Answering the Call : Deputy Chief Asked to Duplicate His Success in Valley

LAPD Deputy Police Chief Mark A. Kroeker has had something of a positive impact on the San Fernando Valley. He was put in charge of Valley police operations shortly after the Rodney G. King beating in March, 1991, and part of his task was to restore public confidence in the force. That was both among a populace that was greatly concerned about crime and the force’s professionalism in handling it, and among minorities concerned about that and by their treatment at the hands of the LAPD.

It is a measure of Kroeker’s success that Police Chief Willie L. Williams wants him to duplicate the effort by taking command of LAPD operations in South Los Angeles. But a better gauge comes from folks in the Valley.

“If you asked me who was the deputy chief before him in the Valley, I wouldn’t know,” said Benjamin Reznik, chairman of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn. “He earned the respect of just about everyone who came in contact with him.” Irene Tovar, executive director of the Latin American Civic Assn., added: “There hasn’t been a time I’ve gone to him on an issue that he hasn’t . . . talked with us, made whatever commitment, that he hasn’t followed through on.” The Rev. Curry McKinney, leader of the largely African-American Ministers Fellowship of the San Fernando Valley, said, “He told us certain things he was going to do and he did just that.”

The task for his successor in the Valley, LAPD Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy, won’t be to re-write the book. Part of it will be to ensure that residents here regain confidence of another sort: in their belief that the crime problem here is manageable, under a measure of control, and that they have a role to play in reporting it . . . as frightening as that may be.