Low Police Morale Tied to Dip in Laguna Arrests : Crime: Chief Purcell blames 39% drop in ’91 to malaise over videotaped beating in city and threats of lawsuits. But outlook on force is improving, he says.

Arrests here were down 39% last year, a drop Police Chief Neil J. Purcell Jr. attributed to a malaise he says engulfed the department after the release of videotapes of the Rodney King incident and of a Laguna Beach officer kicking a homeless man.

The number of arrests in Laguna Beach slid from 4,461 in 1990 to 2,713 in 1991, even though the number of reported crimes dropped by only 22 during the same period, according to a Police Department report released this week. Purcell said Tuesday that “the most significant element that caused a reduction in productivity” was the release of the controversial videotapes.

Laguna Beach police officers “were not happy campers out there,” Purcell said. “It was a very tough year on them. As a result, the morale went down considerably and there was not a high interest in doing much more than what you actually had to do.”

Purcell said the drop in arrests was a “very human reaction” to the negative publicity, which resulted in officers being taunted and threats of lawsuits.

Police union representatives could not be reached for comment.

The incident that Purcell said caused ripples of anxiety in his department involved the June, 1990, arrest of Kevin A. Dunbar, a homeless man. An amateur cameraman videotaped Officer Keith R. Knotek kicking Dunbar twice in the upper right arm. The city later agreed to pay Dunbar $100,000, one of the largest police-brutality settlements in Orange County history.

The city admitted no wrongdoing by the officers, but Purcell fired Knotek, saying the kicks were excessive. Another officer, Daniel J. Lowrey, was fired the next month for allegedly lying during a police investigation of the incident but was later ordered reinstated by the city.

Purcell said the firing of the officers and threats of lawsuits from the public increased the unease in the Police Department.

“There were several months of uncertainty and frustration and disillusionment, and a certain amount of anxiety following the broadcast of that Dunbar case,” Purcell said. “It was a very human reaction by our officers but it created a lot of unrest, and officers were reluctant just to go out there and do their job.”

Purcell said the drop in arrests was not likely to put the public’s health and safety at risk, but added that such a trend is usually followed by a rise in “petty-type crimes.” The community “probably did lose out, because I think they could have had better police service for 1991,” Purcell said.

According to Police Department statistics, felony arrests increased 4% from 1990 to 1991, but arrests for public intoxication and drunk driving both plunged by more than 40%. Purcell said that shift can be traced to the fact that the Police Department was housed in trailers during 1991 and did not have a jail.

“We couldn’t arrest drunks like we usually do because there was no place to take them,” he said. Drunk driving arrests fell from 596 in 1990 to 339 in 1991. In addition, a traffic safety grant that paid for two drunk-driving enforcement officers expired at the beginning of 1991, Purcell said.

The statistics show the number of crimes reported in 1991 dipped 1% to 1,633 from the record 1,655 reported in 1990, with burglaries, rapes and crimes in the “all assaults” category all up. There have been no murders in Laguna Beach since 1987.

Purcell said the reported assaults registered higher partly because of new laws governing police reaction to calls of domestic violence and changes in society’s attitude about that crime.

“Women, in particular, are more prone to bring that to the attention of the police today than they were in the past,” Purcell said.

Laguna Beach Crime

Arrests by Laguna Beach police officers dropped to a five-year low in 1991. Felony arrests actually increased 4% from 1990 to 1991. All other categories--including drunk driving, drugs and public drunkenness--decreased.

Total Arrests

1991: 2,713

Serious Crime

While arrests dropped 39%, serious crime in Laguna Beach dipped 1% in 1991 after a major increase the previous year. The 1991 level, however, is higher than any year during the previous decade.

1991: 1,633

Types of Crimes

Total major crimes against people increased by 7% from 1990 to 1991 while serious property crimes dropped 4%. The percentage change from 1990-1991:

Crimes Against People

Homicide, manslaughter*: No change

Rape: +25%

Robbery: -37%

Aggravated assault**: +8%

Crimes Against Property

Burglary: +13%

Larceny: -11

Auto theft: -13

Arson: +17

* There were no homicides or cases of manslaughter

** Includes all assaults, not just those resulting in injury

Source: Laguna Beach Police Department