Newport’s Acting Chief Works to Repair Morale : Scandal: But he says rape, sex harassment charges ‘forever changed everyone’s life’ on the police force.

Newly appointed acting Police Chief Jim Jacobs said Monday that he does not know where the truth lies in the sexual harassment suit that has rocked his department in recent weeks, but he says it has “forever changed everyone’s life” on the 250-person force.

“Like most employees, I don’t know what the truth is. . . . We will see like everybody else,” Jacobs said in his first interview since being named to the post last Thursday, after Chief Arb Campbell and Capt. Anthony Villa were placed on paid leave while the city investigates rape and sexual harassment charges against them.

“When I left Friday, I saw the morale as absolutely horrible and (it) couldn’t get worse. But perhaps that reflected my own mood,” Jacobs said.

“There is a lot of concern. But over the weekend I talked to a lot of people and there seems now to be a feeling of hope that we’ll get to the truth of the allegations and this whole episode,” Jacobs said. “And then we can put it behind us in the not-too-distant future.”

The lawsuit initially contended that three current and one former female Police Department employee were sexually harassed on and off the job by Villa, while his close friend Campbell condoned it. But the case took a dramatic turn last week when police dispatcher Peri Ropke alleged that she was raped by both Campbell and Villa 11 years ago at a Police Department party when she was 22 and they were a captain and sergeant, respectively.

The suit, filed Sept. 24, alleges that the Newport Beach department “is a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct at the top levels of the command structure” and a place where only females “intimately involved with high-ranking officers receive favored treatment” compared to other women who refuse “‘to go along to get along.”’

On Monday, Jacobs, 48, asked that the media remember the impact each new revelation has upon the whole of the department. Every organization has its share of interoffice romance, Jacobs said, but “paranoia” has scores of employees worrying that their relationships with co-workers of the opposite sex soon will make the news as the other charges have in recent days.

Still, he said employees are continuing to maintain public service even as morale has sagged. To combat the slumping spirits, it’s important “to get the department moving forward,” Jacobs said.

“I do not want us just sitting here waiting for the next shoe to drop,” he added. “I need to fulfill the role of chief of police and to fill other acting positions,” such as his own and Villa’s captain positions, so that each of the department’s four primary divisions “get on with their business.”

Less than three hours after Ropke made her allegations, City Manager Murphy announced that both of the accused were on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of a city-financed investigation by an outside attorney. Murphy also announced that Capt. Jacobs would act as chief until interviews with dozens of employees were completed.

Jacobs, 48, has spent the past three years as commander of the department’s traffic division. Born in Michigan, he served three years in the U.S. Army and spent a brief interlude as a deputy sheriff in Michigan before joining the Newport Beach police department in 1968.

In 1972 Jacobs was promoted to sergeant, and five years later he became a lieutenant. In 1986 he made captain, and he has served as a commander in the administration division as well as traffic.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration and has graduated from the FBI National Academy.

Asked if he thought Campbell would return to his job, Jacobs said he had no comment and pointed out that he has “no involvement with the city investigation.”

To attempt to mend the staff’s wounds over the controversy, Jacobs said he will meet today with his captains and on Wednesday with all supervisors who hold the rank of sergeant and above.