Police Chief Refutes Union Accusations

Culver City Police Chief Don Pedersen returned from his vacation this week to a nasty surprise—a vote of no-confidence by 86.5 percent of the members of the Culver City Police Officers' Association.

A 77-12 vote of no confidence means that Pedersen faces a department that—on paper at least—seems rallied against him.

"I guess that I would just say that I was disappointed in the union's decision to do the vote," Pedersen said. "But we're going to work through this together, and I look at it as an opportunity to work with them. We need to have some meetings and work through our issues."

The CCPOA claims that Pedersen has both professional and emotional shortcomings as police chief. In a recent news release, the CCPOA cited "lack of integrity, ineffective leadership, questionable honesty" and an "inability to make decisions" as among Pedersen's faults.

The union also accuses him of tampering with criminal evidence. 

According to Pedersen, union members have been unwilling to meet for discussion."They don't believe that we can have any dialogue that will result in their issues being resolved," he said.

CCPOA President Adam Treanor said the time for talk has passed.

"After a long period of attempts to work with the chief, it's left us little faith in the process," Treanor said. A survey that was taken in January should have warned Pedersen of the contentious issues, he added.

Simple decisions could have been made to alleviate the problems, said Treanor, and the union's meetings with the chief seemed more like "information gathering sessions" for the City Council. Pedersen said, however, that because he has met only three times with the union since new board members took their seats in January, conducting a survey was a "premature" move.

In contrast to the union's pronouncements, the City Council has publicly declared its support for Pedersen through interim City Manager Lamont Ewell, who said the CCPOA acted inappropriately by conducting its vote.

Councilman Scott Malsin said the city has considered the union's accusations against Pedersen.

"It's obviously a very heated and sensitive issue," he said.

As to why the union has targeted him, Pedersen said that the changes he has made within the department may be the cause. More personal accountability and the thorough investigation of public complaints have been high on his agenda, the chief said.

"Some of the people don't like that," Pedersen said. "But I think we have an obligation to investigate our complaints thoroughly and conduct ourselves in an appropriate fashion."

The union, however, sees the restructuring as the chief's attempt "to shield himself from liability at the expense of lower ranking employees," according to the news release.

"There's a lack of decision making and a critical lack of support of the officers in the field," Treanor said. 

One of the more personal accusations in the news release is the claim that Pedersen is a poor decision maker.

The chief disagrees and said he likes to involve people in the department who have a "stake in the outcome. That is a change from what has occurred here in the past, when it was a little more autocratic."

"I think there's a difference between decision-making ability and the fact that people may not like the decisions that are made," he added.

His method may take longer than other ways, Pedersen said, but the resulting decision is more thoughtful.

Despite the accusations and the no-confidence vote, he is determined to press on.

"I'm going to be the same police chief as I was before this," Pedersen said. "I'm going to move forward with the intent that we work through these issues because communication and an honest dialogue are important."

Friday: Read Pedersen's responses to specific accusations from the police officers' association, including the allegation that he tampered with burglary evidence.