City Manager Has Final Word on News Releases

The police aren’t policing themselves in Port Hueneme anymore.

When City Manager Bob Hunt started the job about five months ago, he instituted a new policy that gives him the final authorization of all news releases issued by the small Police Department.

The policy is unusual because, except in cases involving litigation or personnel matters, the buck usually stops with the chief of police at most other cop shops in the county.

Some agencies do send a copy of their correspondence to city officials to keep them informed, but otherwise police autonomy is fiercely protected, according to an unofficial poll of law enforcement officials.

Granted, it’s probably not that big of a deal because Port Hueneme cops only send the media a couple of written statements each month about big crimes that have occurred--primarily because there are so few.

But the new policy does technically put veto power in the hands of someone outside the force.

Hunt defended the policy by saying that news releases are “windows” for the public to see and judge police, therefore they should be edited by many people in order to produce a “polished product.”

“It’s not an issue of control,” Hunt said last week. “I’m not trying to impede the flow of information.”

In fact, Hunt said that other than catching a few typos and grammatical errors and making a couple of suggestions, he has stayed out of police business.

*

Free-speech rights seem like a stretch here.

According to local prosecutors, legislation to criminalize sales of so-called “crush videos” has stalled in a state Assembly committee.

The graphic movies, which show small animals being slowly crushed to death by a woman’s spiked heel, were outlawed for interstate sales last year by federal officials, but no such law is on the state’s books.

The practice uses birds, mice, hamsters, kittens, puppies, monkeys, pigeons and chickens that are taped or tied to a floor. Buyers of the 2,000 or so video titles say the animal cruelty is sexually stimulating.

The new federal law was triggered by a Ventura County case in which local prosecutors had trouble taking a former Thousand Oaks man to court for allegedly selling this sick stuff over the Internet.

Although a bill to outlaw the practice sailed through Congress, it has stalled in Sacramento due to outrage by the American Civil Liberties Union, which says a ban would violate the 1st Amendment.

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael Bradbury is disappointed.

“With a declaration of ‘held in committee,’ this much-needed law enforcement legislation has effectively been left to languish and eventually die . . . “ Bradbury said.

*

Attention drivers: Don’t motor around with a suspended or revoked license because the penalties could land you on the sidewalk without a gas pedal to push.

While local prosecutors study whether there is a provision that will allow them to specifically target gang members who drive unlawfully, a law already on the books lays out stiff consequences for everyone who does.

According to Dave LaBahn, deputy executive director of the California District Attorneys Assn., more police agencies are exercising a penal code section that allows for impounding the vehicle in such a case.

For example, a person caught driving on a suspended or revoked license can have the vehicle they are driving immediately towed and impounded for two to 15 days, LaBahn said.

In those cases where the driver is the registered owner of the vehicle, the impound can be up to six months for a first offense and a year for a second offense.

“If you can take that car away and put them on their feet, you’ve lessened the likelihood of a situation escalating,” LaBahn said. “With this law, people start to say ‘Do I really want to hand my keys over’ ” to someone else? LaBahn added.

*

Holly J. Wolcott can be reached at 653-7581 or at holly.wolcott@latimes.com.