. A spokeswoman for the district attorney said the request is being reviewed to determine whether a full investigation is needed.

Bryant called Camargo “a psychiatric case” and said he cost the city thousands of dollars for regular visits to an Irvine psychiatrist.

In a letter to Bryant this week, Bader asked him “in the name of simple decency” to “please stop your unprincipled attack on our police officers. . . . You have gone too far this time. Your ‘below the belt’ attack on Officer Raul Camargo was dead wrong.

“Officer Camargo, Sgt. Gary Elofson and the other officers on your ‘hit list’ are honorable men and dedicated law enforcement professionals. Don’t you know that they have risked their lives repeatedly to protect us and our families from the criminals in our society?”

Although Bryant denied he has a “hit list,” he has said he would like to see Camargo and Elofson fired. Elofson once arrested Bryant for drunk driving, but the charge was later dropped.

In his request for a public censure of Bryant, Bader wrote the council members: “His attack was both personal and public. Your silence on this matter would amount to your support and endorsement of his attacks.”

Smith said that she would move for Bryant’s censure but that the motion would have no chance of passage.

Councilman Tomas Ursua, whose election in April led to a realignment on the council that put Bryant in the majority, dismissed Bader’s complaint as a political move. “The council is moving in a direction that the Old Guard doesn’t want,” he said.

Regarding Camargo’s privacy, Ursua said the police association was reaping the results of “playing political hardball.” He said Bryant was simply reacting to their support of efforts to recall him.

Bryant insisted that he violated no law in disclosing that Camargo had received psychiatric care. He said he drew the information from worker’s compensation records.

Bryant said his response to Bader’s complaint will be to work for the reelection of state Sen. Ruben S. Ayala (D-Chino), against whom Bader is planning to run next year.

City government is continuing to function well despite the turmoil, Bryant said. “We’re in good shape. When you make an omelet, you break a few eggs, and we’re making the best omelet Pomona ever had.”

BACKGROUND

The Pomona City Council voted 4 to 1 on Oct. 17 to fire Police Chief Richard M. Tefank. The council majority said the Police Department was suffering from poor morale and had failed to attack crime effectively. Mayor Donna Smith, who dissented, said Tefank was fired because he would not dismiss seven mid-rank police officers. The Pomona Police Officers Assn. responded by joining the campaign to recall Councilman C. L. (Clay) Bryant.