Tests for Pedersen
While the officers and the chief feel each other out through the late spring and early summer months, observers will be watching closely over the gurgling turmoil that has undergirded the department in recent years. Will Mr. Pedersen’s still little-known style and moxie prove capable of reining in and mollifying disparate forces and their gripes? Upwards of a half-dozen officers had one or both eyes on the title that Mr. Pedersen now holds. He won the job fair and square, say City Hall sources, even if some City Council members were reported determined to block Asst. Chief Hank Davies’ second try for the job.
If the ruffled feelings and faster-beating hearts of the eliminated candidates were the only bumps in Mr. Pedersen’s path, that would be plenty, but there is more. Given City Hall’s negative fiscal predicament, there is a buzz around the station about anticipated personnel cuts. But the numbers have not been decided. Further, from deep inside of the department, a voluminous catalogue of explosive charges has been making the rounds of official Culver City for the past two weeks. It is not clear what, if anything, will result from this latest disruption.
A History Lesson
The legend of Ted Cooke, a man of steel rules, presided royally from the chief’s chair for almost thirty years. When he retired two and a half years ago, the chief’s badge was handed over to John Montanio, a Culver City lifer who turned out to be something of an anomaly. “He never was comfortable in the job,” said a friend of his. “John realized it pretty quickly, and he was hunting for a way out. Many of us are looking forward to Pedersen because he is new, and we’ll see how different he is. Cooke spent most of his career here and Montanio, all of his career. Maybe now we will have some stability.”
About Rivalries
When Mr. Montanio defeated the bid of Mr. Davies to become Chief two years ago, a chasm developed between rival factions. Sources say that one of the most exasperating (and decisive) failures of Mr. Montanio’s abbreviated tenure was that he never was able to gain the respect necessary to truly command the department. “John hid out in his office,” said an officer who liked him but was puzzled by the way he carried out his chiefly duties. “He never seemed to try very hard to do this job. In closing himself off, he took himself out of important decision-making by delegating many duties. You just didn’t see John around much. We didn’t see Cooke, either, but for a different reason. Cooke was just plain not approachable. You were summoned to his office, or you asked permission to approach the throne.
New Experience
Getting accustomed to not only a new chief but an unknown personality, an outsider, is a first-time experience for the one hundred and twenty officers.
Medium tall, narrow, every light hair perfectly in place, Mr. Pedersen’s vanilla skin tones suggest his Scandinavian ancestry. Not the kick-back shmoozing type, he was a little stiff in the beginning. Maybe later, too. His answers throughout were as formful as they were tinted with friendliness. Culver City isn’t quite home yet to Mr. Pedersen, a South Bay native who spent the last five years as chief of the Signal Hill Police Dept. “It’ll take awhile to really feel at home,” he said. “But the welcome I have received here is very warm, and I appreciate that. It’s exciting to get to meet new people. The men and women here are very professional.”
The More They Are Alike…
He has found more parallels than differences between his new and old postings. “Culver City and Signal Hill are very similar,” Mr. Pedersen said, “in terms of crime and demographics. One of the major differences is volume of traffic through this city. The volume creates issues for the community. The main thing is getting people moved around the community in orderly fashion.”
Although Culver City’s department is several times the size of Signal Hill, “everything that I learned in Signal Hill is applicable here,” the chief said. “Having experience as a chief of police is critically important. I bring a lot of skills into the city that I don’t have to learn — communication, dealing with the community, dealing with City Hall. A lot of things that you have to do as a chief to make sure they get done quickly and effectively.”
The First Priority
Mr. Pedersen had no difficulty handling a question about balancing his duties between keeping his officers contented while maintaining Culver City’s record of safety. “The mission of the Police Dept.,” he said, “is to take care of the community. That is by far my greatest challenge, what we need to take care of. However, you need to take care of the Police Dept. They are the ones who provide the service. On any given day, both are high priorities. To make one happen successfully, you need to take care of the other. Service to the community is of the utmost importance. I mean, that is why we exist.” Beginning on Monday, May 8, the chief said, “my first priority was to learn everything about the Police Dept. It’s going to take some time to get that done. I have met with an awful lot of people already. I continue to do that, and I will for some time. Coupled with that, you need to learn about City Hall, about relationships, about how processes work.”
Mr. Pedersen talked about the impression he wanted the community to take away about the new chief. “As the chief, I represent the department,” he said. “I want the people who come into contact with our department to realize that we are professionals, we have a lot of integrity, we take care of our business and we take care of the community. We try to do it efficiently.”
