Second in a series
Re “Two Reasons the Police Union Will Not Be Able to Drive Pedersen Away”
The nearly year-long rebellion by leaders of the police union against Police Chief Don Pedersen and his modern style of leadership is going to follow the same path as any random cloud floating above Culver City this afternoon, some veteran officers are convinced.
“The chief will weather the worst of what the (Police Officers Assn.) can bring, and then this so-called uprising will fizzle,” one ranking officer said. “Nothing. No blowup. No retaliation. It just will be over without any outward fuss, which also is Pedersen’s way. I think the POA will just be dumbfounded.
“I think the union is not going to know what to do. They can try to make his life miserable, and some of them are right now.”
Pedersen partisans, and they are a distinct, extremely low-key cluster of indeterminate size, are silently cheering as the chief walks into an unquestionable hostile work environment each morning and, in his patented manner, remains as unflappable as a comatose patient.
“It has to trouble the union guys that nothing seems to bother Pedersen,” a supporter said.
“A few weeks ago, the rumor around here was there was going to be a blue flu.”
Mr. Pedersen, he said, has the perfect antidote to any phony walkout.
“This chief is so well connected within the County that he will just make phone calls to local agencies. He will ask for a couple officers from this agency, and from others, and next thing you know, we will have a parking lot full of police officers to help us out.”
It was asserted earlier this summer that when Mr. Pedersen turns 50 years old next month, 4 ½ years after arriving in Culver City, he will seriously consider retirement, made more attractive, perhaps by the volatile state of public sector pensions. Whether out of hope or conviction, his backers declare he will stay put.
Mr. Pedersen’s build — barely medium tall and an economically distributed spare frame — have fed the anti-chief notion that he is not the he-man, not nearly as sturdy as his legendary predecessor, Chief Ted Cooke.
“That is dead wrong,” says one of his most reliable allies. “He is not only strong, but resilient. He’d have to be to overcome two major bouts with cancer. Never, never underestimate this man.”
Several officers — none of them young — talked about a “poisonous environment” they say has been sown by the Dump Pedersen claque.
The cleavage caused throughout the department by the rebellion led by the five members of the POA board has engendered a healthy dose of bitter assessments by Pedersen supporters. “This whole thing is about pettiness,” snapped a veteran. “Four of the five union board members have individual grudges against the chief. That is all it is. And the fifth guy is a go-along type. That is your leadership.
“Pettiness should be the theme of this movement. It is not as if they have figured out anything bad or wrong. Even the charges they listed in their press release are petty. What do they mean? Nothing.”
(To be continued)
