Police Chief in Tiff With Personnel Board Over Hiring

The city’s police chief, a former Los Angeles police commander chosen last year over a popular in-house candidate, is embroiled in a controversy with members of the personnel board, including one who participated in a petition drive backing his rival for the job.

At issue is Chief Kenneth Hickman’s recommendation that the city go outside the department to recruit a new police captain.

The personnel board, on Hickman’s recommendation, voted in November to allow an “open promotional examination” for the position vacated when his rival for the chief’s job, Capt. Joseph Santoro, left to become police chief in Monrovia.

But at a City Council meeting last week, board Chairwoman Lucy Ammeian complained that Hickman had misled the board. She said he told the board that three years’ experience and a college degree were required for the job, and the only way to get such a candidate was to recruit outside the department. And she charged that the chief actively discouraged 11 Monterey Park officers from applying.

Hickman maintains that he was just expressing a preference about the qualifications. As for charges he discouraged officers from applying, Hickman said: “That’s an absolute lie. I can’t tell anybody you can’t take the exam. I don’t have the authority to do that.”

Meanwhile, Ammeian, who helped lead a petition drive on behalf of Santoro, said that had nothing to do with the current dispute. “This has nothing to do with personality. This is principles, honey,” she said. “We were wholeheartedly in support of (Hickman) until we realized he had done an injustice to the Police Department.”

The board voted in February to repeal its decision to go outside the department, and Ammeian would now like to offer a regular promotional examination, which limits the field of candidates to officers in the department.

In some ways, the flap is a replay of the circumstances surrounding Hickman’s hire.

Hickman, a former commander of the Los Angeles Police Department’s West Bureau, became chief last March, replacing Robert Collins, who retired.

But, during the city’s search for a new chief, Santoro had been favored by some residents, including Ammeian, who helped lead a petition effort backing Santoro for the job. Supporters believed that Santoro was qualified and that in-house promotions would encourage officers to stay with the department.

Hickman got the job, however.

And when the captain’s vacancy occurred, Hickman, who has a doctorate from Claremont Graduate School, decided that management experience and a college degree were important because, in his absence, “that person has to act in my stead as chief of police.” A college degree is required for the chief’s job, and captains should have the same qualifications in case they need to fill in, or aspire to the top job themselves, Hickman said.

But Ammeian said in an interview Thursday that she later checked with six neighboring departments and learned that none of them require a bachelor’s degree as a police captain qualification.

The Monterey Park Police Officers Assn. also favors in-house promotions. Wes Clair, president of the association, said police morale has dropped since Hickman became chief.

“Our feeling is we consider this Police Department, along with other departments, as family,” Clair said. “When you bring in an outsider, they tend to disrupt the family. They bring in policies from other departments that may or may not be popular.”

At the five-member board’s February meeting, Ammeian and Mickey Mikuriya voted to revoke the decision. Bob Belcher voted against the repeal. (Two seats were vacant at the time.)

Meanwhile, the captain’s job remains unfilled. Clair said five lieutenants and two sergeants have applied for the position.