Sixth in a series.
Re: “Did One Cooke Spoil the Broth?”
A fascinating aspect of retiring Officer Jim Raetz’s three decades with the Culver City Police Dept. is that his career started at the height of the years of the legendary authoritarian Chief Ted Cooke and survived well into the not only post-Cooke but non-/anti-Cooke era.
In an understatement, Mr. Raetz, who will leave the department next month, said that the most dominant figure since founder Harry Culver “had a great deal of influence and control.
“He was the Culver City Police Dept. A lot of our promotions (in rank during the 1980s and ‘90s) were not based on academic tests. They were all in-house appraisals.”
With a devilish, puckish expression on his youthful face, for emphasis, Mr. Raetz stretched his observation like a rubber band. “Soooooo,” he said, eyes twinkling, “you wanted to be on the right side of those appraisals.
“Therefore, you did nothing to upset the applecart.”
Question: How long did it take Mr. Raetz to become comfortable with Chief Cooke?
Again from the officer’s beaming expression, he telegraphed a provocative response.
“We had a fantastic discussion one day when I was to be disciplined,” he said.
“This happened in 1992 after four years as an officer.
“It was a real meeting of the minds. He had been told about what a rebel I was, that I had my own ideas, that I was an antithetical person to department policy, which I was not.
“We had a real great discussion.”
As a younger cop, Mr. Raetz was distinctly aggressive, a “hard charger,” as he put it.
“I was making a lot of arrests. I would not be fed a baloney sandwich a smile. That is not the type of person I am. I will tell you that something makes no sense.
“Lieutenants and sergeants did not appreciate that someone who had four years’ experience was going ‘this is nonsensical.’”
(To be continued)
