New Background Check Set for Police Chief
City Manager Glenn Southard announced Monday that he would reopen an investigation into the background of the city’s incoming police chief after news reports last week revealed the chief had been a key figure in a 1980s LAPD spying scandal.
Thomas Scheidecker, who was scheduled to take over as chief next week, was suspended for 15 days from the LAPD for keeping highly classified documents at his home in the early 1980s.
At the time, the lieutenant was custodian of records for the controversial Public Disorder Intelligence Division, which was disbanded in 1983 after disclosures that officers had been spying on law-abiding citizens.
After 27 years of service in the LAPD, Scheidecker became chief of police in Ripon, a small town near Modesto where he served for eight years.
“When I hired Mr. Scheidecker, I did not know of his 1984 suspension,” Southard said in a press release Monday.
The city manager said that he plans to hire an independent investigator to conduct the background check, and that Scheidecker will not assume his duties until it is complete.
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