Police Choose Union Chief Who Plans to Use More Tact : Law enforcement: Officers reject confrontational incumbent and elect someone who wants to take them in a different direction.

City police officers, apparently concerned about the future of the department and tired of confrontations with police officials, have selected a new union leader who promises to be more diplomatic.

Officers last Wednesday elected burglary detective Paul Chastain as president of the Police Officers Assn., ousting veteran president Mike Tracy, who clashed repeatedly with Police Chief Lawrence L. Binkley and other officials.

Chastain, 50, a 28-year veteran of the department, was selected by a 300-198 vote. Throughout his campaign, he emphasized a need for the union to head “in a different direction.”

Chastain, who has been a member of the union’s board of directors for more than seven years, said he and Tracy have similar views on the union issues but have different styles. “The main difference between us is that I’m more patient than he is,” said Chastain. “I feel I can talk with anyone in the city. There are doors open to me.”

The rank and file have been at odds with management for more than a decade. Last year, the two sides clashed during protracted contract negotiations. The union took the city to court, picketed a City Council meeting and threatened to strike.

Tracy’s style, which was viewed as confrontational, did not help matters, officials said. “The door to him in City Hall had been shut,” Councilman Les Robbins said.

The union vote also reflected concern that if Tracy were not removed, city officials would dismantle the department and hire the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to handle all law enforcement activities in Long Beach, some union members said. The City Council voted to hire deputies to patrol sections of the city last year, and several members warned that they would consider expanding deputies’ responsibilities if the union did not change its ways.

“Some of the members felt Tracy has been at fault because of his stubbornness,” said Eric Jacobson, a union director.

But he also said some police officials encouraged officers to vote against Tracy. “The administration, through scare tactics, controlled this election,” Jacobson said.

Assistant Police Chief Eugene Brizzolara said the administration played no role in the union election, adding that officials were acting on their own if they advised officers how to vote. “Many middle managers are middle-aged and they’re not ready to retire (should the sheriff’s deputies take over policing Long Beach),” he said.

Tracy, who was the union’s president the last two years and from 1976 to 1983, did not return a reporter’s repeated telephone calls. He also did not show up at a Wednesday night board of directors meeting at the union’s office downtown.

Police and city officials expressed hope that Chastain’s election signals a potential change in relations between management and the 600-member union.

“I see it as a new day,” Mayor Ernie Kell said. “Mike Tracy was very confrontational. I’m very pleased he didn’t win.”

Councilman Doug Drummond, a retired police commander and a former president of the union, said that Tracy “took them off the edge of a cliff. You can’t make war over and over again.”

Brizzolara said he hopes this “is the beginning of a new era.” But he also cautioned that the union’s 11-member board of directors remains about the same. “Frankly, that may set some obstacles,” Brizzolara said.

Both Tracy and Mike White, who lost his bid for vice president to newcomer John Rose, will remain on the union’s board. Larry Chowen was reelected secretary, and Tim Uribe was reelected treasurer. They were unopposed.

Last month, union members elected three new board members: Tim Jackman, an officer in community relations; John Rose, the new vice president, who works in special investigations, and his brother, Richard Rose, a patrol officer. They defeated incumbents Mike Minton and Dan Mallonee and filled a vacancy created by Chad Teresi’s departure from the department.

During his one-year term, Chastain said, his top priority will be to ensure that Long Beach keeps its Police Department intact and that sheriff’s deputies be “sent home.”