Simi Chief Ruffles Feathers, but Has Officials Cooing

SIMI VALLEY — The summer of 1995 was the worst of times for the city’s Police Department.

In August of that year, Michael Clark became the city’s first officer killed in the line of duty, the department had been without a chief for more than six months, several officers were under investigation for participating in an illegal pyramid scheme, and one officer was under investigation for perjury.

Into that morass walked 46-year-old Randy Adams, chosen as the city’s new police chief to oversee a department of 116 sworn officers with a budget of almost $15 million.

“I really wish I could have come in under better circumstances,” Adams said recently.

Clark’s funeral was the same week Adams was sworn in.

And soon after setting up his office, Adams had to discipline the officers involved in the pyramid scheme, firing one. Four others resigned, and he fired another officer for committing perjury.

“[Discipline] is the least popular thing I do,” Adams said. “I just try to make sure that I’m consistent and fair.”

Adams also commended his officers for policing themselves during those incidents.

A self-described no-nonsense by-the-book administrator, Adams said he knows that he ruffled some feathers when he came in and “cleaned house.”

Several officers in the department describe Adams as too rigid a leader, uninterested in the opinions of others. But city officials see him as decisive--a welcome quality after the resignation of the previous chief, Willard R. Schlieter, amid allegations that he was a weak leader.

“What Adams did was take the bull by the horns,” said Councilwoman Barbara Williamson. “Let’s face it. We needed some firm leadership, and Randy came in and stepped up to the plate and did what he had to do.”

Adams also decided to change the city’s concealed weapons permit process in response to the controversy surrounding City Councilwoman Sandi Webb’s defiant statements that she carried a concealed weapon without a permit.

Webb had complained that the city’s permit process was too restrictive and that she had a constitutional right to carry a gun.

Adams instituted a new permitting process with rules meant to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to get concealed weapons permits if they had a $1-million liability insurance policy and could pass a psychiatric test.

The list of actions taken by Adams definitely has made an impression on city officials, said City Manager Mike Sedell.

“We had a department that lacked a firm direction from its previous top official,” Sedell said. “He came in and changed that.”

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Since taking the job, Adams--a tall athletic former assistant chief at the Ventura Police Department--has seemingly hit all the right notes, city officials said.

“We were watching closely and he quickly reassured us that we had made the right decision,” Sedell said.

Adams, who grew up in the San Fernando Valley, attended high school in Reseda and college at Cal State Los Angeles. He said that he feels at home in Simi Valley and that his $92,000-a-year job has been “the right fit” for him.

But rank-and-file officers are still concerned that--even after 18-months--they do not have a smooth working relationship with Adams, said Det. Fred Janes, president of the police union.

“Let’s put it this way,” Janes said. “We’re still in a very extended getting-acquainted period and we’re not quite meshing yet. That’s part of the reason why I got reelected--because people didn’t see the kind of meshing they would have liked to have seen. We’re still in a process--unfortunately--of trying to figure exactly where we’re at with him.”

For his part, Adams said he knows he has upset some officers with his management style, but adds that it is something they will have to get used to.

Adams said he hopes that a new plan of reorganization he recently introduced will free up his top commanders to work more closely with the rank-and-file officers, and build closer relationships between the ranks.

Adams himself said he tries to go out on one patrol shift every month to help establish better “personal relationships” with his officers.

The reorganization will split the department from two divisions into four, add an additional captain to the top rung of commanders and add a top civilian administrative position.

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Adams said he consulted with all his commanders and with officers throughout the department, learning how the system was working before making the proposed changes.

“I found out that we were demanding so much from our top commanders and they just ended up pushing paper around all the time and didn’t have enough time to build the positive relationships with people who work with them,” Adams said.

He said he hopes the new system will free up his commanders to “rub shoulders” with the officers who serve under them, “reminding them where their roots are.”

Janes said he doesn’t expect any great changes because of the reorganization.

“You got to understand we go through this kind of thing every eight to 10 years when we get a new chief or a new city manager,” he said. “It really just comes down to style and preference. If this is what he’s most comfortable with, that’s great. As long as it isn’t detrimental to doing our work.”

The internal shake-ups and wrangling have never gotten in the way of good police work, Janes said.

Simi Valley consistently ranks as one of the safest or the safest city in the West. Residents place public safety at the top of their priorities and consistently spend more per resident on their Police Department than any city in Ventura County, according to 1996 statistics.

Adams said he would like to build on that strong community by expanding the use of a community gang task force made up of citizens and expanding the contacts between beat officers and the city’s neighborhood councils.

“One reason we’re one of the safest cities in America is that we have an involved community,” Adams said.

The next challenge for Adams will be overseeing the construction of a police station to replace the old station on Cochran Street that was damaged in the Northridge earthquake.

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The city is expected to award a contract for building the $12-million station this month. The construction cost is being paid for by residents through a bond measure.

Like other police chiefs throughout the county, Adams is also focused on modernizing his department with the addition of laptop computers in police cars that eventually may be used for instant access to such things as criminal records or even fingerprints. He also plans to use a computer mapping system to track crime trends in the city.

Adams, who was divorced last year and has three children from 15 to 20 years old, has connected with people in Simi Valley. He is involved with the local Boys & Girls Club, the Rotary Club and the local Boy Scouts.

“I really like that kind of stuff,” Adams said.

Of his job in Simi, he said:

“I’m content right now. I’m not looking to go anywhere else. I’m still making some progress and plan to be here for quite awhile to come.”

About This Series

This is the fourth in a series of five stories about city police chiefs in Ventura County. “The Chiefs: Profiles of Ventura County’s Top Cops” looks at the common concerns of local law enforcement leaders and the issues that make the chiefs and their departments unique.