San Clemente Chief Quits in Response to No-Confidence Vote

San Clemente Police Chief Kelson McDaniel resigned Thursday afternoon, two days after an overwhelming no-confidence vote by his officers.

Through a family member, McDaniel refused comment until a press conference is held this morning at his San Clemente home.

City Manager James B. Hendrickson, who announced McDaniel’s resignation, said, “There was no implication of legal or ethical wrongdoing.”

Hendrickson called McDaniel “a dedicated public servant” who had helped keep crime low in San Clemente. But he added that the former chief’s exacting management style was a problem.

Lt. Albert C. Ehlow, acting police chief since Tuesday, will continue in that role until the city picks a new police chief, Hendrickson said.

Hendrickson declined to say if he had asked for McDaniel’s resignation.

But Detective Russ Moore, president of the San Clemente Peace Officers Assn., the group that led the outcry against McDaniel, said Hendrickson told the organization’s board Thursday afternoon that he had “asked for the resignation.”

On Tuesday, Hendrickson had placed the 50-year-old McDaniel--police chief for 19 months--on administrative leave from his $62,000-a-year job. This action followed an emotional meeting Tuesday called by the police association.

At that time, shrieking and weeping Police Department employees and their relatives told Hendrickson and Mayor Holly Veale that McDaniel had made working conditions intolerable.

40 Voted No Confidence

They accused McDaniel of setting quotas for traffic tickets and arrests and said that morale was low and that five or six of the department’s 33 officers were considering resigning.

The meeting had come after an overwhelming “no confidence” vote announced Tuesday, in which 40 of the 50 members cast ballots against McDaniel, six members abstained and just four disagreed with the “no confidence” position.

In addition to placing McDaniel on leave, Hendrickson this week hired a consultant, James S. Mocalis, a former San Juan Capistrano city manager, to interview police officers and review the complaints against McDaniel.

Hendrickson said Thursday that Mocalis’ conclusions were not written and would remain confidential. But he stressed that McDaniel had done nothing illegal.

Allegations that the former police chief had set arrest and ticket quotas were not substantiated, Hendrickson said.

The city manager refused to describe McDaniel’s management style, asking Ehlow to do so instead. Ehlow noted that McDaniel followed Police Chief Gary Brown, “an easygoing guy” who believed in community involvement and started neighborhood vigilance programs.

McDaniel, from a different management school, required his officers to follow “the letter of the law,” not just the spirit, Ehlow said.

Councilmen Express Relief

McDaniel had a hard-nosed approach toward beat officers, Ehlow said. “They were held accountable for things (crimes) in their area, whereas under Gary they weren’t,” Ehlow said.

Several councilmen and Moore of the Peace Officers Assn. said they were relieved that McDaniel had resigned.

“My immediate reaction is that it’s time for our members to go back to work. The problem has been taken care of,” Moore said.

Councilman William Mecham called it “a resolution to what had been a very quickly developing problem.” But he said he had been startled at the depth of opposition to McDaniel because until 10 days ago, “I hadn’t heard of any major complaints about him.”

Councilman Robert C. Limberg called McDaniel’s resignation “a tough decision” because “he feels he was doing a good job.”

“But considering the circumstances, he had no alternatives,” said Limberg, who described McDaniel’s predecessor as “a laid-back guy,” while McDaniel was “more structured, with stricter regulations.”

What the Police Department needs in a chief was a combination of those styles, Limberg said.

Hendrickson promised he would seriously consider the complaints about McDaniel and try not to repeat past mistakes when the city picked a new chief.

McDaniel’s resignation is a setback in what had been an impressive career.

17 Years on Newport Force

A native of Indiana, he spent 17 years as a Newport Beach police officer, then applied but was rejected for San Clemente police chief in 1977. A year later he was hired as chief in Los Alamitos, where he remained until 1985. That October, he was chosen as San Clemente’s new chief from a field of 113 candidates.

Hendrickson said Thursday that he had selected McDaniel “because of his fine reputation, an extensive background search--and the totally glowing reports that emerged from that.”

He said he had learned of serious complaints against McDaniel only in the last 10 days and called the period since then “an agonizing period for all.”

Acting Chief Ehlow is 49 and has been with the San Clemente Police Department for 25 years, commanding its detective division, administrative services and the jail. He was one of the 113 candidates who applied for the police chief’s job in 1985 but was not a finalist.

Ehlow learned that McDaniel had resigned only an hour before Thursday night’s press conference. Although Ehlow said he understood the complaints against the former chief, he said he was still trying to assess the depth of the reaction.

“We’re going to look at those (problems) and meet with the association, but it’s going to take some time,” Ehlow said.