The Fab Five and Other Terms of Endearment from River City

UPDATES:

Chief Diaz promotes a new captain and it's Ed Blevins, formerly the RPAA president. 

One candidate, Lt. Bob Williams set to retire and with former Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel's departure from his security position at the Tyler Galleria, will Williams step in?

Riverside Firefighter Association endorses Rusty Bailey for mayor but what about the Riverside Police Officers' Association? What will it do in the face of allegations raised in connection with a lawsuit filed by one of it's members?  

Oh what tangled webs are woven in River City...






Larry Tibbals Beal  charged with four felony counts including two counts of child molestation in court.  He worked as a meter reader for years with Riverside Public Utilities which sent out an internal email alert on the situation to its employees.





A Tale of Two Kingdoms



coming soon...

Former Riverside Chief Russ Leach had more to say about alleged promotional interference by City Hall this time around. 









The Press Enterprise calls Bailey's involvement in the promotional process done "unwittingly"  as two elected officials and a former city management employee deny Leach's allegations.




"I got-- when I took an emergency call from DeSantis all panicky and said, "You're not going to promote Meredith are you?"

I said, "Yes. Best qualified this time for the job."

And he said, "No you're not going to do that."

And I found out Steve Adams marched into the meeting with both of them--meaning Hudson and DeSantis--told them emphatically she couldn't be promoted."


---Former Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach on April 9, 2012 about the aborted promotion of now retired Capt. Meredyth Meredith, one of two captain's positions that he alleged Adams interfered with. 

"So I went to City Hall to have a face-to-face with Hudson and DeSantis to present what the testing process revealed and who we selected. And he said, "Well, let me think about it."

So I let him think about it And I hadn't heard from him for a while. And then I called back and he explained to me that Carpenter and Adams had bad history together. Adams was adament that he didn't want Carpenter to be promoted to captain."

---Leach on April 9, 2012






Leach's testimony under oath about the promotional process in the police department as he saw it was released by the City of Riverside in response to a CPRA request. 

A man in Moreno Valley gets arrested for child porn on his computer  but is he an employee working for the City of Riverside in one of its departments?

Yes, he works for Riverside Public Utilities as a meter reader. 

Press Enterprise blogger and reporter Alicia Robinson touched on the latest controversy with redistricting  but the newspaper has already shied away from the issue of a city employee with alleged political ambitions for next year circulating a petition to prevent his neighborhood from being moved to another ward. 






Riverside Ward Redistricting:  Should the process be done around one city resident's desire to run for political office in a particular ward...and why is the Governmental Affairs Committee already caving?  If the guy was smart, he'd realize the ward he's been placed in would probably be easier pickings for him than the one he's in right now. Not to mention that the third possibility might have an "open" election next year as well depending on the mayoral race. 

A Different "Fab Five" not the one currently playing in Riverside

As a blogger who blogs about Riverside proper and improper, it's par for the course to be subject to being called an assortment of nicknames, some of them quite colorful.  Some of them are related to group association or perceived group association and have included everything from the "filthy five" to the "naughty nine" to "dirty thirty" and so on down a sordid list.

Individually, they've been more along the lines of  "tramp", "whore" and other endearments not to forget "that f-n blogger" from one  irate city department head.  But in a city where nicknames are often part of its vernacular when one is on its defensive, it happens to most people at some point or another who have criticized the city over something.

 Just this week, one council member, Mike Gardner labeled speakers "misinformed" which was ironic considered some of the information provided at that meeting, a revision of city history by some on the dais during what was to be a special presentation honoring a retiring city employee.  I didn't really mind being called that and said so. If you don't pick up the pom poms at the podium (whether or not you have any financial ties to the city or elected officials), then that's just what happens to you.

It's just par for the course in this city and perhaps the most to be expected from city officials who themselves appear misinformed or perhaps uninformed on most of the issues they decide upon, whether they're opening up agenda reports on the dais perhaps for the first time or awfully quiet when certain high ticket items get discussed because they don't know enough about the item ahead of time to generate questions.  After all, when you represent your constituents, you're supposed to do more than just sit up there, smile and bob your head, you're supposed to ask questions for those who can't ask them and  have them answered.

I do have to say that I didn't mind Rusty Bailey being mayor pro tem as he actually let speakers finish their thoughts when their time was up rather than start cutting them off beforehand as Loveridge does with the infamous  hand gesture. He didn't summon the police officers to "escort" anyone away from the podium either for exceeding the limit though I admit most of the people who needed to finish their thoughts this week were too young to be included in that demographic of those who have experienced that.

Meaning they were were younger than 80 or in one case 90 which was the age of Marjorie Von Poule.

So when the latest nickname floated out of City Hall  which referred apparently to a group of us gadflies as the "Fab Five" that provoked some interest as to what it meant. After all, when I think Fab Five, I think of one of the best music bands ever, the Beatles. But it's likely that it's just as likely to be shorthand for excuse my language, fucking asshole bitches (which was one possibility mentioned) depending on what corner of City Hall it originated especially if that corner is really the bar stools at the Salted Pig.

But maybe if some Beatles song lyrics can be worked in to it, that in itself might work.

Mayoral Race Heats Up in Riverside

Councilman Rusty Bailey takes time off from the campaign trail where he's been getting some mayor pro tem experience and .  

After the least suspenseful political announcement ever was made by Mayor Ron Loveridge in terms of who he'll endorse for the upcoming finals of the mayor's election,  former Councilman and the other surviving mayoral candidate  Ed Adkison announced that he'd be holding a press conference to make an announcement. The summer is usually a time when the campaign schedule goes dark to gear up for a huge push for the November election come autumn but not this election cycle.

Yes Loveridge had dropped the bombshell during the slow, hot days of summer that he'd be endorsing Councilman Rusty Bailey in the November election which will be the one that decides who will be the next (weak) mayor of Riverside. But it shouldn't have surprised anyone since Loveridge has been mentoring Bailey since day one and it seems logical he'd choose the councilman as his heir apparent.

When holding his own press conference, Adkison brought along a placard prop.

Adkison announced that he planned to sign a bankruptcy pledge card and urged  Bailey to do the same. Bailey was in the vicinity hanging out under the bridge in front of City Hall talking to Press Enterprise columnist and blogger Dan Bernstein who's just back from his vacation.

During his brief speech, Adkison pledged that he'll push for budget and fiscal accountability and will slash the $900,000 budgeted mayoral office at least in half.  A good portion of that money was taken from what the people were charged and taxed for utilities which have nothing to do with most of what happens at City Hall certainly not its seventh floor.  Every time the mayor gives his chief of staff Kristin Tillquest another 15% "merit" raise (and it's getting harder to keep count), it could be money that could be spent on utilities repairs and maintenance of its vital infrastructure so the city can have its utilities working properly.

The city's aging sewer system hasn't exactly thrived with having its fund depleted to pay for everything but sewer maintenance and repairs (its only stated purpose according to city ordinance) what with exploding toilets and flooded basements not to mention a group of parents being trapped in their cars near a former downtown elementary school when raw sewage flowed down the street after a line broke.

How many people in City Hall or other city departments have seen salary benefits in the past several years?  How many people have frozen salaries, have undergone pension "reform" and how many people have been laid off during this "no layoff" period?

The simple thing would be to cut the mayor's salary down to where there'd be enough to buy one of those large shiny pair of scissors for ribbon cutting ceremonies.  But it's interesting how the mayor's office gets all this money including raises for staff members and everyone else has salary freezes and some people losing jobs.

If you worked for code enforcement for example, that might be in the past tense on the employment issue. They're easier to lay off because they're often not popular but they're a tool to be used in a beneficial or positive manner or to be horribly abused and misused like any other employee in any other department.

Adkison mentioned that while he was on the city council, Loveridge used to plead with him not to cut the budget for the mayor's office even during difficult fiscal times.    But the only reason Riverside is avoiding the fate of that other major inland city in that other county that is bankrupt is that it owns its own public utilities and it's not the second poorest city in the country which is of course, San Bernardino.  The latter city has its own water department but relies on Southern California Edison for electrical power. Riverside "balances" its own budget through the monies it receives through taxes, fees, costs involving its residents' use of both electricity and water.  Unfortunately, the drain of monies from Riverside's own ATM machine, public utilities will wind up being detrimental at some point like happened with the Department of Water and Power in Los Angeles.

Last Tuesday, after the city council meeting a huge portion of Riverside loomed in the darkness around Andulka Park after a power outage in an area that had been known for them especially in the summer time. So it's always important to save utility money to pay for what it's intended to pay for which is maintaining and fixing if necessary, infrastructure that makes it work.

Riverside has a more affluent population overall than San Bernardino so it can impose more costs on residents to pay for its exorbitant spending habits including when Brad Hudson was the city manager. It's been quiet for him lately up in Sacramento as he's either taking the summer off (including making visits to Riverside on Sacramento's dime) or the Sacramento Bee's on vacation.

San Bernardino's financial troubles have made national news as renowned columnist Ariana Huffington (who's been to Riverside) posted on it on her site.

Still I don't really know what the mayor's office has to do with the water utility or electric for that matter.  The Press Enterprise which allegedly gets very, very nice utility rates from Riverside did some useful PR for the city while the city council wisely backed away from voting to hike up water rates again.  But everyone knows that higher water rates are coming. That's why the city's targeting city residents to find ways to lower their use of water including through irrigation systems.

At his press conference, former councilman and current mayoral candidate Ed Adkison signed his bankruptcy pledge card advocating fiscal accountability

Adkison's message at his press conference was a bit different than that of financial prosperity spread by Bailey, Loveridge and other members of city government. He didn't say that bankruptcy was eminent but  that other cities which wound up filing for bankruptcy had been in a similar place not thinking it would ever happen with the latest being San Bernardino.

It's refreshing that someone's actually talking about the city's true financial picture but it remains to be seen what Adkison would really do if elected. Campaigns for most people are really for entertainment purposes mainly.  After all more than a few political candidates did 180 degree turns when elected into office.

Meanwhile Back on (re-leased) Orange Street Police Headquarters...

After allegedly getting checked by his boss Scott Barber, he's set to interview for his next captain but are sound proof walls needed on the upper floor of Orange Street?

Apparently there's been some yelling and screaming that took place in Orange Street Station as Chief Sergio Diaz and Asst. Chief Chris Vicino apparently are most vocal as very passionate people. Deputy Chief Mike Blakely's had a moment or two apparently with Vicino which some said culminated in the arrival of a locksmith at Orange Street Station.  But they all appeared in the city council chambers to witness the award given to an outgoing captain taking a breather from all the action that had been taking place.


Deputy Chief Jeffrey Greer is apparently lying low across town at the Magnolia Police Center where he's located to oversee both Field Operations and Investigations and putting in his time more quietly. He's hardly seen except in passing and neither Diaz or any of his command staff show up much at Lincoln Station although Vicino had told officers in the beginning he wanted to be stationed there "closer to the troops".  But that mirrors the world that a couple of the management teams members saw while rising up in the ranks in Los Angeles.

Diaz apparently had a lot to say at high volume while reading one of the emails he allegedly received from Riverside Police Officers' Association President Brian Smith on an issue involving special assignments. As you probably remember, some of the assignments of  special assignments to sergeants lit a firestorm inside the police department on more than one occasion.  Once, it was about the reassignments of up to seven sergeants which was challenged.  It seemed to the union leadership that special assignments were an important path for mentorship which was a critical path for promotions within the ranks of the department. But it also seemed that a small group of sergeants were receiving back to back to back special assignments in some cases while others applied over and over again and never received one.  The policy governing special assignments and departmental transfers also came under fire when the rule that required officers to spend a minimum of a year in patrol between special assignments seemed to apply to some officers and sergeants and not others.  There's language added to this policy that it's at the discretion of the chief which does make one wonder if that doesn't in certain circumstances render the policy toothless and not worth the parchment it's printed on.

Anyway, Smith had apparently responded to the controversial decision made on who to assign as the sergeant in the Vice Unit that he and Sgts Gary Toussaint, Keenan Lambert and John Capen had applied to fill during July's shift change.  Capen got the post after being interviewed by officers including his former boss at Internal Affairs, Lt. Mike Cook who now heads Special Investigations. The Vice Unit is quite small and for a while shared its sergeant with another unit in the same division but  more recently got its own supervisor. Toussaint in particular had picked up some experience in that unit while supervising the gang unit several years ago as a sergeant. Smith had worked extensively in the gang unit before his promotion to sergeant and Lambert had done a stint as a narcotics officer at some point in his career.

Capen's assignments were mostly internal including allegedly a recent stint in the chief's office working on the newly rewritten policy manual. He had risen quickly in the ranks being a detective for several months before becoming a sergeant within the past decade. Some say he's also tied to civil litigation filed against the city involving the incident at Events Sports Grill that recently settled among all the parties with the city paying out a share of the cash to the plaintiffs. He's also tied to lawsuits filed by two other police officers in relation to allegations of misconduct by the internal affairs division against them.

Smith objected to the process that had left to Capen's being Diaz' choice and sent the email that was heard around the department.   So was Diaz' response.

Smith had sent an email at some point telling Diaz that he had promised to mentor employees including through placing them in special assignments yet the same cluster of officers were being moved from one special assignment to another. He called Diaz' on his track record so far, calling the process a "joke".  Diaz didn't like that much hence the volume raising of his voice that caused those around him to take notice of the loud noise coming from the second floor at Orange Street.  But he had to be careful with how to respond to Smith who is also the Riverside Police Officers' Association president and a very popular one among the membership.

Diaz allegedly wrote Smith back saying he'd reviewed his complaints and found every special assignment to be in compliance with the policy in place. Diaz was correct in his response if you look at the policy as it's written to the letter. But then the argument's been raised is that if the last line trumps the rest of the language before it each and every time, then why was there any attempt to include the one year patrol requirement in its language in the first place?  Those were pretty good questions that Smith raised in his email and they've been raised here too.

Yet even though that might be the case, Diaz didn't address the larger question of why only a select group seemed to have a chance of not just getting one special assignment but one after another.   It doesn't appear to show much regard for patrol if Diaz' choice of those to fill special assignments don't have to do that year stint inside that division. It's just not clear why the path to promotions if it's through special assignments seems to bypass field patrol assignments or at least why it minimizes them in the resumes of the department's future lieutenants and captains under Diaz.  It's really unclear to a person who's basically listened to Diaz saying he's been coerced by community leaders on his promotions.

What might throw a shock in the system would be to have a community panel involved in interviewing captains with the first question perhaps being do you recognize these candidates, answer yes or no and then move on from that point to the rest of the interview. It'd be interesting and probably very educational to see how these candidates would respond to questions about the policy and practice of community problem oriented style policing from community members. Diaz of course would have to be very careful in his selection of community leaders to stack on such a panel drawing from his "nice community members" list rather than his "naughty community members" list.  But it might still work out.

But more than likely the promotional process for captain will be fairly similar to what's happened in previous incarnations. And that's unfortunate if that's the case. The dynamic of the promotional process at the top of the ladder's been called "vicious" and "poisonous" among other terms mostly due to the struggle by those competing against each other to put themselves at the top of the list. That was the case during the era of Chief Russ Leach and people hoped that bringing a new chief in especially from the outside would change that. But did that happen?  Had the environment that allegedly had candidates trying to cash in political favors and stab each other with stilettos (at least figuratively speaking) gone the way of Leach?

It'd had taken its toll on the department whatever "team" prevailed at the time and the morale inside of it particularly in the field operations division, most  noticeably patrol.  Most of the department's officers staff patrol than any other and most sergeants at some point will supervise patrol officers. That's one reason why the number of sergeants nearly doubled under the five-year stipulated agreement with the state.  It was done to help ensure a 7 to 1 ratio in staffing of supervisors to supervised in the patrol and traffic divisions.

Yet there's this sense that an assignment in patrol particularly as a supervisor or watch commander dooms you to a life of not having any chance of being promoted which appears to be a problem if that's an aspiration. So much so that the heart of the patrol division, Lincoln Field Operations Station is now also Dead End Station.

Lincoln Field Operations Station  otherwise known as the "Dead End Station" when it comes to promotions and also is collateral for that money put into the renovation of the Convention Center.

Lincoln Station's always been that oddity. An over-sized brick with few windows that stands on where else, Lincoln Avenue near Adams (the street not the councilman).  The former chief, Russ Leach talked about putting more windows in it but even when it underwent its renovation several years ago, not many seemed to be highlights of the public tours of the building. It's actually larger inside than it looks from the outside and its outside parking lot was apparently the scene of the infamous "off-probation parties" between some male field training officers and female trainees within the past decade.

It now houses the entire patrol division which moved some of its numbers from Magnolia Police Center which held the bulk of it during the renovation. It's rumored that there's a field operations captain lurks in the building but most often is rarely seen. It's a building that Diaz and his cabinet members almost never frequent.  It's considered antithesis in the Los Angeles Police Department for upper management let alone a chief to be caught dead near a roll call room. Since the RPD's management is being re-engineered as LAPD style, the same traditions are being used here.

It's also not quite the right place to be when promotions are being handed out or people are being mentored to be promoted. It's very unlikely that if you're interested in getting promoted and you're a field sergeant or even a watch commander, you'll be plucked out from here, dusted off and told by management you should really try this promotional deal and here, we'll give you this special assignment and then...what no, don't worry about the patrol requirement because we have something over here (still at Orange Street) for you to do.

In a department that's more than medium sized and actually numbers higher than the national average of 50 sworn employees for a law enforcement agency, it's hard to believe that only a handful of people are worthy of being put in the vast variety of special assignments available. It's true that only a relatively smaller group could be in special assignments at one time but in the long run, it seems that the number of officers who are placed in these assignments should increase not stagnate.

It'd make sense to spread the wealth around especially in terms of special assignments especially since it's not clear what criteria is used to assign people to them in the first place let alone again and again and again. Most of that would start at the officer level.

What's most puzzling is how can an individual with say, a disciplinary record, civil litigation and sometimes either or both recently, can be picked for an assignment over others that don't while others who have discipline in their backgrounds are put on ice for years before having the chance for special assignments and promotions. How people can get into trouble in special assignments and remain in them.  That's probably the hardest part of the process under Diaz (and also prior chiefs) to understand why it's implemented that way.

With sexual misconduct on duty seemingly the most minor of offenses when it involves male officers especially higher in rank according to promotions done in the past. Not surprising under Leach.  More surprising under Diaz' watch and not exactly going unnoticed.  The higher rank the person is who commits it, the less it seems to be treated or viewed as misconduct. Whereas people lower on the hierarchical ladder get punished  but those higher including in management, it's never been seen as a major transgression. It seems like it should be the opposite with the accountability increasing the higher in rank an officer moves up.

 Remember though, Diaz doesn't seem to want to know what happened in the department before his arrival and the people he's picked to advise them, well one of them apparently believes that a written reprimand is enough discipline for sexual misconduct on duty even though the policy manual states otherwise requiring a higher form of discipline for that behavior.  That happened at least twice.  Yet this individual seemed to think it was perfectly okay to send two sergeants to force a female officer into a car to be interrogated for hours with few rights at another police facility. Litigation arose on both ends of that spectrum.  But that part of the promotional equation is one of the hardest parts to understand as being anything but a detriment to the development of management inside the department.

But that aside, if you want to get promoted the first thing you need to do is to get out of Dodge, or in this case Lincoln Station.

You need to get assigned to another police facility closer to the heart of downtown Riverside that's probably falling apart but still welds the most power.

As stated, that's Orange Street Station which for now at least, houses the police department's administrative headquarters. This is where most of the big honchos including the biggest honcho reside.

Orange Street Station, headquarters where people go to get promoted but since Riverside no longer owns it, it can't be put up as collateral for any city or private developer's project

It wasn't clear for quite a while how long the police department's top management was going to be able to call the Orange Street Station home.  After all when City Hall tried to pull off its very suspicious four way land swap, the police department was to be the biggest casualty, the party left holding the bag. In order to  help out two private enterprises including its favorite outside law firm, the city was going to push its own city departments, the police department (through the general fund) and the Riverside Public Utilities (through its own funds) to pay higher "rents" than either had been paying before this scheme was proposed by former City Manager Brad Hudson before he left the building.  How forcing two city departments to pay higher "rent" in exchange for assisting two private companies was spending money helping the city's residents, well that part of it was never explained.

And even though that question was asked numerous times, no attempts were made to answer it. Unless you count complete silence in response as an answer. It was really the best that City Manager Scott Barber, the city council that employees him and anyone else in City Hall could do.

Barber's been too busy to blog lately what with dealing with department heads and the city's interesting financial picture not to mention candidates lobbying to be the RPD's next captain.

It's been said that some of the candidates for the captain's position might be deciding it's time to converse a bit with Barber who after all is the chief's boss. But promotions lie within the realm of powers and responsibilities of the chief even though they all require final approval by Barber, hence the conversations. This was how it was done under Hudson and his assistant. Anyone wanted to get promoted, go plead your case to this dynamic duo.  That applied to elected officials as well, one reason why the city's a little bit poorer now.

 You can't blame any of them who would follow that avenue, to follow the same road as their predecessors because those were the rules. If the guy next to you is doing that and you want to keep up with him, you do the same thing. All kinds of traits apparently went into who got promoted into management that had little to do with whether or not you had the leadership or management skills to do the job. But then given that the workplace also apparently included the golf course, maybe not so much.  After all, Leach built a top heavy department in anticipation of great growth of the city's surface area and population mostly through the 18 or so planned annexations. Being fiscally solvent meant putting all of them on ice for the unforeseen future.

But as stated, Leach didn't really direct much towards the end.

 After all, City Manager Brad Hudson and his assistant, Tom DeSantis were heavily wed to the police department micromanaging it down to the paper clip and having access to every corner of it and yes, that's every corner including a couple that have created major headaches for law enforcement agencies in other cities and counties including Chicago when there's outside access that's come to light. After all, you wouldn't contaminate a crime scene would you?

A yelling match took place in one such situation as one management team member panicked about one such division.  The belief that if you don't look at something too closely, just leave it alone and point out the pretty tree over there prevailed and it's not clear it ever was addressed at all. But just because something remains unaddressed doesn't mean it's not there. But in related news or not, everyone in that division was apparently reassigned.  The department's initial public reaction to the off-duty fainting spell and resultant vehicle crash of one police officer as being not worthy of investigating was unfortunately another example of that mindset by management.  Never mind the officer could have had a fainting spell during a vehicle pursuit or a foot chase, it was more important to say, no we don't investigate because he doesn't a medical condition even after the Moreno Valley Police Department said that he did probably after he or someone else told its onscene officers.

Barber's not quite as into the police department as his predecessors. He hasn't equipped himself with illegally purchased firearms or an illegally made badge. No cold plates and no sirens or lights on his take home car. Diaz can't banish him from the department like Priamos but Barber's been quite busy learning how to be a city manager.

In Riverside, it's often been a steep learning curve. But at least Barber didn't get himself mixed up too much in the police department's promotion like Hudson did. Leach was powerless in his position in many ways, but it would take an entire blog posting to describe that dynamic. Hudson often sent DeSantis to do his micromanaging for him and the city council and mayor quickly learned that they too could involve themselves in making decisions about the police department, a blatant violation of the city's charter against charter interference.

Now all these city council members past and present know what the charter amendment on administrative interference. They've used it as a shield against taking any action to keep their own direct employees, mostly Hudson in line with his own job responsibilities and in some cases as with the badges and guns, likely potentially criminal conduct. Yet apparently the charter amendment didn't apply to themselves in terms of not stepping over the city management and the chief to involve themselves in the operations inside the police department. These involved decisions about the use and some say misuse (particularly during election campaign) cycles of police employees most notably during what were called loosely emergency election deployments or transfers.

This is when you're an officer who's assigned to work with other officers in Neighborhood A. Say Neighborhood A has the highest crime rate in the city and a squad of officers was assigned to patrol and work there to address  it.  But then say there's a councilman who includes Neighborhood B in his or her ward. There's fewer officers and lower crime there but the councilman's campaigning on a "tough on crime" stance for office. So what happened with at least four past and current council members is that the chief would reassign officers out of different neighborhoods including Neighborhood A to fill assignments in Neighborhood B to increase police presence in that particular neighborhood through the election cycle.

So the decision made on that redeployment ultimately arose from the council member running for reelection not the chief or the management team members who had made the original patrol assignments in other areas including Neighborhood A.

This type of involvement by elected officials in the police department happened quite a bit. But it wasn't isolated because as a pair of lawsuits settled by the city in 2010 showed that if elected officials wanted to involve themselves in the promotional process, the means to do so was just a phone call away.

They'd call Hudson who would then delegate DeSantis to do the deed with Leach of course being powerless or unwilling to do anything about it. This happened to at least two captains promotions in the final five years of Leach's tenure.  Were these isolated events?   And how would anyone know?  Because when it comes to most elected officials they tend to emulate the behavior of those around them. It's unlikely that in Riverside, particularly since a couple of powerful voting alliances or blocs were in place that it would be isolated behavior to involve one's self in operations within the police department.

One of the captains that allegedly had been blocked from a promotion by an elected official retired this past week.

Left the police department in July after decades on the force without even a mention let alone a party until City Hall issued her an honorary proclamation

Meredyth Meredith  retired her badge on July 5 as noted would happen in earlier blog postings. She left behind a career in the department spanning decades and covering many different assignments. But as elected officials and some  community leaders praised her career accomplishments, there was more than a little hypocrisy on the dais. So much so that one speech in particular was a bit hard to sit through. People throw around the "truth" but not all the truth was told by the city during those speeches.

There's a lot to be said about Councilman Steve Adams' comments that it's difficult to be a woman inside the police department. The council member who once called mentorship programs including those for women in the department "remedial training for those who can't hack it."  

There's different ways to honor people and one of them is through words said from a position of authority when that person is leaving. Some said she hated being the subject of attention even praise and that they felt she wouldn't want to be at a presentation like that at City Hall. Others said that the command staff itself didn't even mention her in passing. But what Meredith's career in part taught was that when it comes to women advancing through the ranks (and she's a pioneer), hopefully the next one will be treated much better than her.  She was not treated well by City Hall when she was up for promotions in at least two instances in the past 15 years and what happened to her when she was first promoted to captain wasn't respectful of her or her accomplishments at all. 

During her career, her two final promotions that of lieutenant and captain were met with counter actions by the men who either felt that her promotion belonged to them or belonged to some one else. She was one of three lieutenants promoted in 2000 along with Alex Tortes and Ron Orrantia whose promotions were met by first counter claims and then lawsuits filed by five white male sergeants. Meredith was promoted one month after Tortes and Orrantia to fill the position vacated by then Lt. Audrey Wilson when she was promoted to captain, the first woman in the department's history.  Allegedly the white male sergeants interested in suing in protest of Tortes and Orrantia asked Meredith to join them and she chose not to do so. So after her promotion, the complaint by the other sergeants went from being reverse racism to reverse racism and sexism. 

The lawsuit nearly tore the city apart. Not so much the lawsuit which should have been litigated by a city that claims all lawsuits filed against it are "frivolous" and are to be fought vigorously from the start.  But it was news that leaked out that City Manager John Holmes had been directed by Mayor Ron Loveridge to create two new lieutenant positions and promote two of the plaintiffs to those positions and then issue cash payouts to two others.   These discussions allegedly took place behind closed doors in confidential discussions outside the presence of the police chief.

One of the plaintiffs to be promoted, Wally Rice had suffered a career ending injury in the line of duty related to the 1998 incident at City Hall where members of the government were taken hostage by a fired city employee. Some people including Rice were shot while the police had sent a team of people including personnel assigned to Orange Street Station (the closest police facility) to rescue the city council members and Loveridge. The police department did that in difficult and dangerous conditions and the involved officers later were awarded the medal of valor, the most prestigious award one that was richly deserved. But Rice never fully recovered from his gunshot injuries to return to active duty. 

So in his case since he could no longer work after being shot, the mayor and city council were trying to secure a better pension for him for his retirement.  This appeared to have been so because most often, promotions are given to those who can actively serve in those positions. That was done probably with the best of intentions because he had nearly given his life and he had sacrificed his career to save their lives and the city government wanted to restore what some felt might have been lost.  But it became entangled into what was supposed to be a competitive promotional process in the hands of the police chief, not City Hall. That's when all hell broke loose at least for a while as people showed up to protest what City Hall had tried to do. Not to mention that other police officers ended their careers through on duty injuries and others did lose their lives on the job without being promoted so that produced a counterpoint. 

Former City Manager John Holmes (center) meeting with concerned community leaders after news leaks that the city's involving itself in the promotion process of lieutenants

Leaders met with City Hall officials as shown in the above photograph and I was there when that happened. In fact, I was drafted to write about it which I did.  Carroll found out also through the leak mill that the city government was involving itself in his promotional process behind his back and threatened to quit over it. He did ultimately medically retire but he had been politically vulnerable for quite some time even getting "no confidence" votes or threats of such from at least one police department labor union.

Loveridge's defense when it came to light what he and the other elected officials had been doing in secret, simply said they can always use more lieutenants. 

The lawsuit was settled so quickly, never even getting to the deposition phase like other inhouse lawsuits let alone to trial in front of a jury. Most of the plaintiffs wound up being lieutenants including those promoted during the first cycle of promotions done by then Chief Russ Leach about six months after he took the job. A couple of the plaintiffs would go on to be promoted to captain also by Leach though the paths of both would prove be interesting indeed. 

Because under Leach, it wasn't clear a lot of the time who was making the promotional decisions given that there were quite a few chiefs in the police department including those running it from City Hall. 

I'm sure some management team members particularly the newer transplants reading this probably know little to nothing about this chapter of Riverside history through their own choice not to educate themselves except through ex-employees who left under a cloud in other words most of the upper management in 2010. But it's a valuable lesson to keep in mind before throwing out accusations against community leaders who far from manipulating the promotional process of lieutenants as the current chief claimed, actually backed the police chief when he tried to exercise his role and responsibility of promoting lieutenants back in 2000.  In large part, because they were men of color who were having their promotions challenged but many people also felt that City Hall's involvement in the process seemed inappropriate.  At the time, the assumption was that police chiefs promoted police officers not city council members or mayors.  But apparently that's not what always happens in Riverside.

Diaz would serve himself best to remember that if he gets a phone call from his boss Scott Barber to not promote an individual he's chosen but promote someone else instead because some elected official pulled Barber's leash to make that phone call. That will be especially interesting and perhaps relevant when the new mayor is crowned by voters in November. 

City Hall on the other hand has a much dimmer record of keeping out of the police department's affairs including the promotional process. And what happened to Meredith again in 2005 is proof of that.  

In December 2005, Meredith was to be a police captain. She received the call that she probably hoped she'd get that she'd survived the process to get promoted to the next level. A great day in a police officer's life, a hallmark moment right?  Something to celebrate.

So she gets into her car and makes the drive to be "pinned" by Leach in his office as the department's newest captain. Not much time in the interim, about three hours but this is a case where you learn how much a person's career trajectory can change in even that brief amount of time. By the time she reached Leach's office to get the good news in person, her promotion had gone up as if it were no more lasting and tangible than a puff of smoke. 

Instead she was told she wouldn't be getting it and instead then Lt. Mark Boyer was chosen instead. He didn't last longer than several years in that position and later on friction with him and the chief that promoted him allegedly pushed him into retirement. 

It's hard to say what's colder. Snatching away Meredith's promotion before she even arrived to accept it or having one of her closest friends (another city employee) deliver the bad news to her. That's just no way to treat a person but Meredith apparently took matters into her hands according to testimony given by Leach in deposition and consulted legal counsel. According to Leach's deposition she came back and said she had done that and was told she might have a case. As it turned out, she likely did. 

She was promoted not long after that to fill a new captain's position and she started out her stint in Communications being both the first and last captain to serve in that position that's been held by everyone from civilian managers to sergeants. 

Councilman Steve Adams spoke platitudes about Meredith and how "difficult" it was to be a woman in the RPD leaving out a few details of course of his goodbye speech

It was only later that it came to light what happened with Meredith and her captain's promotion. It turned out that several depositions including one given by Steve Adams  shed some interesting if disturbing light on the whole issue. A narrative started to emerge that Adams had allegedly told Hudson that he shouldn't promote Meredith. If true, then Adams violated the city's charter provision against administrative interference which went unchecked including by those serving with him on the dais.

What happened is that the city residents bore the costs through litigation and settlement for his alleged actions. Two lieutenants who filed lawsuits paid the price of facing retaliation for bringing this issue and other scandals to light. Meredith however had to experience something that was pretty appalling and very disrespectful to her. If she chose to challenge it, more power to her to do that. Adams allegedly had been involved in another manipulation of the promotional process in early 2008. The individual in that case wasn't told that he was promoted only to find out he was not, but was handled differently.

According to several sworn depositions taken, he was given an airing out process with Adams at an out of town (and thus under the radar) restaurant to make his case for promotion. Adams had apparently been upset with him and other members of the Riverside Police Administrators' Association for not endorsing his reelection.

Meredith never had that opportunity in her own case to appeal the decision made not by the police department but on the seventh floor at City Hall to block her promotion after the 11th hour. It really is a "good old boys" network at City Hall.

In contrast to the 2000 lawsuit by the white sergeants,  lawsuits filed by individuals that aren't white males don't settle so quickly, they litigate for years and this is true citywide in the employee ranks, from public works to public utilities and certainly inside the police department.  But the city usually winds up paying out money on them even if it's nearly a decade and over $750,000 spent in litigation costs by the time it reaches that point as happened with a group of African-American public works employees.

It cost the "self insured"  city a small fortune when one racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation lawsuit made it to trial and received a remarkably high dollar amount inside a civil court system that rarely awards plaintiffs at trial and even rarer that kind of financial verdict. What makes or breaks civil trials like that involving Officer Roger Sutton is how much of the case can be "tried" through written documentation including employment records. Testimony on the stand matters too but it's also very difficult to control what people say or the extent of what they say on the stand and though the judge can rule "objection sustained" as well as then agreeing with a "motion to strike", it's very hard to unring a bell especially inside a public forum like a courtroom.

The Riverside County civil court system including its jurors aren't known for being generous and making charitable contributions so any sizable verdict that comes out of that system can only be viewed as an indictment against well...something.

Former Chief Russ Leach allegedly testified under oath recently again and what did City Hall think?

Leach being a police chief in Riverside for about a decade has been deposed for a number of lawsuits once they reach that stage and I've read two depositions he gave in relation to lawsuits filed in 2005 and several years after that by two now retired lieutenants.

It's never a dull moment when he hits the stand so to speak and starts lighting fires. I found out a few things about how he viewed me in the first deposition he gave in relation to the first lawsuit.  That his view of me when sworn under the threat of perjury was different than when he was not.  But then often police chiefs have to be taken with a grain of salt in part because it's a politicized position serving more masters than can be imagined and they pick and choose who to like in public and apparently behind the scenes as well.

Leach was also known as telling people what they wanted to hear in most circles but he was pretty hamstrung over his own department at the end especially after his back surgery. But actually the turning point took place in March 2007 during one of the most controversial periods in the department's history. It brought a crowd of police officers and community leaders to the city council chambers in protest. This is probably the first that the current management team minus Blakely of course has heard of it in quite this way.

When it erupted, Leach was tucked in a bar with a lieutenant in Washington, D.C., the perfect distraction while Hudson was making decisions to turn two vested positions, that of assistant chief and that of deputy chief into "at will" positions. This attempted reclassifiation had actually been taking place at least six months earlier but it took a while to erupt into full controversy.  The positions were offered to John DeLaRosa and Pete Esquivel who back then were still almost friends. They weren't in competition with each other as would happen later on. They were allegedly offered these "promotions" in exchange for serving at will not just in those positions but as police employees in general. Both the Riverside Police Officers' Association and Riverside Police Administrators' Association viewed this as creating a management team that was beholden not to the police chief (who remember, was 3,000 miles away in a bar) but to City Hall. Hudson initially defended it through an email to me that it was something all management level employees coveted because they had received pay hikes.  But those pay hikes aren't acts of generosity or even merit pay, they're in exchange for the "at will" stipulation.

Esquivel and DeLaRosa both accepted their positions but when Leach found out what happened below his radar, he erupted into fury. He came back fully prepared to confront Hudson and his unions would have backed that. But that's not what happened at all, was it?  What actually happened is that when the unions mobilized to protest at City Hall during a city council meeting in March 2007, members of the dais and Leach himself instead gave carefully worded public service announcements mollifying people while reversing Hudson's action.

So it all calmed down or so it seemed. But what came to light later on is that not long after it happened, Leach received a sizable salary increase and some viewed that as the price to buy that mollification. It was viewed as a betrayal of the department and was the beginning of the end for Leach's reign. It also allegedly impacted both DeLaRosa and Esquivel fracturing their relationship as both learned what the other was capable of doing which would come to full fruition in an ugly way almost exactly three years later.

Leach allegedly popped up to be deposed again and knowing his track record, it's more likely than not to be quite colorful given his propensity to go against those who he perceives wronged him and that's a list that got longer.  Leach is a lot of things to different people but he's never boring when he opens his mouth even under oath.

His department under his watch was micromanaged by different characters in City Hall including cop fetishists Hudson and his assistant in many things, Tom DeSantis with both craving all types of police equipment to soup up their cars and their personas including badges, cold plates and in DeSantis' case at least reversible police tires and fancy lights and radios. They made the department their own and did so allegedly at the request of more than one elected officials. They tried to oust long-time management employees with institutional memories and replace them by "yes men" whose wealth of experience in those positions they were to take was pretty much laughable.

Still, there's a trio of such in this city and who can forget the man who put a shrine to law enforcement inside his own office?

Gregory Priamos.

He was assistant city attorney during the 2000 episode and city attorney in 2005 when Meredith was roadblocked. He also had a iron fist hold on the police department using his office to get that control during Leach's reign.

The ability to "roll" into major police incidents including officer-involved shootings and when SWAT was utilized.  But rolling out in his city issued car didn't appear to be enough, allegedly he wanted lights and  a police radio as well.

When not outsourcing most of the city's legal work, City Attorney Greg Priamos has more time to perhaps lament the loss of his ironclad hold over the police department?

Alas, for poor Priamos his control of the police department allegedly ended under Diaz and he's no longer on the call list for coming out during most major incidents.  So when Diaz and management hold court in mobile command posts where they're "briefed" by various police personnel representing all kinds of inside divisions, Priamos is out of the loop.   But he's got a new BFF in Barber which is a sharp contrast to his interrelations with Hudson. 

When Hudson arrived, he thought it fair game to replace everyone he chose with one of his colleagues from Riverside County. That happened in many departments even when he put in heads who had little direct experience in the professional areas their departments covered. But Hudson also wanted a brand new city attorney and allegedly wanted Priamos to be replaced. Apparently, this miffed Priamos who once said in public that being accidentally called the city manager was hardly complimentary. 

"I consider it an insult actually," he sniffed at the time. 

He was right about that but what he doesn't realize is that he has his own masters who can tell him how to heel if necessary if they remember how. He was smart enough to stay out of the conflicts between Hudson, his assistant and the employment unions during often contentious and prolonged contract negotiations.

But several elected officials weren't smart enough to do that themselves and at least two tried to get officers reassigned or punished for speaking out as city residents at meetings such as the Mayor's Night Out.

Priamos is also apparently second to none when it comes to taking care of his loyal employees and doing the opposite with those deemed not loyal to him.

But after his alleged nemesis Hudson left the building, Priamos proved much friendlier with Barber and seemed to have picked him as his new BFF. The two are inseparable and Barber's relied on Priamos' vast city experience to come in handy at his own job as city manager. Loveridge and at  least a couple city council members seemed a bit concerned about that at around the time of Barber's latest performance evaluation, that he was relying too heavily on Priamos' counsel to do his own job.  But in a way that's understandable because Barber didn't bring in a wealth of experience into the job.

The two apparently cool off at the Salted Pig on Main including after contentious city council meetings and Priamos who's allegedly quite miffed at being almost entirely cut off from the police department's operations by Diaz and company might need some consolation over that development.

But Priamos can never be totally out of the loop as long as the police department is subjected to getting the city sued by those inside and outside of it. There are at least four active lawsuits and those are just the ones filed by its own employees including the latest action by Sgt. Duane Beckman who'd allegedly been trying to medically retire (rather than being placed on light duty) which might go class action and include other plaintiffs in similar situations.

Amazing how management employees medically retire at the drop of a hat even when nothing's really wrong with them. An officer was once prosecuted and convicted of felonies for lying on a deposition related to workman's compensation. Not by Riverside County which didn't file any fraud charges against her but by San Bernardino County where she was deposed. Think for herself here, when was the last time anyone was prosecuted or faced charges for perjury on a deposition in a civil related action?  If either county pursued these kind of cases actively how filled would the courtrooms and jails in both counties be with all the employees who are medically retired after scandals and not just inside law enforcement?

So if the inland counties are going after people who allegedly perjure themselves or commit fraud to get medical payments or even retirement how come Riverside retires as many healthy people on medical retirements as it has done?  Perhaps the proposed class action lawsuit connected with Beckman will answer these and other questions.   Diaz has advocated through Bernstein's column for more vigorous litigation of lawsuits up to trial but while that's an admirable stance, he would know if he studied Riverside's history of litigation, that's not going to happen any time soon.  If it did, Riverside might still be insured by an outside carrier rather than "self-insured" (meaning city residents pay for it) as it proudly proclaims from time to time.

That and the fact that when it comes to adding to pensions, Priamos apparently proved about eight years ago that he's the best at doing that, through a single phone call where he allegedly arranged to reclassify a city employee who didn't have long to live without going to the city council.  In fact, they were never to know about it but they found out years later and then promptly sat on it. But then this is River City.

Clearly the same pension plan wasn't made available to the likes of former deputy city attorney Raychele Sterling. In fact her termination for refusing to do what she deemed unethical has exacted a high price from loss of benefits for her family. But  this isn't apparently doing something about of kindness, it's a loyalty test.

So Priamos is obviously very skilled at a few things.

Let the Games Begin...Again

In London and Riverside

Who will be left when contracts come up for renewal in 2013? And which of these folks will serve on the interview panel for captain starting next week?

Now that Meredith has gone off to retirement, that leaves the department short of a captain's position which was lost on almost no one. Granted, it was a position created about the same time that according to Leach's deposition, Meredith told him she'd spoken to an attorney about her situation. But still, the position is to be filled with interviews of the roster of eligible and interested candidates beginning as early as next week. The interview panel will consist of 2-3 members of Diaz' cabinet,  meaning some combination of Asst. Chief Chris Vicino, Deputy Chief Jeffrey Greer and Deputy Chief Mike Blakely, hopefully one that doesn't prove to be too volatile in the same room.

With one of the top short list candidates Vance Hardin out of town, there had been some discussion of delaying the interviews until his return allegedly from a training stint back East.  Two of those on the short list, Gary Leach and Guy Toussaint appeared at City Hall during the award ceremony honoring Meredith. The intense competition which has come to define the promotional process to captain had already started months ago and included other possible short list members, Bob Williams and Ed Blevins. But with Meredith initially pulling her PERS papers and then changing her mind, things would heat up for a while and then cool off as people returned to their respective corners.  It's got to be more than a little nerve wracking to think that the promotional process is going on and then to find out that it's not and has been put on hold.  But during the time when a spot is up for grabs, there's a process that's followed to ensure that candidates make a good impression on those involved with the decision making process.

In order words, dinners with the chief would be more of a priority during the active periods of the recruitment of captains' candidates. As it would be in the private sector which experiences these social gatherings all the time. But people are bracing themselves and hoping that the stilettos don't start coming out including through meet ups with the chief where candidates share anecdotes about well, other candidates.  It's all about promoting your strengths and your opponents' weaknesses until the final determination is made. This isn't really American Idol, or  perhaps to Diaz' dismay,   Dancing with the Stars.  The show, Survivor has come a lot closer but still doesn't tell the entire tale.  The environment surrounding the promotional process turned so toxic that by the time Diaz came in, he had to hire outside management employees as only one captain was able to be used to fill a higher position with those who filled those positions being gone like the wind.

So who will Diaz put on the interview panel?  All three members of his cabinet or only two of them and if so, which two?  It's probably a given that Vicino will be a panelist given that Diaz doesn't really communicate with most of his management except for Vicino because the trust factor appears to be running a bit low. So that leaves Greer and Blakely or perhaps both will be joining Vicino on the oral interview stage.

Diaz had said when he first arrived that he would be participating in the interviews of captains' candidates during that promotional process beginning with an opening in July 2010 but things have changed since then.  But he'll make the final decision or at least have the final word until Barber has the final word.

Will Deputy Chief of Administration and Personnel Mike Blakely serve on the panel as well?

Blakely would of course make an interesting addition to the panel as usual. But have relations cooled between Diaz and his first choice to line his cabinet?  He had told one extended command staff meeting that he had pushed for Blakely's promotion to deputy chief amid resistance at City Hall. But has alleged friction between Vicino and Blakely which culminated in a locksmith's visit changed that environment? Even the relationship between Diaz and his second in command is said to be quite volatile at Orange Street Station and seen in other venues as well within the department. It's always a little confusing as to how good management relationships are fostered through shouting at each other. Perhaps Barber can explain that type of management style.

Another interesting aspect involving the captain's promotional process is that several of the leading candidates were allegedly mentored by Blakely and also by the man that he himself mentored as well, John DeLaRosa.  DeLaRosa was essentially Diaz' choice of field training officers when he arrived in Riverside in 2010. Diaz hadn't brought any real chief's experience with him, having been a deputy commander of the downtown area of Los Angeles as part of the fallout from the May Day 2007 scandal which cost the city millions and led to re-hauling of the department's Metro Platoon division.

By the time of the candidate interviews, Diaz and perhaps the panelists himself will know more than they want to know about the candidates mostly from other candidates as has been the case in the past. Several candidates will have some of these anecdotes to elaborate on or explain during their own interviews particularly two of them who have one trait in common. Still, several probably won't have to say anything because Diaz hadn't wanted to know more about them. In one case, he walked away from a situation involving candidate with his hands over his hears, saying he didn't want to hear any more about it.

But there's an interesting trait that all the individuals who Diaz favors in the upper positions have in common including his first captain, Mike Perea.  Besides their connections to DeLaRosa's mentoring. How this will shape the future of the police department would require a series of blog postings. I find some of Diaz' practices baffling but I find this particular practice tops that list as to its origins. He's got some very strong skills in community policing from L.A. but in terms of management building and accountability somewhat more puzzling.

That said, it shall be interesting as the competition among a pool of determined candidates over one captain's spot enters into its next chapter.


To be Continued...

A Hot Summer Arrives in River City

UPDATE:




A Murder Trial Begins...
That of former law enforcement sergeant, Drew Peterson on trial for murder in relation to the death of his second wife.  His fourth wife Stacy Peterson hasn't been seen in nearly five years. 

Colorado mass murderer's tied to UC Riverside






This blog is still banned by the City of Riverside and the Riverside Police Department but you can still catch it. 


Apparently the city and department only ban the blogs they deem naughty rather than those that make nice. But this blog has never been about serving as PR for either. That's a job left to people with experience in public relations and politics. 


The city hires more than enough people to work those jobs already at very generous salaries and benefits and they do their jobs very, very well at portraying the city and its satellites in the best light. Unfortunately that's not where the truth always lies and quoting politicians and their at -will employees particularly during an election year isn't the best way to find it as you will soon see unfold.  Still it's a place to start. 





Coming up: 



This building had its lease renegotiated from Riverside County in a recent closed session for perhaps somewhat longer than 2017 so the administration will have a home for a while longer


Inside is the setting for the latest chapter of the ongoing serial


My Captain My Captain: 


The lieutenant wars




&




A Tale of Two Chiefs: What Happens when a chief gets "checked" by the Barber






Red Light Cameras Stay;  Mayor Breaks 3-3 tie







Councilman Steve Adams votes to save the Red Camera Program, and his own brother's own job as Mayor Ron Loveridge flexes his muscle to prove he still had it after his smack down by several council members in the redistricting item. 














River City Hall, Community Clash over Redistricting Process 


Community leaders and residents from all wards showed up to protest the back room dealing that the city made to redraw the ward boundaries with the Market Place.  After 50 people spoke to the City Council and a clearly flustered Mayor Ron Loveridge, the city council ultimately voted 6-0 to take the process back to Governmental Affairs after Loveridge's led counter motion failed to get enough votes to pass. 


Councilman Andrew Melendrez called it like it was when he outlined the process that excluded inclusion of public comments from Ward Two only in reports created using the input from various community forums. 


Melendrez against Loveridge and Loveridge flinched. 

A packed house watched the city council and mayor discuss the controversial redistricting process

Members of Hispanic Chamber of Commerce gave public comments during the redistricting agenda item

City Hall locked up tight during city council meeting but not to city employees and developers. 


New Rules or budget cuts have City Hall now closed during City Council meetings when a guard ejected members of the public and locked the doors. But clearly, not everyone was told to leave.  Unfortunately all the backup material on the agenda items available to the public were behind these locked doors. 


San Bernardino Files for Bankruptcy






Sergeant is advised of "off duty 10-35" and goes to scene of what is reported as a vehicle "well into a residence". No injuries of the people involved from the vehicle or inside the residence.




"Is he deuce or just an accident?"


--sergeant, Mo Val Police Department to dispatcher



"Still don't know..."


---Officer




"Okay so do I have a 1951?


---Dispatcher




"Probably not...don't discuss this over the radio anymore. "


----Sergeant




More to come...


Police Department's internal affairs division ends probe based on results of field sobriety tests and breathalyzer which in Moreno Valley Police Department's report was within legal limits for alcohol. He will be examined by a doctor to see if he's got any medical conditions that put him at risk in his job before returning to duty. Since one individual reported witnessing him allegedly have a fainting spell while at church some years ago it might be prudent to make sure it's a thorough medical exam. 


Press Enterprise article:  stated that Flores is on restricted duty and not working in patrol  pending a medical exam. 


The department's position to investigate his medical condition is much different than its original position of not investigating it because he didn't have one even though Moreno Valley's police department stated that he did.  This new approach seems more sensible than the RPD's original stance so what changed? 


But to clear up further confusion, a CPRA request has been submitted to City Manager Scott Barber and Cced to Human Resources Director Rhonda Strout and Chief Sergio Diaz on policies and procedures involving city employees in off-duty accidents related to medical conditions. 








Off-duty Riverside police officer's not investigated by department  after crashing vehicle into house in Moreno Valley. But KTLA story presents a different version of events. 


Later, he expressed doubts about what his medical condition might be.  Was this his first fainting spell as one other account of an alleged fainting spell has been reported as happening some years ago and was witnessed. 


He referred all questions about his children's comments at the scene to the Moreno Valley Police Department's personnel.


Officer Joe Flores, 45 crashed his car front first into the front of the house across the street. He and young children were helped out of the car by the home owners: 


(excerpt, KTLA)




Sources told KTLA that Flores has a medical condition that caused him to black out.

Olive Lyons said she and her family were in the backyard at the time of the crash on Saturday afternoon.

Much to her surprise, the man behind the wheel was the neighbor from across the street. Lyons rushed over to help.

"What I did was I approached the vehicle and I said, 'Hello, is anybody in there? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?'"

"Then one of the minor kids opened the door and said, 'My daddy fell asleep.' And the little girl said, 'Yes, my daddy he was drunk and he fell asleep and we're frightened that he's dead.'"

"They were frightened," Flores continued, "because they were just like, 'My daddy, I told him he was drinking too much and then he fell asleep.'"

Lyons got the kids out of the car, and her elderly father helped the driver out.

Flores looked dazed, she said, but he was apologetic and thankful for the help.

"He says, 'I'm very sorry for what happened. I just want you to know I am a police officer,'" Lyons said.

"I said, 'Excuse me, what relevance does that have?'" Lyons remarked.




Questions to be asked about the disparate information given about his medical status. Sources told KTLA he had a medical condition which made him faint at the wheel yet the department in a statement said it had no knowledge of pre-existing medical conditions so he was not put off-duty. So which is it? And why isn't the department evaluating him for a medical condition that might interfere with his ability to perform his duties as an officer?  For his own safety, that of other officers and the public as well?   Particularly if he's assigned a city-owned and insured vehicle to perform his duties. 

During the deposition of Riverside Police Officer Neely Nakamura, did the city really have the entire Internal Affairs division led by Deputy Chief Mike Blakely sitting in on the deposition and if so, why? Whose decision was that?

Apparently there's been an exchange of emails involving the latest round of transfer assignments for sergeants.  Is he the one who ordered the Internal Affairs division to sit in an deposition given recently by one of his police officers for a lawsuit?

Orange Street Station is ground zero for decision making and sometimes turmoil as well

(Riverside, CA) -- The latest round of transfer assignments has rocked the inside of the Riverside Police Department. As reported, the first round of reassignments went rather smoothly as employees mentored by a particular member of Chief Sergio Diaz' team dominated the special assignments roster. Few people were surprised by those developments and many of the lieutenants who ranked on the rank-less captain's list  prepared for a possible re-opening in that rank.

News broke out that Capt. Meredith Meredyth had planned to retire again, possibly as early as early July or as late as the end of 2012. During her extensive career with the department, she had survived two challenges to her promotions. The first being in 1999 when  a group of White male sergeants challenged the promotions of Sgt. Alex Tortes and Sgt. Ron Orrantia to lieutenant. Allegedly, she was asked to join in on the lawsuit but she said no. A month later, she was promoted to lieutenant when then Lt. Audrey Wilson was promoted into a captain spot. She's named as one of the promotions to be protested against in a lawsuit filed by a group of sergeants (minus one who dropped out when it was discovered he was biracial) that alleged reverse racial and gender discrimination in the promotional process for lieutenants.

They protested the promotion of "Black" Tortes (who is actually Native American) and two captains including who's now deputy chief went to the Human Resources Department with the sergeants' complaints and allegations were raised that the director of that department at the time, Judith Griffith tried to shred the complaints.

Then after being sued, Mayor Ron Loveridge and other city council members decided it was time to get involved in the promotional process themselves because as Loveridge said, you can never have too many lieutenants. So they were set to create two lieutenant positions and four payouts after the number of plaintiffs dropped to four with another lieutenant filing a separate lawsuit.

This wasn't in the era of Chief Russ Leach, City Manager Brad Hudson (with sidekick Tom DeSantis) and only partly with then Asst. City Attorney Greg Priamos .This was earlier and when then Chief Jerry Carroll found out, he cried foul. It all played out in public and soon after Carroll took his retirement.

The promotions made by Carroll stood and most of the plaintiffs were promoted in quick fashion by Leach about six months or so after his arrival.

The police department's highest ranking female officer, Capt. Meredyth Meredith is allegedly set to retire possibly before shift change. 

 When Meredith was first told she was going to be promoted to captain in the end of 2005, she went to Leach's office to get pinned. By the time she got there, the promotion had been revoked. She was ironically bypassed by one of the originally suing sergeants, Mark Boyer who got the spot instead. This controversy became part of a lawsuit filed by two police lieutenants and its narration played out through depositions taken  from various parties in that and another controversial promotion in January 2008.  This time it was Councilman Steve Adams whose name came up as playing an instrumental role in the police department's promotional process at its highest level. The lawsuit never went to trial but the settlement was quite large on the eve of the trial date meaning that most likely there were elements of it that the city didn't want to play out in open court.

But then it's like that with nearly every city lawsuit. Their litigation record's just not that impressive and no matter what City Manager Scott Barber tells you about the city being self-insured, one plaintiff who settled a case filed against the city was told by her attorney that the settlement was coming out of the city's coffers because the insurance carrier had canceled its coverage.

But it's beyond tacky and very unprofessional to have a department management that tells a promotional candidate that they're promoted and then revokes it by the time he or she arrives to accept it. One of Meredith's closest friends who worked for both Leach and Hudson allegedly had to give her the bad news.

That might be a humorous game that Lucy Van Pelt played with Charlie Brown over and over involving a football but even the city's main in house attorney, Priamos has to agree that there's just something unseemly about taking away a promotion after you've given it out because someone else outside the department doesn't like that particular candidate or more likely, preferred another one instead. It's difficult not to believe that there hasn't been outside influence on a promotion if the chief changes his mind within a window of several hours after picking the candidate. One would assume he would be absolutely sure of his choice before informing that individual.

Anyway, this history lesson is to be remembered by those who don't wish to repeat it not to mention newer arrivals who seem consumed with anxiety about community members coercing them into promoting lieutenants. In Riverside, as history has shown it's not the community that provides the coercion, that comes from inside the city.  Who has the power?  One community leader or an elected politician who's the boss of the chief's boss?

Not a difficult question to answer really.  But as soon as news got out that Meredith had planned to leave the department after her long career, it was time to start dusting off the resumes like happens so often in corporate environments. Even as the end of June loomed without the management team actually interviewing candidates yet, the speculation started.

Candidates who loomed as favorites were Lts. Gary Leach, Lt. Vance Hardin and Bob Williams with Ed Blevins as the dark horse candidate.  All three of them were in the special assignments of NPC area commander, Personnel and Training and Internal Affairs.  In the past, area commands were seen as one conduit to the captain's spot though that had changed more recently.  Internal Affairs had its day in the sun in terms of being an assignment that people promoted out of although that was mostly sergeants.

As for watch commanders, they were pretty much out of the loop and out of luck.  Many of those on the fast track into the management and upper supervision levels have scant watch commander experience. At a command staff meeting, shift change assignments were given for the lieutenants who waited eagerly in anticipation. Who could blame them, because it could mean the different between having a chance to be the department's next captain and not having any chance at all?

Hardin moved from his assignment in Personnel and Training where he's worked both lieutenant assignments to the NPC North Command replacing Lt. Chris Manning who went to watch command. Lt Bruce Blomdahl   went to head the SWAT/Metro division replacing Lt. Larry Gonzalez who went to watch command. SWAT/Metro also lost one of its sergeants, Mark McCoy who went back to patrol leaving that spot vacant.   Lt. Melissa Bartholomew who had started out as a watch commander took the assignment vacated by Hardin as Personnel lieutenant.   Another lieutenant was promoted, this one being Sgt. Mark Rossi.

Like the previously promoted sergeant, Russell Schubert, Rossi had been assigned to Diaz' office and had tested "A" band on the most recent lieutenant's list.

The lieutenants' assignments raised some eyebrows but didn't cause much of a ripple since there were few surprises. But once lieutenants were done being reassigned, then would come sergeants and that's when the tide grew stormier.

Brian Kittinger left Internal Affairs to be replaced by Kendall Banks. Brian Dailey moved from Communications to serve as a sergeant in the NPC North. Frank Assumma went to Personnel and Training. Most of those assignments didn't elicit much of a response.

Then Diaz and his management team moved onto Vice.  Due to staffing shortages at the supervisory level, the sergeant's position for the Vice unit in Special Investigations had been left vacant. During this period, the sergeant in charge of the Gang unit had overseen Vice as well. So Vice gets its sergeant position back and four sergeants put in for it.  They were Brian Smith, Keenan Lambert, Gary Toussaint and John Capen.  The current lieutenant in charge of Special Investigations is Mike Cook and he was allegedly involved in the interview process for the sergeant position.  Both Smith and Toussaint had experience in the Gang unit and Toussaint had as sergeant overseen that unit.  Capen had worked under Cook during his stint in Internal Affairs.

Capen had worked in the Internal Affairs Division which had been the focus of civil litigation filed by other police officers in house including one filed by Officer Neely Nakamura who alleged in her lawsuit that she was accosted by Capen and Assumma in the parking lot of the Magnolia Policing Center and driven across the city to the Internal Affairs division which at the time was housed downtown at the bus terminal next to Greyhound. She stated in her lawsuit that she was subjected to hours of interrogation and was treated like a criminal.  Diaz once told Press Enterprise columnist and blogger Dan Bernstein that he felt that those interrogating her went beyond what was required in terms of sensitivity.  By then he had been briefed by members of the past and now current management team about the investigation, including those overseeing the interrogating and perhaps defendants on the lawsuit filed by Nakamura. But did he ask the officer being interrogated whether it was done in an overwhelmingly sensitive fashion or even read the lawsuit?  He should be at least pleased that there's more pencil whipping by the city attorney's office at this lawsuit than any other in recent memory.  Nakamura allegedly was set to be deposed over a couple of days by the city's own attorneys but after the first day, a time conflict came up for the next day.  How she was treated as opposed to how then Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel (see below) is still one of the most appalling examples of a double standard between management and rank and file.

Nothing sensitive about that, Diaz.


Speaking of lawsuits...

City of Riverside Pays Out $50,000 in Sports Bar Brawl Lawsuit

On March 5, 2012, the lawsuit involving a controversial incident at Events restaurant was filed. The settlement between the plaintiffs and the defendants including the City of Riverside agreed to a total payout of $1 million.  Below is the minute orders taken from the settlement conference.



HONORABLE COMMISSIONER PAULETTE DURAND-BARKLEY, PRESIDING CLERK: L. HOWELL COURT REPORTER: NONE COURT SUBSEQUENTLY RULES ON MATTER TAKEN UNDER SUBMISSION ON 03/05/12. THE COURT SUBSEQUENTLY RULES ON PLAINTIFFS MOTIONS TO DETERMINE GOOD FAITH SETTLEMENT, SUBMITTED ON MARCH 5, 2012,


 AS FOLLOWS: - THE MOTION FOR GOOD FAITH SETTLEMENT FILED BY LAKE ALICE TRADING COMPANY AND THE MOTION FOR GOOD FAITH SETTLEMENT FILED BY CLUBHOUSE ASSOCIATES, INC. DBA EVENTS SPORTS GRILL AND CITY OF RIVERSIDE IS GRANTED AS FOLLOWS: - THE COURT FINDS THE FOLLOWING SETTLEMENTS IN GOOD FAITH: - 


CLUBHOUSE SETTLEMENT: 950,000 


$760,000 CLUBHOUSE TO PLAINTIFF WILKERSON) 


$95,000 (CLUBHOUSE TO PLAINTIFF JOSEPH MARTINEZ) 


$95,000 (CLUBHOUSE TO PLAINTIFF STEPHANIE MARTINEZ) - 


CITY SETTLEMENT: $50,000.00 $


40,000 (CITY TO PLAINTIFF WILKERSON)


 $5,000 (CITY TO PLAINTIFF JOSEPH MARTINEZ) 


$5,000 (CITY TO PLAINTIFF STEPHANIE MARTINEZ) - 


TOTALS $1,000,000.00 - 


LAKE ALICE SETTLEMENT $40,000.00 (LAKE ALICE TO PLAINTIFF WILKERSON) 


$5,000.00 (LAKE ALICE TO PLAINTIFF JOSEPH MARTINEZ)

$5,000.00 (LAKE ALICE TO PLAINTIFF STEPHANIE MARTINEZ) -


 TOTALS $50,000.00 - 


NO EVIDENCE WAS PRESENTED INDICATING THAT THE ABOVE PERCENTAGES OR CALCULATIONS WERE NOT WITHIN THE ROUGH APPROXIMATION OF LIABILITY OR AMOUNTS PROPERLY PAID IN SETTLEMENT. ABSENT SUCH EVIDENCE THE COURT FINDS THE TWO MOTIONS FOR GOOD FAITH SETTLEMENT PROPERLY GRANTED. FORMAL ORDER TO BE PREPARED, SERVED AND SUBMITTED BY COUNSEL FOR MOVING PARTY CLERK'S CERTIFICATE OF MAILING RE: COURTS SUBSEQUENT RULING NOTICE SENT TO LAW OFFICES OF CHADA GERARDI APC ON 3/14/12 NOTICE SENT TO LAW OFFICES OF OTTOL HASSELHOFF PC ON 3/14/12 NOTICE SENT TO BRADLEY & GMELICH ON 3/14/12 NOTICE SENT TO CALLAHAN THOMPSON SHERMAN &CAUDILL ON 3/14/12 PRINT MINUTE ORDER


This lawsuit was filed by the plaintiffs in response to a brawl that took place at Events Sports Grill that's located in a strip mall on Magnolia Street south of Tyler.  It's located less than 200 yards away from the Magnolia Police Center. On Nov. 10, 2006 at about 1l:45.

Two brothers were charged with attempted murder in the brawl which left three people severely injured, some lying in bushes outside the business.  The brawl involved people beating up other people and hitting each other with chairs. A Riverside Police Department sergeant and five officers were off-duty and at the bar. A department spokesman told the Press Enterprise that some of the officers might not have been "logged out" but if that was so, it was just a formality. One officer allegedly had talked to the dispatch about the fight. Others were witnesses but several left including one out the side door.

The police department did respond, to the officer's 911 call or someone else's and found unconscious people inside the bar and outside in the bushes. The department spokesman said by the time officers responded to the call, the fight had wound down and people were leaving. Presumably not the men who had suffered brain damage or lost an eye or would not be able to live independently without medical care for the rest of their lives.  Two men, both brothers from Moreno Valley were sentenced to four years in state prison for their roles in the brawl.

The officers cordoned off the area with yellow police tape when one of the officers who left allegedly returned to the bar to get his cell phone that he'd left behind on a table, going into the crime scene of the fight to retrieve it.

Okay, if the police department which is under indemnity of the city had responded as professionally as the department representative said to the press, then why was the city being sued? If two private citizens beat up other private citizens in a privately owned establishment, then how does the city wind up getting sued? Even more importantly why did the city presumably upon advice of its attorneys settle the case for $50,000 after about five years of litigation. Why was  the city still on the lawsuit as a defendant whether than being dismissed earlier?   And did the city's decision to settle the case involving private parties based on what happened with its off-duty officers who were there?   It'd be perplexing otherwise because it seemed that the response by the officers called to the scene was professional enough and why would the city pay out $50,000 based on that?  I agree with Diaz' stance on lawsuits in terms of seeing more of them against the city and department litigated to trial. This one should have gone to trial if the city was falsely sued but why didn't it see a trial by judge or jury?

As we all know, the city zipped its lip even before it signed the settlement papers and issued the checks to the plaintiff. Money (which might have included a share of the additional attorneys fees in the six figures) that could have been spent on other costs including those in public safety.  But the public will never get an explanation on why it was paid out  on this lawsuit.

The department spokes person stated that they acted appropriately and within policy of serving as "good witnesses" in situations where they were unable to act. Okay if that's the case with the off-duty sergeant and officers, again why is the city paying a $50,000 share of a settlement if the situation only involved the improper actions of private parties including businesses?

Why settle the case to avoid future litigation costs when they had already spent money litigating for five years without managing to get themselves removed from  the list of defendants?

Internal Affairs investigated the incident to see whether or not it was in policy regarding the behavior of the off-duty personnel including the sergeant.  Apparently the brass was impressed enough with the results because the sergeant on that incident was later reassigned...to Internal Affairs.


But back to the program on special assignments.  The sergeant who was chosen to be assigned to the Vice Unit was Capen and that allegedly led to a response by Smith who is also president of the Riverside Police Officers' Association via emails sent.  Toussaint as it turns out is the sergeant representative of that union. He had expressed interest in serving in the leadership positions but didn't run for election.

Smith allegedly emailed Diaz stating that the chief had claimed that he was for mentoring people into positions of leadership including through transfers into special assignments. Yet Diaz kept giving the same individuals special assignments over and over.  His track record and what he was doing was a joke.  Diaz allegedly responded back by saying he reviewed Smith's concerns and found that all his transfers were within policy.  The policy as states, starts off as saying that officers are supposed to serve a year in patrol in between going out for another special assignment after already serving one.  But it finishes by stating that the transfer assignments are at the discretion of the chief.   If you remember this same issue had arisen between the RPOA and Diaz involving the situation of seven police sergeants who were allegedly denied special assignments in favor of those who already had served in special assignments without a year off.

Actually Smith put into his emails questions that had been on my mind about this so-called transfer policy involving special assignments for a while now. I've made some observations beginning is that there are relatively few special assignments in comparison to other more general assignments.  Another observation is that they appear to be quite popular with some of them attracting a lot of interest and applicants. They seem to be in demand and they foster competition which means that the pool of those wanting opportunities for career development and mentorship is larger than the number of special assignments.  So I expected to see a plethora of interested officers being placed in special assignments, undergoing career development and mentorship and then returning to patrol for a year or so while other people were then guided and mentored through these special assignments. Create a sizable pool of mentored candidates, a population rather than a clique. I expected to see that because that was what was being sold at least to the public including through the newly unveiled 2010-2015 Strategic Plan.

None of that is what's happening.

What's been apparent instead is that there's a much smaller pool of sergeants and even lieutenants who are getting back to back to back special assignments. For lieutenants, they are a smaller group than sergeants  and have a higher proportion of spots for special assignments than sergeants or patrol. There's an interesting pattern found in these smaller groups which will be addressed in a future blog posting which makes it clear that Diaz really doesn't seem to know much about the history of his own department. But since he decided to ignore it pretty much, that's his choice.

Still it's odd seeing a department embrace career development and mentorship as Diaz and his management team at the RPD claim to do and yet see a relatively minute population of sergeants undergoing "career development".  Career development doesn't just involve promotion since that'll only happen to a relative few but it also involves building leadership in various areas of the department which are covered by special assignments. The text in the Plan has made it clear that special assignments are opportunities for mentorship including through the field training officer program which is used to mentor individuals to be future detectives.

The focus on career development and mentorship has left the patrol level officers pretty much in the cold but then given that it's clear that their "special" representation, which are watch commanders don't matter much. That's shown by the fact that those lieutenants being chosen for "career development" aren't doing much if any time as watch commanders. How many of the lieutenants or even in cases, sergeants get back to back to back special assignments? How many of these sergeants have little field experience in patrol and how many  of these lieutenants did more than the requisite six months as watch commanders?  Then there are those individuals who do get special assignments who then go back to watch commander duty or patrol and it seems on its face that it's these individuals who are the most well rounded, have undergone the most career development and so forth. Some of these individuals seem to be the best candidates to go into management since at the captains' level, the only official list is alphabetical and there's more politics in that process than in a typical day at City Hall.

Yet, how many of these promotions come involving lieutenants with more than just a passing experience with watch commander duties?  How many sergeants who get back to back to back special assignments fare with promotions compared to sergeants who spend most of their time in patrol assignments?


How much sense does it take to take a back to back to back special assignment sergeant, promote him and then put him in graveyard shift (A watch) watch command to get "patrol supervisory experience"?   That's a tough one for a novice and outsider to the profession to understand whether that's a right or wrong stance to take but to me, I'd want a captain who had a wealth of watch command experience as part of his or her "career development" especially if I put him in charge of Field Operations.  It's more than a bit bizarre to put someone in charge of field operations who somehow missed patrol assignments as they advanced up the promotional ladder or put in a watch commander (because that's where many lieutenants get their "feet wet" when promoted) if they don't have any or very little patrol background.   I think you leave Patrol and Field Operations out of the mentoring and promotional processes at your own peril because that's always going to be the bulk of your agency.  That just makes sense to this completely lay person. 


For one thing under the stipulated judgement with the state, one mandate was to have lieutenants to serve as watch commanders instead of sergeants as had been the practice. The reason for doing that and talking to former State AG Bill Lockyer and the assigned monitor on this issue, this is what I learned. It was done to increase the amount of field experience on the shifts particularly graveyard and swing shift as well as on weekends and holidays. That means putting in lieutenants who had extensive experience in field operations including supervision as sergeants.  But if you promote someone who's got scant experience as a patrol sergeant at all and make him or her watch commander, then how is this mandate and its intended goal accomplished?   Yet sergeants with extensive patrol experience (which may include stints as back fill watch commanders) who aren't on the list to get back to back to back special assignments aren't being mentored in that fashion and since the majority of sergeant and especially lieutenant promotions are going to those with extensive histories in special assignments, they're not getting the same opportunities. 

This latest development between Smith and Diaz isn't all that surprising but it's good that someone like Smith who's also got extensive union experience is asking the questions that frankly more people should be. As to what the answers are, that remains to be seen who's right and who's wrong but it's a discussion that needs to be done even in a department that doesn't welcome dissent or even criticism.

Former Deputy Chief Now Heads Security at Tyler Galleria

Retired Deputy Chief Pete Esquivel was hired to head security at Tyler Galleria not long after the mall changed hands. He was introduced recently by Diaz at a meeting which means that whatever Diaz said about him before must have been forgiven.

Councilmen Brawl in Regatta at Lake Evans

Councilman Chris MacArthur beats out Paul Davis for the win

No one fell overboard. No one got eaten up by the python rumored to be living in Lake Evans and no one needed to be towed back to shore when winds died.  But in the end, though Councilman and mayoral candidate Rusty Bailey went out strong, it was Chris MacArthur who won by a sizable margin. Paul Davis who's won before and had put in some practice time finished second followed by Andrew Melendrez. The event raises money for the youth sailing program at the park and charities of the councilmen's choice.

That Time of Year...

It's getting close to the time period when Riverside's own city council and outgoing mayor, Ron Loveridge will be doing a performance evaluation for the city's official manager, Scott Barber but as most people know if the city government that hired Barber from inhouse is going to evaluate Barber then they need to do a similar evaluation of his regular sidekick, City Attorney Gregory Priamos.

Just like other celebrated duos like the Lone Ranger and Tonto, Felix and Oscar and Fred and Barney, you have Scott and Greg.  They provide an interesting contrast to the previously infamously known duo, Greg and Brad, meaning Brad Hudson who packed a parachute when he skipped out of Riverside to take a lower paying job in a dumpier office up in Sacramento County.

Former City Manager Brad Hudson now CEO of Sacramento County

Now it's well known that Brad and Greg weren't the best of friends. In fact, it's alleged that Greg was a bit peeved at Brad and for good reason, when Brad arrived, he seemed to want to oust Greg from his job as the city's lead attorney.  It wasn't anything personal. Brad wanted to oust a bunch of people from their jobs and replace them with his own peeps, most of which had worked with him or around him when he'd been employed by Riverside County. 

Allegedly when he first came to Riverside, he'd wanted to replace Greg with someone from the county too. He didn't have any authority to do so because like his position, that held by Greg is governed by the city's charter. Only the city council and mayor can hire and fire the city attorney and Greg didn't take it very well. 

The two always looked like two glaciers, ice cold sitting next to each other on the dais and Greg once made a pithy comment when someone mistook him for Brad.  He corrected them and then ended with, "I consider that an insult really". 

But what a difference a staffing change makes. After Brad announced during a June 2011 performance evaluation called by City Councilman Chris MacArthur that he was going adios, the city council headed by two-term mayor pro tem MacArthur had to scramble to put together a recruitment and hiring process to blow more money on Mayor Ron Loveridge's pet head hunter company, Brown Consulting Group to put together yet another questionable round of hiring, and then turning around and putting up the candidate that they wanted all along.  They did that with Hudson and they'd do it with Scott as well. 

After all, Scott had been hired in a position that was specifically created him called community development director but that's not like being a city manager.  So when Scott got hired by the city council and mayor who face it, couldn't afford to have someone new from outside come in and deal with both the way Brad did business and the outgoing exodus of employees who had been loyal to him while he'd been here. 

One half of the city manager's position, is held by former Community Development Director Scott Barber

Scott and Greg apparently have been fast friends, seen chatting on the dais during meetings rather than freezing each other out. But what Scott will have is a little less power than Brad had to be the final decider on  certain personnel decisions made by Greg (and City Clerk Colleen Nicol too but she's not a member of this boy's club). With litigation filed by various city employees, including racial discrimination and retaliation lawsuits filed by employees from both the police department and public utilities working their way through the system not to mention whistle blower lawsuits filed by one of Greg's former employees and one who worked for public works, Scott and Greg have to put their heads together and figure out what to do about these labor uprisings. More lawsuits to come whether the Press Enterprise covers them or not as

Unlike the city sponsored media outlets or those who who have financial ties to elected officials in this city, this blogger doesn't take the simple words of high ranking city employees as the final words on what the truth is about. That's something that blogs that provide public relations services to the city and its elected officials are encharged with doing.  When it comes to taking what elected officials or their high ranking employees say, nothing beats a strong paper trail and if that states otherwise, it's not that difficult to see that unfortunately, the truth may be more elusive than some might think.

After all, it's been at least six weeks since this blogger asked one simple question of Scott to be answered on the dais in his words or in writing through the soon to likely be award-winning (at tax payer expense) Barber Blog.

That was about the infamous four way land swap that started with the city wanting for whatever reason to help developer Mark Rubin (who's contributed to quite a few campaign coffers over the years) find an anchor tenant for the Citrus Towers office building he built downtown. You see, he had to use $37.5 million in state revitalization bonds and needed a lease generating entity to serve as collateral and his first choice, the Raincross Promenade couldn't do that due to the inability to even give the luxurious condos away in a flat housing market and recession.

The Riverside Public Utilities Building was to house the police department's administrative headquarters under the one city dealing that not even its public relations division will touch with a 10 foot pole

Scott and the city council were asked multiple times to answer some questions about what should be one of the most controversial actions, i.e. the "parting gift" given by Brad on his way out of town.  What's the public benefit of moving two city departments into new digs which would force both of them to pay higher "rent" for their space? The Public Utilities Department would have to pay higher rent when it picked up the lease for prime real estate at the Wells Fargo Building to finish off the lease of the city's number one outside legal firm, Best, Best and Krieger. The police department originally was supposed to see its own annual rent of $1 (until   December 2017) increase considerably to cover the debt obligation that had been paid annually by its current tenant either out of the general fund or its own departmental budget.   These increased expenses would be passed on to city residents naturally.

Scott and the city council were also asked, why the city should frankly give a damn about the private business of the private law firm of BB&K. What business is it of City Hall if BB&K is going to either obligate its lease or breach it early to move elsewhere?

Frankly, the only reason that City Hall would involve itself in the process causing two city departments to incur higher costs which are passed on to city residents, would be if the city was the one who encouraged in some fashion, BB&K to breach its own lease with the Wells Fargo Building.

As for the building on Orange Street that houses the police administration and dispatch center, it has a lease with Riverside County (which owned the building under another land swap)that expires at the end of 2017 with a two year notice of intent to vacate it required. The question asked repeatedly was did the city give notice of intent to vacate and if so on which date?

What's puzzling is that the city that promotes itself as the shining light of truth or transparency hasn't answered these questions.

The other half of the city manager position, City Attorney Gregory Priamos is Barber's BFF to the point where they both share the same watering hole. To commiserate or strategize? But remember what they said about friends...

Up for evaluation also is City Attorney Greg Priamos who was allegedly spanked by Mayor Ron Loveridge a few weeks ago for ruining an event that was organized by a list of non-profit organizations with the news that they had to be covered by workman's compensation insurance during a new policy written by the city covering volunteers including outside vendors at city-sponsored events.  

As it turned out, Priamos totally jumped the gun on this one because the above policy amendment which requires a resolution to be passed by the city council was merely in discussion phase at the Governmental Affairs Committee level and had never reached the city council let alone been passed. Yet no one reined this overzealous city attorney in time to save the event which was totally ruined. Perhaps the next time Priamos and Barber hang out together at The Salted Pig on Main Barber can pass a long some legal advice in return for all the management advice Priamos has given him. 

It's not clear whether Priamos will receive anything but accolades from the city council and Loveridge (whose probably forgiven him for his big gaffe by now) but the city's still getting sued by its own employees and settling cases out right and left. 

And then there's that issue from years ago, regarding the reclassification of a former assistant city attorney. It'll allegedly be his first evaluation with the city council knowing about that.  But the last time City Hall cleaned house, he was promoted. So far he's survived the latest clean out with flying colors.

Public Service Announcement 

(for information coming)