Police chief reassigns daily control
University department aims to build community ties, promotes
Karl Ross
By LucÃa Sanchez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
In a self-defined effort to develop further ties with the
community, university police Chief Clarence Chapman has vested
control of the day-to-day operations in a newly promoted assistant
chief.
As of Jan. 19, Capt. Karl Ross "assume(d) the responsibilities
and title of assistant chief of police," in order for Chapman to
"build stronger ties with the community by devoting more time
outside the department working with our major stake holders,"
Chapman stated in a memo issued to all department personnel early
last week.
Stake holders, as defined by Ross, include students,
administrators, various campus departments, Westwood homeowners and
businesses.
Ross’s promotion is part of Chapman’s new restructuring plan –
the third within the last year and a half. The restructuring
realigns duties and frees Chapman from day-to-day details of
running a police station. Chapman was unavailable for comment.
"If the chief got involved in dealing with all the problems of
an organization on a daily basis, he wouldn’t have time to go out
and work with the community and find out what the community
desires," Ross explained.
"It has become apparent in the last year and a half with Chief
Chapman that the department as it was structured was a flat
organization, and when he’s outside the department doing the things
he needed to do as chief of police, that left behind four
captains," Ross added. "You still need someone to be responsible,
take charge of the organization, to run it."
Ross’s tenure within the department has not been without
controversy. Seven months prior to Chapman’s arrival in June 1994,
Ross served as acting chief of police with the end of his
administration marred by a unanimous vote of no-confidence from the
University Peace Officer’s Association.
"The vote of no-confidence, as far as the chief is concerned, is
significant in the fact that the job of the chief is to set the
tone, the direction and the tenor of the organization," Ross said.
"As an assistant chief, my job is to support the chief and see that
we go in the direction that we’re trying to go.
"My guess is that the vote of no-confidence had more to do with
the fact that the officers had problems with the direction that the
police department was going (and) they had problems with the way
that the police department was structured," Ross added.
He said, however, that past dissatisfaction should not pose a
problem for the current administration. "There is a chief here now
who sets the direction for the department. There is a chief here
who has laid, in the last year and a half, a foundation or
infrastructure for the organization to work," he explained. "My job
is not to create anything, my job is just to make sure that that
functions."
Under the realignment of duties, Chapman will oversee the
Westwood Village Substation which is scheduled to open Feb. 1, and
the L.A. Impact Team, an LAPD liaison program.
Explicit duties which fall under Ross’s direct influence include
budget and finance, personnel/labor relations, information systems,
and policies and procedures.
In addition, university police Capt. Alan Cueba, who supervises
the Patrol Division, and Capt. Terry Baker, in charge of the
Support Services Division, will assist Ross in the department’s
daily operations.
Cueba, who has worked with Ross for almost 20 years, said he is
confident Ross’ promotion will be favorable to the department.
"The areas that he’s responsible for are critical to the
operations of our department, and his experience and knowledge make
him an important asset in that position."
Baker agreed, citing Ross’s past experience in high posts within
the department. "Asst. Chief Ross is imminently qualified to
perform as the assistant chief as he was a past assistant chief and
a past acting chief."
Restructuring of the department was reportedly prompted by Capt.
Dave Peitz’s retirement on Jan. 18, according to Chapman’s office.
His retirement, along with Ross’s ascension, brings the total
number of captains in the department to two.
FRED HE/Daily Bruin
Karl Ross has assumed the role of assistant university police
chief and now exerts control over the university police
department’s day-to-day operations.
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