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You might think that the Wise Men and Lady of the previous City Council would be standing in front of any mirror they could find this morning, congratulating themselves for displaying the foresight to just say no to Jacqueline Seabrooks both times she sought to become the Police Chief of Culver City.
Named chief of the frequently shaky Inglewood Police Dept. last year, Ms. Seabrooks has been justifiably lathered this week by the usually tame media because Inglewood officers have shot and killed 3 persons in the last 3 months, which is certainly an improvement on the Dodgers’ aim, while she is out visiting ghosts. One already-disciplined Inglewood cop had a hand and a gun in two of the shootings.
Where was the problem cop’s boss while the boys were engaging in their fatal shenanigans?
She is neither telling nor showing her face.
Ms. Seabrooks may be in the South Pacific, as we have heard, taking landing lessons from Amelia Earhart.
Or she may, as has been reported, be relaxing elsewhere on the planet on holiday because it is a tough job being the lady boss of a group of gentlemen to whom unruliness is as natural as sleeping.
Hide ‘n Seek Is Not a Game for Chiefs
Once again, Ms. Seabrooks has made not just a wrong, but a horrific, judgment call. If your house — or your career — burn down while you are on holiday, you don’t say, “Gosh, darn, I wish I had been there,” and promptly return to whatever it is that people do on vacation. This is an emergency, Ms. Seabrooks. Your most rudimentary impulse, as a 25-year veteran of law enforcement, should have screamed in your ear that you needed to immediately dash home. What was your excuse? Did you have one more Betty Crocker cake to bake?
Cops don’t work 9 to 5, lady, especially when there has been another killing in an already notorious community.
You do not dive under the nearest desk and pray fervently that the heat will quickly subside, in the tradition of former Police Chief You-Know-Who, the founding father of the I Am God school of leadership in Culver City.
Or shall we call you Sheriff Carona?
This is not the Purity Hour.
When a private citizen has been gunned down by a cop, Ms. Seabrooks, the first commandment of police chiefing is to be visible to the victim’s family and friends. You assure them, by your presence and your sincere message, not by dime-store telepathy, that you are committed to a prompt, thorough and unbiased investigation that will be transparent all the way for the grieving parties.
Given the distance between your misguided mind and those who are mourning the slaying of Kevin Wicks, I presume you will be purchasing a 27-cent postcard later today and mailing your sentiments back home. How quaint.
Digging for the Truth
I poked around City Hall for off-the-record shmoozes with persons involved or who had direct knowledge of the reasons that Ms. Seabrooks was rejected by Culver City as a chief candidate on two separate occasions, a couple years apart.
She was a ranking officer in the Santa Monica P.D., where it was widely known that Chief James Butts was about to leave. But Ms. Seabrooks knew she did not have a chance at his job, perhaps for the same reason that Culver City told her no, even though she was a finalist here both times. The cynic in me says that advancing her to the finals may have just been window dressing.
An oldtimer who sat in on both sets of pivotal meetings said that City Council entered the process each time almost unanimously agreeing on the main guiding principle:
The rotting, arguably corrupt, culture of the 27 years Ted Cooke ran the Police Dept. had to be thoroughly rooted out, vigorously scrubbed down, recalibrated and freshly vested with a more honorable attitude.
“This is exactly what Don Pedersen has accomplished in the last 2 years,” said the oldtimer, “and Ms. Seabrooks might have, too, except for one delicate thing…”
Two Barriers to Surmount
In an apples and apples comparison, the oldtimer said that Ms. Seabrooks ostensibly was an ideal candidate. She possessed the fundamental requisites of a police chief: leadership skills, communication ability, a vision, and an understanding of the proper role of law enforcement in a racially and culturally roiled region.
“But another factor changed everything,” the oldtimer said. “She was a woman. And she was black. As a woman, she could have successfully led the department. As a black person, she could have successfully led the department. But being both black and a woman, there was a feeling that those two realities would get in the way when she tried to clean up the department. Pedersen didn’t have either one of those ‘problems.’”
Being a woman herself, the oldtimer said, wistfully, she agreed with Hillary Rodham Clinton’s charge during the recent Democratic primary season that there is more gender bias than racial bias in contemporary America.
