Police Commission Formation Debated

A majority of the 31 residents who spoke at a public hearing Thursday night said they think the city would benefit from establishing a police commission.

But Tom Ellick, chairman of the Huntington Beach Public Safety First police support group, called the hearing a “slap in the face” for Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg.

Opponents of the proposal to create a police commission accused council members Tom Harman and Dave Sullivan of conducting a “vendetta” against the police in retaliation for the union’s opposition to their reelection campaigns.

Police critics, however, said the department is being run by the union and needs to be brought under civilian control.

There were strong words from both sides Thursday about the aggressive enforcement tactics used during Fourth of July celebrations in the downtown area. Critics condemned the arrests of downtown-area residents for drinking alcoholic beverages on their own front porches.

“Last Fourth of July’s debacle of the police department’s arresting 549 people for offenses that probably deserved no more than a verbal warning was another miscarriage of justice,” said Tom Logan, a member of the Citizens’ Bureau of Investigation watchdog group.

But Roy Richardson, who belongs to the Police Department’s Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol program, said the arrests were a result of a city ordinance, not police harassment.

“The ordinance itself was approved by the city attorney’s office,” Richardson said, “and implemented and voted as approved by the City Council.”

Former County Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, also a former mayor of Huntington Beach, warned against creating a “kangaroo court.”

“This is going to divide the city,” Wieder said. “It’s going to be a message to those lawbreakers out there: It’s a rotten Police Department, we can do what we want.”

The subcommittee that sponsored this week’s public hearing on the commission proposal is to make a recommendation to the City Council on March 3.