Having a good Police Chief is a pretty important
part of any community. Their attitudes, their
ethics and their dedication...transfer to their
officers and the general public.
As we know now, Chief John Klein, a dedicated 30
year veteran of the Newport Beach Police Department
is stepping down on July 10th, 2009. This is not
only a shocking indictment of the Police Unions,
but of our City Council and Administration.
Now, the endless speculation will begin. Now we
can all wonder, what really happened? How can
someone with a spotless record, having achieved
the pinnacle of success as the Police Chief of a
major high profile Police Department, be driven
out so quickly?
The public comments put out by the Police Union
to the press today were a joke! The high and
mighty attitude of the Union spokespeople is both
disturbing and very questionable....whether they
are right or wrong. How dare they "commend" anyone
for stepping down, especially Chief Klein...after
their "Vote of NO Confidence" and demand for a
"recount" when it came to his initial hiring.
One thing is now for certain; We need a full and
complete investigation and accounting into the
whole operation of our Police Department...stem to
stern! There is something very wrong....what that
might be...will have to be determined.....perhaps
by the Grand Jury of Orange County.
This time; either Chief Klein tells the public "why"
in extreme detail....he doesn't want to fight this
battle....or we need to interrogate those that do
know! The "Thin Blue Line"....needs to come clean!
However bad it is...it is quite obvious that things
are not going to change...until the truth comes out!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
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13 comments:
Since when will "the truth come out" when it involves this City Council? Would be nice and helpful to know the "truth" but sadly not to be. There are SO many things going on under the radar it is ridiculous. Never have I seen a city so fearful of allowing the city transparency in their actions. This matter of Chief Klein is extremely important for sure but "truth coming out" will be a long long wait.....if even then!
Newport Beach is a very poor police department to work for. I should know. I was a police officer officer there for 9 years. They run a good ole boys club, and if you are not of the chosen few then you are passed over for promotion. If you say anything then you are ostracized.
The officers I am talking about: Byington, Frizzell, Koudelka, Moon, Parker, Kaminski, Johnson.... just to name a few, will know exactly what I am talking about.
Ask these guys about some of their past exploits: The Mammoth Fishing Derby, The Angel Game, Drinking on duty.... It goes on and on....
Kline was from the good ole boys club.
It is a club of double standards, do as we say, not as we do. Officers who try and buck the systems are picked out for made up disciplinary action and are picked on unmercifully until they quit, transfer or are terminated.
To add insult to injury, Newport Management will then continually give those who left bad references.
It is the management association there that makes all this happen. It has been going on for years and years.
Someone needs to go in there with a big broom and clean house.
Bludau and the City Council have to know this! No?
To add more to my above listed comments. The Newport Beach Police Department has approximately 130 sworn police officers. This includes the 23 on the management association of captains, lieutenants, and sergeants. The other 107 officers are supervised by these at a ratio of roughly 4 to 1.
The politics and interpersonal games that go on withing this department are mind boggling. At the center of these games are the chosen few. This group of guys got promoted ahead of others, got put on the SWAT Team and get all the best assignments.
This group is an embarrassment to law enforcement. They all drink together after duty (some on duty, Captain Kaminsky), they cheat on their wives and then divorce them to marry dispatchers who they cheated with (Koudelka). They are the kings of double standards.. They can go to an Angel Game and get in a drunken fight, they get run over by a car in the parking lot as a result of the fight (Captain Johnson), then other officers can chase the car down (all off duty mind you) and shoot out the tires (Where is this in department policy... The wild west I think) to stop the "suspect". Dale Johnson 12 years later is now a Captain.... double standards....
This group goes to Mammoth Lakes for a fishing derby in 2003 and one of their chosen few steps up to a table in a public restaurant, pulls down his britches and proceeds to defecate on a table in view of other patrons. An internal affairs investigation is conducted and pictures come out of the incident. The guy who took the pictures was forced to turn them in and got more discipline and lost his job while the defecateur was promoted. More double standards.
I applaud the case of Sergeant Neil Harvey who stood up to this group. In doing so he revealed a lot about the inner workings of this police department and got his just reward.
The Newport Beach Police Department is broken and needs to be fixed. The group running the show there needs to be taken down a few pegs and made to toe the blue line.
The strange thing is that as a law enforcement agency they do a good job. The training is excellent and the quality of officers doing their work is exemplary. It is just their interpersonal relationships among themselves that cause all the problems.
To get rid of the snake you have to do more than cut off the head (Kline), you need to get rid of the body as well.
I wish however becomes the next Chief of Newport Beach the best. He has a big job ahead of him.
Hey Jeri DeLaTorre...during your locker room chats. Maybe you should try staying quiet long enough to get your facts straight. Your details of Mammoth and an "Angels" game are completely off. Do some research for once before you open your mouth or as your MO dictates, anonymously blog.
Yes there are double standards and you are also on that list of embarrassment to law enforcement. It's people like you who thrive on rumors that bring problems everywhere they go. Funny how you had that same reputation at LA.
Well at least I got Kaminsky drinking on duty and Koudelka cheating on his family right. Maybe you would care to tell your version of what happened at Mammoth and the "Angel" Game? These did happen yes? Talk about embarrassing to Law Enforcement! You are obviously one of the good ole boys that I am talking about standing on your self righteous soap box.
And Mr. Soapbox, you can believe what you want, but NBPD Officer Randy Slaughter did go to the Mammoth Fishing Derby in 1993 where he did proceed to pull down his pants and defecate on a table in a public restaurant, read the IA report moron.
And NBPD Officer (now Captain Dale Johnson), was run over by a car at an Angels game and Officer Randy Parker did give chase in a vehicle with other NBPD Officers and shot out the tires of said suspect vehicle to stop it. How much alcohol consumption was involved in each incident??
It just depends on how you look at stories like these and and who does the IA.... If it was Rich Long, I guess you could count on getting a fair shake because he loved the good ole boys....
Regardless, Incidents such as these demonstrate the level of double standards exercised by the NBPD still in evidence today.
Okay everyone, please give your opinion on what happened to McDermott?
It wasn't an Angel's Game, number one. The Newport guys were assaulted by a group who percieved a slight that came from a guy in another (unrelated) group.
The suspect fled, jumped in his car, and accelerated into a crowd, knocking Johnson 10' in the air.
Parker gave chase in somebody else's car by himself, thinking Johnson was dead. Badged him to pull over, guy refused, one tire got shot out, susp got captured after a foot chase. Doesn't sound like the Wild West to me, but clear headed thinking by an off duty cop.
Oh yeah, Parker's BA was .00
So, jeri, or whoever you are, get your facts straight, you can't read the IA report, moron, and quit airing OLD dirty laundry.
It is the OLD dirty laundry that makes Newport Beach PD what it is today. You are obviously one of the shining stars there. Are you on SWAT? Were you picked ahead of others for that sweet specialty position? Finally you got promoted ahead of others..... Play the game good ole boy. You have whittled the tales down to only one that you can substantiate, and these are only a few of dozens that show the double standards that make up the inner socio-political workings of the officers there.
I'll leave the Parker - Johnson story alone... It sure sounds like the wild west to me, but hey, I'm not a good ole boy!
This column asked what is wrong at NBPD and I stated a few examples of how things work, and a perception of one who was there and was victimized by this.
Until the double standards go away and the good ole boy club is dismantled NBPD will never be a great place to work.
Newport Beach as a city is a great place to work and believe it or not the law enforcement there is above standard compared to other agencies. BUT, and It is a BIG BUT, the inner social workings there among the chosen few ruin it for the rest.
So again I tell you to get off your soap box and take a verse from the good book with you. Don't point out the splinter in your neighbors eye until you remove the log from yours.
Once all the logs are removed NBPD may find itself on the right path.
This blog is an embarrassment. Only cowards would anonymously place derogatory comments about someone else on a public forum for the whole world to read. If you have a problem with someone, then confront that person directly. If you don't have the guts to sign your name behind your words, then keep your mouth shut.The only problem I see is the the snipering and backstabbing conducted in these anonymous forums.
If I recall, this is a job and we are paid well to do it. Obviously, some of us do not have enough work to do and look go looking for problems instead. Those people are welcomed to swing by my desk and grab a few cases.
Let us all listen to the words of the late Michael Jackson. "I am starting with the man in the mirror..."
This will be my last post.
I must say...this has been fascinating.
Hey Watts - I have an IP tracker, so if anyone is ever, ever truly curious...
I am saddened by the above comments I just read. It is clear the “former” employee who wrote them has a very dull and rusty axe to grind, perhaps justifiably so. Nevertheless, since the Newport Beach Police Department no longer employs him or her, and the events mentioned were investigated and dealt with so long ago, it is difficult for me to fathom the purpose of this individual spewing such poison in a public forum.
I retired after serving the community of Newport Beach for 20 years, and during my tenure I had the occasion to witness incidents of what I perceived were injustices regarding employee specialty selections, promotions, disciplinary actions and terminations. Regardless of how I felt about those incidences I never ever entertained the thought of airing my grievances, justified or not, in public.
Although the events I saw were somewhat distracting, they never caused me to forget why I was hired at NBPD. I was proud to serve and tried to make the very best of each and every day, albeit it was not always easy, but I made the effort. It is sincerely not my intention to insult anyone who added comments to or reads this blog, I am just trying to encourage all NBPD employees, sworn or non-sworn, to let go of the past, to search your hearts and remember why you are in the business of serving.
God has a plan for each and every one of us. It is no accident or freak chance you are serving others. God decided it for you. He expects you to do the best serving you can do given the talents and abilities he gave you to work with. Ladies and Gentlemen we were given free will. We exercise that free will every single day of our lives.
Often we make our decisions (free will) based on what we believe is the right thing at the time. Many times we are right and things work out fine. However, like the mean spirited remarks written in this blog, free will is wasted. My Brothers and Sisters you have to work with each other for a very long time. It’s up to each one of you to choose how that relationship will be.
If you strive to exercise your free will in a manner pleasing to God, You will not have to worry whether or not the relationship with the person next to you is flourishing, it will be apparent. We are not perfect and will at times backslide, you will say or do something to hurt someone else. If it happens, own the mistake, apologize for it and move on.
Finally, let the past remain the past. Think about it! Who are we to judge, or not forgive others? My prayer for all of you is God keeps you safe and fills your head and heart with the wisdom and love it takes to use your free will for the good of all. I care about all of you.
Build a department you can all be proud of!
Tom Schomburg
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