Union Criticizes Top 2 Finalists for Torrance Police Chief Job

The Torrance police union has criticized the qualifications of the two top-ranked finalists for Torrance police chief, saying they do not meet the city’s minimum qualifications for the job.

In a letter sent Wednesday to city officials, the Torrance Police Officers Assn. said the two top finalists to run the 238-officer department lack the required minimum of five years’ command experience in a police agency the size of Torrance’s.

The union does not believe the firm hired to screen candidates “really did the job,” said David Nemeth, president of the union.

City Manager LeRoy J. Jackson declined to comment on the letter Thursday, saying, “I’m in the process of carrying out my responsibilities under the selection procedure.” Jackson will select from among the seven finalists for the next chief of the county’s fourth-largest department.

The top scorers among the seven finalists are: Patrick M. Connolly, police chief of Huntington Park, and Oliver Lee Drummond. Connolly now oversees 67 officers, while Drummond, who spent 22 months as chief of the 191-officer Oceanside force, is now interim police chief in Sanger, which has 26 officers.

“I don’t think they meet the criteria,” Nemeth said.

Connolly, who scored 92 on a scale of 100, and Drummond, who scored 89.67, received the top scores from a three-person interview panel that reduced to seven the list of 12 semifinalists for the job, according to a city memorandum obtained by The Times.

The memorandum lists the other finalists and their scores: Joseph DeLadurantey, the captain who commands the Harbor Division of the Los Angeles Police Department, 87.33; James M. Weyant, Torrance captain, 84; Larry Gore, San Diego Police Department commander, 82.33; Dennis C. Gillard, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department captain, 81.33, and Bruce J. Randall, Torrance captain, 80.33.

The Torrance police union had unsuccessfully urged the City Council not to conduct an external search and to instead promote a chief from within the Torrance ranks.

But Nemeth on Thursday said the union is not denigrating Connolly and Drummond to boost the chances for the two remaining internal candidates, Weyant and Randall. “We haven’t endorsed anyone,” he said.

He described DeLadurantey, the third-ranked candidate, as “qualified.”