City Prosecutor Is Criticized for His Handling of Misdemeanors : Courts: A golf course trespassing case angers Councilman Les Robbins. Prosecutor John A. Vander Lans says he is the target of ‘cheap shots.’

Angered at the Long Beach city prosecutor’s handling of a recent misdemeanor theft case, City Councilman Les Robbins has taken the office to task in recent days, calling for a review of the prosecutor’s performance.

“John, your ‘office’ is sitting on its hands, or worse, while the public safety of this city is going down the toilet,” Robbins charged in an Aug. 8 letter to City Prosecutor John A. Vander Lans.

“Your ‘office’s’ practice of not prosecuting or under-prosecuting righteous misdemeanor arrests and citations made by the (Long Beach Police Department) and sheriff’s deputies has complicated and undercut both department’s efforts to maintain public safety,” contended the letter, which Robbins released Friday as part of the City Council’s agenda material.

Robbins, a Los Angeles County deputy sheriff, continued the attack at Tuesday’s council meeting, prompting Councilman Tom Clark to complain at one point that the council was being asked to engage in a “witch hunt.”

For his part, Vander Lans defended his office and grumbled about “cheap shots.”

“As far as I know, nobody (else) has brought to the attention of my office what we’re not doing,” Vander Lans said in an interview. “None of the other (offices) we do business with has ever complained about our policies.

“I don’t know what (Robbins) is talking about,” added Vander Lans, who is elected and whose office is responsible for misdemeanor prosecutions, such as those involving prostitution, property-code violations and petty theft. “His nose is out of joint because I wouldn’t file the charges he thought were appropriate (in a recent case). . . . I’m not going to justify to the council every case I file.”

Robbins cites Vander Lans’ decision not to file theft charges against two men arrested one night last month for allegedly stealing hundreds of golf balls from a city golf course pond. Vander Lans’ office instead filed trespass charges. One suspect pleaded guilty and was fined about $700; the other’s case is still pending.

Vander Lans said he didn’t file theft charges because the ownership of the golf balls was too murky an issue.

“That’s hogwash,” retorted Robbins, whose 5th District includes three city golf courses and who has accepted political contributions from American Golf, which leases and operates city golf courses. “He never, ever, ever gave me a logical explanation of why he wouldn’t file charges.”

Robbins said he has heard other council members and their staff complain that Vander Lans’ office does not aggressively prosecute misdemeanor cases, particularly vice arrests. “(City prosecutors) have always got a million excuses for why they’re not doing their job,” Robbins declared.

After the council meeting, Councilman Doug Drummond, a retired police commander, also said Vander Lans is “soft on vice crimes” and “readily accepts a plea-bargain more conducive to the defendant than to the (public).”

To support his contentions, Robbins cited a July memo to Vander Lans in which Police Chief Lawrence L. Binkley noted that 11 of 20 misdemeanor citations issued to catering trucks illegally doing business around the McDonnell Douglas plant had been dismissed. “I would like your support and input as to how these Municipal Code violations . . . can result in a conviction,” Binkley wrote.

Robbins said he had no other figures concerning the city prosecutor’s handling of cases. Nor did Vander Lans, who said he does not have statistics on the percentage of cases in which his 11-deputy office declines to press charges.

“What I expect to get out of this motion are those numbers,” said Robbins, who made a motion to have the city manager’s office examine the city’s misdemeanor prosecutions.

That prompted Councilman Ray Grabinski to call for a wider review of the city’s law enforcement policies in general, which in turn led Councilman Clark to quip, “This looks like a study we should have RAND (Corp.) doing.”

Council members decided to postpone for a week any action on the matter to give themselves more time to draft a motion. Robbins said in an interview that he would not go along with as sweeping a review as suggested by Grabinski but favors one that would take into account the relationship of the prosecutor’s office to local law enforcement, as well as the prosecutor’s handling of cases.