New Chief Has Record of Success

Chino civic leaders were dismayed to learn last week that their police chief of 11 years, James E. Anthony, will leave to head a much larger department in Glendale.

Officials said they are sorry to lose the man who turned a troubled suburban police force into a more professional, technologically advanced department.

“The reaction in the community is one of disappointment,” Anthony, 48, said in an interview this week at his Chino office. “I didn’t expect it. It’s almost like a divorce. I really hadn’t anticipated that.”

Chino City Manager Richard Rowe, a former police officer, said there is “a night-and-day difference (in the department) between what it was 11 years ago and what it is today.”

“I’m going to miss him,” said Chino Mayor Fred Aguiar. “It’s not a money issue. I was ready to recommend that we meet any kind of salary issue. It’s just a major career challenge for him.”

Glendale City Manager David Ramsay picked Anthony from more than 50 applicants nationwide. The search began after Chief David J. Thompson--saying he had not fully recovered from a 1988 heart attack and double-bypass surgery--announced in June that he wanted to retire.

Ramsay said he viewed Anthony’s skills as “a really good match” with the city’s needs.

When he assumes the $108,000-a-year post Jan. 6, Anthony will oversee 214 sworn officers, 98 civilian employees and administer a $23-million annual budget. In Chino, Anthony heads 148 employees, including 80 sworn officers, with a budget of $11.3 million.

Anthony will have to address challenges posed by the city’s diverse and changing ethnic makeup, including large Armenian and Latino populations. In addition, the city’s current budget constraints will force Anthony to make tough choices about spending.

A resident of Claremont, Anthony grew up in the West Covina area. He joined the West Covina police force on his 21st birthday and rose to the rank of commander, second in line to the chief.

During his first three years in Chino, about 20 police employees left. Anthony said some retired, some found jobs elsewhere and some were fired for misconduct. The upheaval reportedly angered some minority leaders.

“I didn’t come here and fire every Hispanic in the Police Department,” Anthony insisted. “I came in from a professional department, looked at the overall conditions and started a retraining process” to “professionalize” the force.

“There were people here who I felt probably should not be in law enforcement . . . who were out there taking advantage of their authority,” he said. “There are some people who are in this business for all the wrong reasons, the gun, the badge, the sirens--the John Wayne types, who want to do a macho thing.”

Glendale’s police force has had its own staffing controversy. In 1986, a federal judge ruled that the department had discriminated against a Latino officer passed over for promotion. An attorney displayed flyers and cartoons distributed by Anglo officers, featuring derogatory depictions of blacks and Latinos. The department later broadened its personnel evaluation process and began ethnic and cultural sensitivity training.

“I don’t believe in favoritism, promoting friends,” Anthony said. “But I also don’t believe in changing the rules to allow unqualified people to become supervisors.”

In Chino, Anthony introduced such technical innovations as new computer equipment, a state-of-the-art communications center and a video-camera-equipped patrol car.

“We’re on the leading edge of technology,” he said. “I would say Glendale’s on the trailing edge.”