Gift of Bulletproof Vests Cited by Chief’s Critics

Police Chief Manuel Ortega said Thursday that his donation of about 30 department-bought bulletproof vests to Mexican police agencies was among criticisms cited by the rebelling officers who last month voted no confidence in his leadership.

Ortega, who is on 30-day leave while he wrestles with decisions about his future, said he gave away “worn-out, useless old vests” earlier this year. He called it “a mercy donation” but said the act has blown up in his face.

The vest giveaway, Ortega said, was among the grievances listed by the officers who overwhelmingly voted against the chief in a police association ballot. The chief said he has been stung by suggestions that he profited from the vests or somehow hurt his own department.

“No money changed hands, none,” he said. “To say that it has is absolutely untrue. Uncategorically untrue.”

Ortega said Thursday that a list of grievances accompanied the no-confidence vote, but he would not elaborate on the individual complaints. He did say the vests donation was among “a list of things that I did that were supposedly illegal or unethical.”

Investigator Gary Sprague, president of the Placentia Police Officers Assn., declined to comment Thursday on the vote or the grievance list. He said the chief’s situation is a confidential personnel matter.

Ortega, 53, said earlier this week that he is mulling retirement from his 29-year law enforcement career. He said he believes his department’s rank and file has turned on him because he spent too much of time on outside projects, charities and professional memberships.

The chief said he donated the bulletproof vests four months ago to police in Rosarito and Ensenada after the manufacturer’s five-year guarantee expired and the gear was replaced. The vests no longer met official safety standards and were good only for target practice or the refuse pile, Ortega said.

Ortega said he likely miscalculated, however, when he did not clear the donation with City Administrator Robert D’Amato.

“All I have to stand on is the truth,” Ortega said. “I never hid anything, I never lied. If that was a sin, then I guess I’m going to hell.”

D’Amato said Thursday that he could not comment on the vests or any other issues related to the chief’s situation. “That is a personnel matter,” he said.

D’Amato did say that outdated city equipment typically goes to auction.

Ortega said he personally carried the vests to the car of a friend who was ferrying the equipment south of the border. He said he saw the gift as a charitable act “that might, hopefully, save some lives,” and he found it hard to believe that others would see it as a misdeed.

“People can make whatever they want out of anything,” he said. “The only defense I have is the truth.”

Ortega, Orange County’s only Latino police chief, previously served as police chief in Bell before coming to Placentia in 1990.

Ortega said he set up purchases in Bell of outdated police equipment by Mexican agencies. He said he also tried last year to help some Mexican agencies purchase retired Placentia police cars. But, according to Ortega, when the city attorney recommended those agencies make their offers through a bidding process, the Mexican police departments blanched at the bureaucracy.

“They said they had never had to do that with other [U.S.] departments and that it was too much trouble,” Ortega said.

An Rosarito police employee said Thursday that her department had received recent donations of vests, car tires, uniforms and batons from U.S. police agencies. She did not know the origin of those donations.

Contributing to this story was Times staff writer H.G. Reza.