New Chief Seeks Community Ties

The plaque did not come from a prestigious law enforcement organization. Many of the words of thanks etched across the thin metal plate are misspelled.

But to incoming Oxnard Police Chief Art Lopez, the keepsake presented to him from Los Angeles residents about a decade ago--a thank-you for cracking down on gangs and drugs in their Hollenbeck neighborhood--stands as a symbol of community policing.

“It came right from the heart of that community,” said Lopez, “and it means a lot to me.”

Lopez, a deputy chief and 27-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, was chosen last week as Oxnard’s next police chief. Lopez begins his tenure Nov. 2, succeeding Chief Harold Hurtt, who left in April to lead the Phoenix Police Department.

The Oxnard City Council voted unanimously to hire Lopez for the $110,000-a-year position, touting his community work as a critical factor.

It was 1986 when Lopez took over as commanding officer of the Hollenbeck-area station, creating a community policing program that has since become the model for the LAPD.

The death of a pregnant woman, caught in the cross-fire of warring Hollenbeck gangs in a battle over a single square mile, inspired Lopez to act.

“I literally had people crying in my office,” Lopez remembered. “They were scared to be on the street.”

He worked to free up 20 officers to walk the area nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A graffiti-removal program was put in place. He worked with prosecutors and probation officials to toughen sentences for the neighborhood’s worst offenders.

Lopez saw the impact some eight months later, when he noticed children again playing in apartment courtyards and adults strolling along sidewalks.

Lopez is mulling over ways to implement his community-first policing approach in Oxnard.

Among his plans is a citizens advisory board that would regularly meet with department officials.

He also wants to improve relations between officers and young people. He envisions opening a department-run youth center, “one that goes beyond athletics and offers tutoring and mentoring programs,” he said.

And he hopes to introduce a teenage citizens academy like the one he helped create for the LAPD. Under the program, high school juniors and seniors receive school credit for completing a citizens academy course and volunteering a few hours a week with the department.

But partnering with some members of the community could prove to be a daunting task for the new chief. Latino residents, who account for 54% of the city’s population, talk openly about their distrust of the department, Lopez said.

If anyone has the skills to heal those wounds, it is Lopez, said Edith Perez, president of the Los Angeles Police Commission.

“I would bet my life on it,” she said. “Of all the minority commanders, he was always the one who had the greatest support. And when [Bernard] Parks became chief, community members spoke to him about how important it was to give Art a very visible post under his administration. That speaks volumes on how people feel about him.”

Lopez’s background will probably be an asset in helping forge those new friendships with skeptical residents. He was born in East Los Angeles and grew up in Monterey Park. Married, with two daughters at UC Davis, Lopez speaks fluent Spanish and is a board member of the Latin American Law Enforcement Assn. In one of his last posts under Parks, he served as an ombudsman, resolving conflicts within the department.

But to Los Angeles residents such as Eleanor Montano, it is Lopez’s capacity for caring that has mattered most. Montano, a 30-year volunteer for the LAPD, remembered when Lopez attended her husband’s funeral last year.

“With such a busy schedule, he dropped his things and came down,” she said. “He was one of the first ones there to help with whatever he could. That meant a lot to me.”

Other challenges lay ahead for Lopez, who will head a department that has been hit with several wrongful-death claims or lawsuits in the past two years.

The department is fighting a $15-million suit filed on behalf of the widow of SWAT Officer James Rex Jensen Jr., who was accidentally shot and killed by a fellow officer in a botched drug raid in March 1996.

The family of another man, Larry Pankey, also filed a claim after Pankey was killed by a SWAT team sharpshooter in January 1997 following a four-hour standoff with police.

Two families filed claims with the department after relatives died while in police custody. Luther Thomas Allen, whose family settled a civil suit in April for $250,000, died in the department’s holding cell after being arrested for drunk driving and hitting a car. Fernando Herrera Jr. died while six Oxnard officers were restraining him during an arrest.

Lopez seems unfazed by the city’s past difficulties. He cites plans for better police training and more officer accountability, including the naming of a risk management officer to examine such incidents for ways to improve department tactics.

Lopez is no stranger to difficult tasks. In 1997, he took on the job of merging Los Angeles’ transit police into the LAPD, drawing heavy criticism from local politicians and members of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority who feared the merger would force the ouster of many transit officers.

Before it was over, Lopez fired more than 40 MTA employees who did not pass the Police Department’s stringent background checks.

Still, Lopez calls the project “one of my proudest accomplishments.”

“But it hurt, too,” he said. “A lot of people felt I tried too much.”

He also faced disappointment after twice failing in bids to become Los Angeles’ police chief. He was one of six finalists during his last attempt, before Parks was given the job.

It was Parks, a 20-year colleague of Lopez, who recommended Lopez for the Oxnard post.

“He clearly understands there will be challenges,” Parks said. “He’s not going into this with a blindfold on. He has that kind of personality. He’s not going to let anything necessarily get him down.”

Parks said the men and women in the department will find themselves looking up to Lopez, whom he calls the perfect combination of policy administrator and personnel supporter.