Paradise Lost Amid Internal Police Strife : Crime: Two South County cities grapple with sexual assault allegations against two of their officers and a host of other problems.

With its sunny beaches, breathtaking vistas and grand scenery, the cities of Laguna Beach and San Clemente have always been havens of serenity in Southern California.

Both boast among the lowest crime rates in the region.

But recently, there has been a sense of unease in paradise, in part because of allegations that two on-duty police officers in Laguna Beach and San Clemente sexually assaulted several women in separate incidents.

The officers have denied the allegations, but the alleged assaults have harmed morale in South County’s two city-based police departments and sent officials scrambling to repair the damage.

The charges come amid a host of problems.

In Laguna Beach, allegations that a reserve officer sexually assaulted three women who were being taken to Orange County Jail followed the settlement of two separate claims of police brutality, and another incident in which a policeman ran over a homeless person.

In San Clemente, the arrest of an officer for allegedly sexually assaulting four women--a case currently awaiting trial--comes while the department has been unable to solve half a dozen serial rapes that have sent tremors though the quiet town.

Further, a recent audit of the San Clemente Police Department was critical of slow responses to emergencies, lack of training for officers and a poorly organized detective bureau.

In San Clemente particularly, city fathers and residents are unhappy with the department’s performance, and there have been persistent rumors that city officials prompted Police Chief Albert C. Ehlow to announce his resignation, which is effective next summer.

In addition, activists are trumpeting the need for reform, citing results of the audit and the unsolved serial rapes.

Some have suggested more drastic steps and even asked officials to consider if San Clemente can afford to maintain its own police department. Former Mayor Karoline Koester said the city could save money by creating a regional police force with neighboring South County cities, some of which now contract for police services with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

“Our officers are professionals, but the administration needs to tighten up,” Koester said. “We continue to find it troublesome that our Police Department is costing 33% of the ($20 million) general fund budget.”

The reaction in Laguna Beach is more subdued.

“Certain things that have happened lately probably shouldn’t have,” said Alice Graves, who is the chairwoman of the Friendship Shelter and a cross-cultural task force in Laguna Beach. “But I think they’re very isolated cases and we’re lucky to have (Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr.). Even though we don’t always agree with him, he makes decisions based on the best information available to him.”

Experts in law enforcement say such criticism and problems have a significant impact on the morale of small departments such as the ones in Laguna Beach and San Clemente.

“Because of their small size, officers know each other personally, so they are more likely to feel betrayed one way or another when these allegations are made,” said John Beddow, commander of the police academy at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. “It hurts, and small departments have to learn to deal with them because for whatever reason we are seeing more of these cases against officers.”

City and police officials are quick to point out that the problems faced by the two departments are not on the scale of those encountered in Los Angeles County by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Sheriff’s Department.

But the cluster of complaints has created a massive headache for police officials in South County. In Laguna Beach, the events and subsequent disciplining have hurt morale and led to some discord between the chief and rank-and-file officers.

The recent problems in Laguna Beach include:

* The firing by Purcell of two officers--Keith Knotek and Daniel J. Lowrey--after a citizen videotaped the beating in December of a homeless man. Purcell said he fired Knotek for kicking Kevin A. Dunbar and Lowrey for lying during the investigation. City Manager Kenneth C. Frank ruled this month that Lowrey could return to work , while Knotek’s lawsuit to recover his job is pending in Superior Court.

The city paid Dunbar $100,000 in August to settle his claim against the city.

* The city’s announcement in April that it would pay $137,500 to settle a lawsuit filed by a Bluebird Canyon couple, who claimed that two officers used excessive force against them in 1987.

Settlement records show that attorney Peter A. Hands had been maced, beaten in his home and taken naked to jail by officers who were responding to a child abuse complaint against him and his wife, Joslyn Aitken, also an attorney.

* The critical injuring of Donald McMechan, a homeless man, who was run over by a police car in October. A California Highway Patrol investigation found that Laguna Beach Police Officer Gregory Walloch had failed to properly set his parking brake before getting out of the car to assist McMechan. The incident is under investigation.

* Claims filed in October by three women who said reserve police officer Chris Matano sexually assaulted them in separate incidents after they were arrested on suspicion of drunk driving. The assaults allegedly occurred while Matano was taking them to Orange County Jail. Matano, who has since been suspended, has denied the allegations. The Orange County district attorney’s office is investigating the charges by the women, who have filed claims against the city.

The events of the past year have been particularly painful for Purcell, who gained national attention in the late 1960s for busting drug guru Timothy Leary. Purcell, who is known for his open-door policy and being a no-nonsense disciplinarian, called the last 12 months his toughest in 10 years as chief.

Departmental morale has probably not been lower in a decade, he said.

“I feel like I’ve been in a hot seat,” Purcell said in an interview this month. “It has been a year of misery.”

But Purcell said he does not believe that the incidents are part of a pattern of any kind. The incident involving Dunbar is “a case of poor judgment,” the sexual misconduct complaints against Matano “are still under investigation,” and there are conflicting accounts about the “unfortunate incident” involving McMechan.

They “are all of a different nature,” Purcell said, adding that “we are looking at them and attempting to see how we can do things differently.”

Purcell said he disciplined the two officers accused in the brutality incident “because as police we have to be held to a higher standard. We have the authority to take away people’s rights, and it must never appear that we’re abusing that authority.”

Purcell’s personnel decisions, including the firing of Knotek and the attempt to dismiss Lowrey, have put him at odds with the Laguna Beach Police Officers Assn., which represents that department’s 80 employees.

The association is adamant that the officers involved in all the incidents are not guilty of any wrongdoing.

“We’re not happy with what’s going on,” said Hilda Madrid, president of the association and a senior records manager in the department. “There is no strength to any of the complaints. We stand 100%” behind the officers.

City officials said, however, that they stand behind Purcell.

Laguna Beach Mayor Neil G. Fitzpatrick agreed that the charges of police misconduct have “hit the department broadside” but commended Purcell for his leadership.

“We’re fortunate to have a chief whose instincts are to do the right thing at difficult times,” Fitzpatrick said. “He could have done absolutely nothing (to prevent the complaints). The complaints are certainly nothing that’s endemic in the department.”

While the Laguna Beach City Council appears to be firmly in support of Purcell, just 10 miles south in San Clemente, no one is stepping forward to strongly back Chief Ehlow, who announced Oct. 18 that he plans to retire next year. The announcement followed persistent rumors that Ehlow was told to retire gracefully or be forced out.

The close-knit community of San Clemente has been rocked recently by a serial rapist who binds, gags and blindfolds his victims. He has struck five times during 1991.

In the midst of the fruitless search for the rapist came charges in April against Officer David Wayne Bryan, a respected four-year veteran of the department. He was accused of raping two women and sexually assaulting two others.

Authorities alleged that Bryan, 32, assaulted one of the women while he was in uniform and on duty. Bryan has denied all the charges and been released on $50,000 bail. Bryan has been ordered to stand trial in Superior Court in Santa Ana on nine felony and three misdemeanor counts in connection with the alleged attacks.

One of the alleged victims is a woman police officer who claimed that Bryan raped her in her apartment.

The City Council and city officials are unhappy with the slow pace of the police investigation into the serial rapes, and they said their skepticism about Ehlow’s leadership was heightened by the rape charges against Bryan.

City officials stopped short of saying that Ehlow was asked to retire.

“I’m not going to deny that it may look like he’s being asked for an early retirement,” Councilman Thomas Lorch said. “There is a push on to make some changes.”

Lorch said Ehlow was just what the city needed four years ago, when the department was in turmoil over an unpopular police chief.

“Bringing in Al Ehlow, a mainline police officer, seemed to have a soothing effect on the department and on the community for some period of time,” Lorch said. “But perhaps Chief Ehlow still carries too much of that camaraderie of being a police officer himself.”

Lorch pointed to the rapid growth of San Clemente during the last decade, adding that “we need more of a big city approach in our Police Department.”

Said Lorch: “There is a lot of crime in the city . . . which has intensified the need for a more proactive approach.”

Ehlow, 53, acknowledged that the timing of his retirement suggests that he may have been forced out because of problems in the department. But he denied that he was told to leave quietly or be fired.

“My upcoming retirement has never been a secret around here,” he said. “I’ll have 31 years of service and that’s long enough.”

* SAN CLEMENTE CHIEF: Albert C. Ehlow says he never sought the job. B14