[img]1|left|Ari Noonan||no_popup[/img]Police Chief Don Pedersen was the subject at our spirited coed breakfast table discussion this morning.
Should he stay and fight?
Or should he make a dignified stand against the upstart police union and then find another police department where his talents are appreciated, where union members won’t flank him every morning and blast trumpet sounds into each ear?
Which position is more principled, worthy of a proud middle-aged gentleman with a spotless career record in law enforcement?
My mates suggested at least three variations that shaded but stopped short of cleanly stepping down or staying.
Since at least last December, newly installed leaders of the Police Officers Assn. have been making a fairly open attempt to dump Mr. Pedersen, who is in his fifth year.
The problem: He is not the King-type that the retired, revered Chief Ted Cooke was. Not his style, and certainly not his personality. That seems to be the union’s central gripe.
Their three-day no-confidence vote last week may not have brought the desired results, since the final score neither has been announced nor leaked.
What is a chief to do when a few of the boys (and girls) tell him:
“Ya gotta go”?
Nostalgically yearning for the good, ol’ Ted Cooke days, they have made it evident they will not settle for less.
One man at our table made more sense than the rest.
A Practical Panacea
“If Don gives in to them,” he said, “then what is next? If he were to leave, no longer would this be about the chief. The question is, how would you get quality people to come here?
“If he folds up his tent, no one is going to want to come here. Then it becomes whomever the union would like to have.”
I pointed out that the union has indicated it will continue to crank up the pressure on the Chief until he says “Enough.”
How much, I asked the smartest guy at the table, can you take?
Said he: “I think you can take quite a bit because your focus is on the best interests of the community, providing the best layer of protection for the people of Culver City, and to also interact with and by supportive of the men and women of the department.
“Meanwhile, the leaders of this movement will continue doing whatever they are doing — until they realize it is just not resonating.
“Once that happens, I think the people in the union will say, ‘The hell with it. I am through with this.’
“At that point, they will either find other choices in life or they will retire.
“I don’t think you can allow a certain group of people to dictate the way a department or the city should be managed.”
Okay, I said, say you are Don Pedersen. Every day you go to work, you may feel the heat a little more intensely. What gives you the strength to keep doing your job under these circumstances?
“By remembering why I am there,” the Sensible Man said. “This is not about me or the guys who want it their way. This is about what is best for the community.
“If I am very clear that is my focus and that is why leadership becomes so important, I will endure.
“But if I have no concerns about the interests of this community, or if I feel that I just don’t want to battle, I should not be a leader anyway.”
