Ex-Officer Takes Swipe at Homicide Task Force : Law Enforcement: Organizational problems have hindered probe of prostitute slayings, Goudarzi says.

Politics and poor administration have slowed efforts by the Metropolitan Homicide Task Force to aggressively investigate the murders of 44 prostitutes and transients, according to a former task force member who was fired for having sex with an alleged police informant.

In his first interview since the allegations surfaced about his affair, former Sgt. Harold E. Goudarzi said Thursday that the two dozen investigators assigned to probe the series of killings and possible involvement of officers are hampered by task force bureaucracy.

“When the task force first started (in 1988), we managed to do our work with minimal problems,” said Goudarzi, a 21-year veteran of the department until his firing earlier this month. “Over a period of time, it evolved into a monster, the monster being the administrative handling of the task force.”

As a result, he said, the various agencies controlling the task force--the San Diego Police Department, the county Sheriff’s Department and the district attorney’s office--all had separate agendas and investigators were constantly being pulled off assignments to chase different aspects of the case because there were “too many chiefs and not enough Indians.”

The reorganization of the department late last year, in which the state attorney general’s office was added to handle allegations of police corruption and two other distinct branches of the investigation were formed, “made everything worse,” he said.

“The officers down there are extremely dedicated, hard-working, conscientious detectives,” Goudarzi said. “But a lot of times they are placed in situations where they end up having to play politics and get stuck putting out brush fires. They have to drop this and go do that. They’re pawns.”

Goudarzi specifically blamed Bonnie Dumanis, a deputy district attorney who handled the administration of the task force from May, 1990, until late last year, when she became a referee of the Juvenile Court.

“She’s not an administrator and had no business being down there” at task force headquarters, he said. “Things began to get bottled up because of Bonnie Dumanis. She had a lack of administrative ability.”

Dumanis was on vacation and could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Assistant Police Chief Norm Stamper described Dumanis as a “first-class professional dedicated to doing the best she could in a difficult situation.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Dick Lewis, the new task force leader who took over for Dumanis, said he has heard nothing to substantiate Goudarzi’s allegations.

“I’ve had so much cooperation from the political bodies--the City Council; the city manager; the chief of police; my boss, Ed Miller, the new sheriff and the old sheriff,” Lewis said. “They all have a sincere effort to get this thing resolved.”

In his interview with the news media Thursday, Goudarzi also blamed Stamper for his firing, saying the assistant chief was using him as a “scapegoat” for continuing allegations of police corruption that have yet to be proven.

“I think I am a victim of the circumstances,” he said. “You can use the word scapegoat or sacrificial lamb or example being made of , whatever. I think we were stuck in a situation where there were some sensational allegations made, not only sensational from what was being alleged, but that they got public attention from the media. The perception was, ‘We’ve got to do something.’ ‘

Goudarzi’s attorney, Everett Bobbitt, said his office has been inundated with cases of San Diego police officers being fired. He said he has received three or four termination notices just this week.

“Shortly after the media blitz (regarding Goudarzi), the disciplinary actions of the San Diego Police Department increased dramatically,” he said.

“After the Rodney King beating case, they increased even more. The department is running scared of the media,” he said. “They are afraid that if they don’t terminate people, they’ll be criticized. If they terminate, they can’t be criticized. All of a sudden, it is a perfect administration living in an imperfect world.”

Stamper disagreed, saying that “all personnel decisions are based on the facts and circumstances investigated and they result in a conclusion.”

While not commenting directly on the Goudarzi matter, Stamper said he expects to testify at Goudarzi’s Civil Service Commission hearing, which may not he held for up to a year because of a backlog. Goudarzi was fired earlier this month, a decision that was upheld by Police Chief Bob Burgreen.

The official administrative charges against Goudarzi are that he had a four-month affair with Denise Loche, a Mira Mesa homemaker and police informant, and that he lied about the relationship when questioned by Stamper.

Goudarzi, however, said Loche was not an informant, despite his concurrence with Loche that she wear an undercover recording device when meeting with a reporter for the San Diego Tribune and his agreement that she try to track down a confidential file.

A confidential informant, department regulations state, is someone who “furnishes information or performs other lawful service for the Police Department, generally with the expectation of compensation or favor.”

The “true” informant, according to department guidelines, “has access to varying groups or persons engaged in criminal activity.”

Goudarzi’s attorney said Loche fit none of those criteria.

Police administrators determined that Loche was indeed an informant and that Goudarzi lied when asked whether he had a personal or social relationship or had done “anything embarrassing to the task force or that could in any way compromise its integrity.”

Goudarzi said he was never asked about a personal or social relationship. He said he saw nothing about his relationship with Loche that could be construed as embarrassing.