Retiring Chief Takes Issue With Criticism of His Department : Police: Albert C. Ehlow says economics, rather than leadership or morale, are at the root of most of the problems.

“Ehlow, Ehlow, Ehlow. . . .” chanted a crowded gathering of sworn officers at the San Clemente Police Department four years ago.

It was an emotional moment for the close-knit beach city department, one that came at a critical time in its 60-year history. Police Chief Kelson McDaniel, a tough, hard-nosed outsider, was out after a difficult two-year stint, and his former subordinates were loudly campaigning for their choice for chief, Lt. Albert C. Ehlow.

Ehlow, an insider who then had 25 years on the force, was as well liked and trusted as McDaniel was unpopular.

Only after some soul-searching did Ehlow take the job.

“I searched, I really did. My wife and I talked it all out,” Ehlow said during a recent City Hall interview. “There’s a scary part of this job: You’re here at the whim of a city manager and council. If you screw up as an officer, you’re reprimanded and go back out and do your job. Here, you can be gone in an instant.”

Being police chief was a job Ehlow, 53, never envisioned.

“I didn’t set out to do this job,” Ehlow said. “That was not my goal. I figured I’d go as far as captain or superintendent, work 25 years and retire.”

That retirement announcement came in October. It will be effective July 1, or as soon as City Manager Michael W. Parness can have the new chief on duty.

Ehlow’s announced departure catches the 49-officer department at another critical juncture. An outside audit of the department has found problems at many levels--from a lack of jail supervision to inadequate response times on the most critical emergency calls.

But more disturbing to the community and more damaging to the department’s pride have been its inability to find a serial rapist who has stalked women in the community for a year, and the unconnected charges against San Clemente police Officer David Wayne Bryan that he raped two women and sexually assaulted two others.

Ehlow does not deny that there are problems in the department. But he argues that they are old ones that have more to do with economics than morale or a lack of leadership.

“That audit was done for the entire city staff, not just the Police Department,” Ehlow said. “We have a relatively new city manager, and he believed that the city--all of the city departments--needed an audit, just to see where we stand. The results said, ‘You guys are doing good, but here’s how you can do better.’ ”

The audit suggested that more upper-level officers and jailers were needed. “We knew that, and because of the audit we’ve gotten five new civilian jailers.

“Right now our biggest problem is a manpower shortage, which is nobody’s fault,” Ehlow said. “We have 49 sworn officers and that includes me. With six or seven officers out on leave for one reason or another, this department feels it. An Anaheim or Santa Ana police department can handle it, but for us it causes problems.”

Ehlow takes issue with the audit’s criticism of the department’s promptness in responding to emergencies. The report suggested that police took more than eight minutes in responding to the most critical, life-threatening emergencies when the proper standard should be under five minutes.

“There are lots of ways you can measure response time,” Ehlow said. “No one can tell me we are not responding quick enough to critical calls.”

Ehlow blames the slow response times on burglar-alarm calls that skewed the data. Once those calls were eliminated, the department’s responses measured less than two minutes, he said.

The real problems with the San Clemente Police Department stem from changes in the city and South County itself, Ehlow said. His once-sleepy coastal community today must confront more big city problems. San Clemente, with about 42,000 residents, is expected to grow to about 70,000 in the next decade.

With the Camp Pendleton Marine base as a neighbor, a busy interstate running through the city and beaches that lure more tourists each summer, San Clemente is being hit with problems that residents once only read about, Ehlow said.

For example, a gang member was shot and killed within the city limits this year, and on a recent weekend police made 29 arrests, 15 of them felonies.

“It never used to be like that,” Ehlow said.

Nor has the department had an officer charged with rape before. Ehlow said the charges, which surfaced in January, “hurt like it had happened to a brother.”

Pointing out that officers are held to a higher standard than the average person, he said his most difficult times have come in recent years as he advanced in his supervisorial role.

“My favorite job in police work was being detective commander,” Ehlow said. “As a chief, personnel things are hardest, like disciplinary things. An ex-chief once told me I was too close to my people, maybe that’s true.”