New Police Union Chief Prefers Diplomacy

The police union leader’s office is no longer decorated with anti-management slogans and a poster of a scantily dressed woman leaning over a motorcycle. The office decor is stark in comparison now, with nothing risque or controversial.

It’s a reflection of new union leader Paul Chastain, whose style, demeanor and approach differ greatly from those of his predecessor, Mike Tracy.

Tracy, 48, who wore Hawaiian shirts and an earring when he was the head of the Long Beach Police Officers Assn., frequently criticized police management and was viewed as confrontational. He has since returned to regular police duty with the department.

Chastain, 50, who wears suits and dishes out so much praise about the department that he often sounds like a public relations man, prefers diplomacy.

“By not being too aggressive, doors can remain open, and unless those doors are shut, that’s going to be my tack,” Chastain said in a recent interview.

Officials are finding Chastain much easier to deal with.

“There’s no question that Paul is much more open,” said Councilman Thomas Clark. “He has a different approach.”

Police Chief Lawrence L. Binkley, who did not get along with Tracy and could go weeks without seeing him, meets several times a week with Chastain. Councilman Doug Drummond, a former police union president who had not been inside the union’s downtown office in years, stopped by to chat with Chastain a few weeks ago.

“Tracy never spoke a word with me,” Drummond said.

This new communication is a noteworthy shift from the contentious relationship traditionally held between City Hall and the police union leadership. Last year, for example, the rank and file threatened to strike, engaged in bitter contract negotiations and approved a no-confidence resolution against Binkley.

Now, said Assistant Police Chief Eugene Brizzolara, relations with the union have “improved significantly.” Binkley did not return repeated phone calls for comment.

Councilman Ray Grabinski said the new union president is “a very reasonable individual. He’s very straightforward. He understands the other side and is willing to listen. And that has made a difference.”

Chastain was elected union president in January after he pledged a more diplomatic approach with management. He is now using his brand of glasnost to try to persuade city officials to remove 43 county sheriff’s deputies who were hired last November to help the understaffed police department tackle a surging crime rate. The deputies were hired to patrol about one-fifth of the city.

Chastain, who was a burglary detective and a 28-year veteran of the department before he became union chief, has been lobbying officials to return the city of Long Beach to local law enforcement “by this summer.”

Although the nearly $20-million sheriff’s contract could run until June, 1994, the City Council has an option to cancel it before May 1, when it comes up for review, according to Assistant City Manager John F. Shirey. At that time, Chastain plans to formally ask the council to place all of the city under jurisdiction of the local police.

“The city of Long Beach belongs to the Long Beach Police Department,” said Chastain, a member of the union’s board of directors for more than seven years.

“My mandate was to remove the sheriff’s (deputies). I would like to return Long Beach to local policing by this summer,” Chastain said. “It hurt morale when they were hired,” he said. “It was embarrassing.”

But persuading city officials to cancel the contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department by then is unlikely. City Council members say that deputies patrolling the north and northeastern parts of the city are doing a good job. Councilmen Drummond and Les Robbins would even like to expand the use of deputies to other parts of the city.

City Manager James C. Hankla and Mayor Ernie Kell also said they favor keeping the deputies on the job. “The citizens of Long Beach are receiving a higher level of police service than in many years, and I don’t think now is the time to tamper with that,” Hankla said.

Only Councilmen Clark, Grabinski and Clarence Smith have said in interviews that they would consider canceling the contract once the department is at full strength.

Crime has decreased in the areas covered by deputies. For the first eight weeks of this year, for example, serious crimes decreased by 18.7%, according to Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Mirabella. By comparison, serious crimes in the same area and for the same period increased by 16.2% between Jan. 1 and Feb. 23 of 1990, compared to the previous year.

“It has proven that the entire concept has benefited the city,” Mirabella said.

But Chastain has been persistent, meeting regularly with city officials, police administrators and safety and police groups.

At every opportunity, he emphasizes the city’s recent success with recruiting new officers. “At the rate we’re hiring, we’ll have 691 officers by this summer. We’ll be at full strength,” he says.

While Chastain may fail in his effort to have the deputies out of Long Beach by this summer, he has made significant progress in his goal of improving the union’s working relationship with management, many officials say.

“At least, for a change, we’re talking--this time, without screaming,” said Councilman Evan Anderson Braude.

BACKGROUND

* When the Long Beach City Council agreed last year to contract with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to patrol parts of the city, crime was rampant, police response was slow and complaints about the city’s police department were the norm. At the time, some city officials also said they wanted to send a message to the police union to quit its bickering with management or face the possibility that the department could be dismantled. Although most council members now say they would not favor such a drastic move, the Police Officers Assn. last January elected a new president, Paul Chastain, who had promised to take a more diplomatic approach with management.