Third in a series
Re “How Did We Get to This Point?” Pedersen Asks
Fighting to preserve his position as Police Chief of Culver City in the face of a stiff-winded no-confidence vote by the police union, there was already an ill wind blowing last January when Don Pedersen asked to meet face to face with the five-member board of the union.
By then he had heard that, at the behest of the newly installed board, the Police Officers Assn. had surveyed their membership and confirmed their conviction that morale was low, department-wide.
Mr. Pedersen said it was perfectly normal for him to seek a meeting.
“My request did not have anything to do with the survey,” he said. “That would just be typical of my intention to begin a working relationship with a new board. I would do that with any board at any time. That has been my practice for the last nine years.”
Mr. Pedersen, closing out his 50th month as police chief, is frustrated by what he calls a lack of communication with the POA leadership. He wants to talk and they are reticent, he has suggested.
Since the January over breakfast at a restaurant, they have met twice more, both times in the work environment, at the Police Dept. on Duquesne.
“The second meeting was probably in February, and it was okay,” the chief said. “By the time of the third meeting, in April, things had deteriorated.”
Question:The POA has traced its unhappiness with you back two or three years, saying that “he laid low the first year.” Your supporters indicate, on the contrary, that the dispute is much more recent, the last seven to nine months. Which is it?
“I don’t believe I laid low the first year. That is not my style. If there is an issue, I am going to address it. I will tell you that initially when I came to this police department, my intention was, basically, to do nothing for six months but learn the organization, learn the culture of the organization.
“But there were things that needed to change more expediently than that. So I did go about making changes very early on in my time here.”
How difficult was it to succeed someone as iconic as Ted Cooke, even though there had been people in between?
“I don’t think there was extra pressure. When you are an outsider coming in, it always is difficult. In this case, you had a chief here for 28 years. We have totally different styles of management, which I am sure you have heard.
“I tend to be more inclusive, and I tend to have people more involved in decision-making. By doing that, I actually think you come to better decisions in the end. Most people enjoy having a say in their workplace environment.
“But I don’t know Ted Cooke. I never have worked with him. So it is hard. He was not an active member of the Los Angeles County Police Chiefs’ Assn. when I joined.”
(To be continued on Monday)
