The Firing of Chief Robertson

* The Orange Police Department has a rich history of providing excellent police service to those who visit, work and live in Orange. We have always enjoyed an excellent relationship with our community and a historically low crime rate. Many members of the department chose to serve in Orange because of this fact.

Our department has always had stringent and rigorous entry-level hiring standards, as well as excellent training and development of personnel that has produced a number of chiefs of police.

We have developed a number of successful, innovative programs that have received national recognition, and far exceed personnel and training standards set forth by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training. Without question, the Orange Police Department is one of the finest law enforcement agencies in the state if not the nation.

Unfortunately, there have been those as of late who wish to distort the history and accomplishments of our agency, intimating that we were entrenched in mediocrity before the arrival of Chief John Robertson.

Without diminishing the impact of a department head, or commenting on the success or failure of any chief that has served this agency, the implication by anyone that the success of the Orange Police Department has come as a result of one person’s work is simply not true.

Our success has been the result of decades of work by many dedicated law enforcement professionals, who, at great personal risk, served and protected the citizens of Orange in a manner consistent with the law enforcement code of ethics.

LARRY PORE

President

City of Orange

Police Management Assn.

* Enough is enough. I can no longer sit back and watch as the print media destroy yet another member of law enforcement.

For months, I have watched and read as members of the Orange City Council behaved in a manner that has become all too common. Congratulations to Chief John Robertson, who refused to sell out his principles and ethics for anyone. He did the job he was hired to do.

Legally, the only person qualified to give an opinion on a subject is someone who is considered an expert in that area. How fitting then that the city manager of Orange would say that, in his opinion, Robertson demonstrated “extreme arrogance.” It should be clear to the readers that the city manager has confused arrogance with duty, responsibility and integrity.

People in positions of power will abuse that power as long as governments at all levels and society in general continue filing ethical bankruptcy.

Accepting responsibility for one’s actions or inaction has become a thing of the past. It has become acceptable to point the finger at someone else.

WILLIAM D. WILLIS

Huntington Beach

* It is very clear that Orange Mayor Joanne Coontz and her agent, City Manager Dave Rudat, wanted to get rid of Police Chief John Robertson.

The Police Department’s investigation of the trash scandal was apparently getting too close. Councilman Dan Slater read a city interoffice memorandum at a recent City Council meeting that showed that the city manager was clearly conspiring to find a way to fire the chief early last summer. This led to the drummed up charges of a hostile work environment that were never substantiated by the city.

It appears to many of my neighbors and me that this matter is not about Chief Robertson. It is about millions of our tax dollars apparently lost due to lack of adequate management of the contract with Orange Disposal by the city.

Placing the chief on administrative leave and then firing him for no sound or valid reason has diverted our attention away from the bigger picture.

How much money has been lost? How were the funds lost and who is responsible? What is being done to make sure it does not happen again? We have not heard anything other than “It is being investigated.”

What is scary is the same people are still running the trash company, the same people at the city are administering the contract. The same politicians whom we elected to make sure things like this never happen are still in office.

This is a sad time for the residents and businesses of Orange. The mayor should be ashamed of herself and should step down. Our city manager needs a good education regarding conflict of interest laws. Perhaps he should check his ego at the front door of City Hall along with his resignation.

PHIL GLASGOW

Orange