As some of his former officers were musing about how the police union’s donnybrook with Police Chief Don Pedersen is playing out in the nimble imagination of legendary Chief Ted Cooke, one who had a grudging admiration for him said that Mr. Cooke was a visionary with a clear view of the future.
He logged almost 30 years as chief in Culver City, but he used to tell his boys — a term that occasionally would get him into trouble — that he was the last of his line. No more career-spanning longevity.
“He used to predict this kind of stuff,” said one of his old officers. “Cooke used to tell us, ‘The next chief you’re going to get will be here 3 to 5 years. The long-term chiefs are over.’”
And Mr. Cooke, whom fiercely loyal backers say could have educated Gen. Patton, never could resist sprinkling a little cynical salt on his always-seasoned observations. “When modern chiefs come in here,” he would say, “they will be good at getting the job — but they won’t be good at doing the job. They’re good test-takers, but that’s all. They’ll move on, from department to department.”
The veteran Culver City officer looked up with a smile of satisfaction. “Look around us, and you will see how right Cooke was,” he said. “That is the trend.”
As the leaders of the Police Officers Assn. close in on the 11th month of their acrimonious attempt to dump Mr. Pedersen for alleged personal and pedestrian “offenses,” they are trying to make Mr. Cooke’s forecast come true. Mr. Pedersen, who turned 50 years old on Sunday afternoon, certainly considers himself of the modern, post-Cooke generation.
He has been Culver City’s chief for 4½ years.
“Modern chiefs,” said the old officer, “have a whole different style, participative management. Committees. It feels corporate. Who ever heard of that before these times?”
The veteran’s buddy seated next time him piped up. “Cooke would have Pedersen for lunch,” said the buddy. “He’d call him a wuss or worse.”
“Absolutely,” said the first officer.
But they wanted it made clear where their flag of allegiance was planted.
Both men expressed their admiration for the embattled but unbending Mr. Pedersen, who has not surrendered a step throughout this very personalized crisis.
(To be continued)
