LOOKING BACK

Young Chang

By the time Arthur Ray McKenzie got to the Costa Mesa Police

Department in the early ‘50s, he was on his second round of life as a

cop.

The very first police chief of Costa Mesa had retired from the Los

Angeles Police Department after contracting polio on the job. The ailment

left him with a disabled leg on which he wore a brace. Eventually, he

recovered enough to get hired as the local police chief in 1953, when the

city was incorporated.

“Believe it or not, his recovery was never totally complete but he got

better and [didn’t] have to wear his leg brace permanently,” said Roger

Neth, who succeeded the late McKenzie as police chief in 1964 and is

retired now. “If fatigue set in, he wore the brace. But you didn’t notice

it ‘cause it was one of those under his trousers.”

Neth was one of the department’s first three officers. He, McKenzie,

David Gregg and Lee Laster handled a city of about 16,000 residents where

the crime rate was about average.

“It was Art’s job to build a police department,” Neth said. “I like to

put it this way: Art laid the foundation for a very professional and

innovative police department.”

Current chief, Dave Snowden said he still feels the marks McKenzie

left. The two men became friends after meeting at a Chamber of Commerce

function after the first chief’s retirement.

“He was community-oriented, very polite and courteous, and headed a

group of officers with the same qualities,” Snowden said.

Neth also remembers McKenzie being gregarious. His wife was a dancer

who co-ran a local dance studio. They threw fun parties and, of course,

attended the department’s annual Christmas galas.

“He’s the kind of guy you like to have standing beside you when you

run into a real rough, tough situation in police work,” Neth said. “But

he was not a hard-liner. He was a believer in second chances.”

McKenzie was promoted to director of public safety after serving 11

years as the chief, and later became the city manager. He retired from

work-life in 1970 and died in 1988.

“He was just a wonderful person who understood people’s problems,”

Neth said. “His men thought the world of him.”

* Do you know of a person, place or event that deserves a historical

Look Back? Let us know. Contact Young Chang by fax at (949) 646-4170;

e-mail at [email protected]; or mail her at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627.