James F. Bale, 76; Whittier Police Chief From 1967 to 1990
James F. Bale, 76, who was police chief of Whittier from 1967 until his retirement in 1990, died Tuesday while on vacation with his wife in Tahiti, the Whittier Police Department announced.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
Bale was born in Chicago and raised in Pontiac, Mich. He joined the Navy after graduating from high school and joined the Pontiac Police Department after his discharge in 1950. Ten years later, he moved to California to join the Palm Springs Police Department but was soon named chief of police in Sheridan, Wyo.
Bale returned to Southern California in 1963 as chief of police in Sierra Madre, a post he held until 1967, when he was hired to run the Whittier Police Department. According to a history on the department’s website, Bale was the first Whittier police chief hired from outside the department.
Bale also served on the Los Angeles County Commission on Judicial Procedures, an advisory group that works in cooperation with the court system. He was also a member of the California Peace Officers Assn. and the International and California Assns. of Chiefs of Police.
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