Grand Jury Criticizes Seal Beach Police Chief : Agencies: Favoritism has hurt morale and led to harassment of citizens, the panel says. City officials express surprise at the criticism but pledge to rectify any problems.

Favoritism and nepotism in the Seal Beach Police Department has led to low morale, unfair job treatment and harassment of citizens caused by improper police procedures, the Orange County Grand Jury said in a report released Wednesday.

Among the disclosures made in the report were allegations of nepotism against an unnamed department head whose spouse was hired to fill a court liaison job within the department. Previous news reports have identified the department head as Police Chief Bill Stearns, whose wife works at the Police Department.

During the jury’s 11-month investigation, the panel also focused on citizen complaints, a high rate of stress among officers and other medical-related retirements, said Carol J. Duensing, chair for the panel’s special issues committee, which prepared the report.

The grand jury rarely investigates the internal workings of local police departments, but jurors “felt there was a reason in this case” based on complaints made against the Seal Beach police by present and former employees, Duensing said.

Officials at Seal Beach City Hall expressed surprise over the report’s conclusions.

“I haven’t heard anything about that,” Mayor Edna Wilson said when informed of the panel’s findings. “I think (Stearns’ wife) was qualified for the job.”

The mayor said she did not wish to elaborate until she had a copy of the report, which will be evaluated by the City Council. Wilson said the council “will do anything that we need to do” to comply with the panel’s recommendations.

Police Capt. Gary Maiten said Wednesday that Stearns was unavailable for comment. Stearns previously has denied treating employees unfairly.

The city issued a press release late in the day saying that officials are “very concerned about the issues raised by the grand jury and will take immediate action to investigate the issues . . . and will respond accordingly.”

The press statement said the report would be presented to the council at its next meeting. In the meantime, city staff will “investigate the issues presented in the report,” the press release said.

Allegations against Stearns stem from the testimony of a former employee, Carolyn Lindberg, who complained that the police chief hired his wife, Michelle, as the department’s court liaison. The job opened up when Stearns fired the previous court liaison after he became acting chief of the department in 1987.

The grand jury determined that Stearns made no effort to recruit for the slot filled by his wife, and no bulletin announcing the job opening was posted. In addition, no competitive exam was administered and no eligibility list was established, according to the panel’s report. The chief’s wife was also given a higher salary than the employee who had previously filled the post, the grand jury found.

City Manager Robert Nelson told jurors the job appointment did not violate any city or civil service regulations because it was a job “reclassification.” But the grand jury noted that it interviewed five people during the course of its investigation who indicated they were qualified for the position but had been given no opportunity to apply.

Such favoritism created a morale problem and feelings of intimidation within the department “directly associated” with the nepotism issue, the report said.

Lindberg said she testified that Stearns’ wife didn’t like delivering court evidence and property, including blood and urine samples, to laboratories. Such tasks were therefore assigned to Lindberg. After about a year and a half, she also refused to do it and lost her job, she said.

The grand jury recommended that the City Council accept responsibility for the Police Department and resolve the issue of nepotism to assure that city regulations are observed. The city charter prohibits nepotism in employment, saying that no two relatives can be employed in the same municipal department.

“The grand jury’s finding confirms the many complaints of people who were not listened to when the issues first arose,” Lindberg said Wednesday. “That’s what I’m most pleased about.”

Lindberg said the city should look for stronger leadership in the Police Department, but she stopped short of calling for termination of the chief.

A law enforcement veteran of 26 years, Lindberg, a Costa Mesa resident, said she has not sought employment since she was fired from the Seal Beach department.

Jurors also suggested that the council investigate any conflicts of interest and institute training to include team management, stress management and positive public interactions for police managers.

In addition, the grand jury found after a review of the Police Department’s retirement records that the number of officers leaving since 1985 because of disabilities appeared to be “above average” in comparison to other similar-sized police departments.

With that in mind, the City Council needs to reassume the responsibility to review disability retirement cases, which are expensive and should only be considered as a measure of last resort, the grand jury said.

In recent years, the city has been plagued by published news reports of internal strife and morale problems within the department. Former chief Stacy Picascia acknowledged in a 1986 newspaper interview that “things have reached a (point) where the officers are burned out.”

He and other police officials noted the police department was understaffed and overworked, which was made all the more frustrating because crime continued to rise.

Mayor Wilson said changes have occurred since those days, including the hiring more officers, and that a new feeling of confidence has begun to permeate the department.

Mark Risinger, president of the Seal Beach Police Officers Assn., said in a press release that the officers “are appalled by (the report’s) vague insinuations and its general inaccuracies that could only be the product of a one-sided unprofessional investigation.”