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Innovative program links police and public

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 6, 1997 9:00 p.m.

Friday, February 7, 1997

UCPD:

Civilians on staff fill specialized administrative positions so
that sworn officers can focus on beatsBy Scott P. Stimson

Daily Bruin Contributor

Earlier this week, university police joined the rarified ranks
of police agencies with civilian administrators. The move
represents what could be the beginning of change in the
relationship between the university police and UCLA students.

University police follows the Pasadena and Inglewood police
departments to become only the third police agency in Los Angeles
County with civilian administrators.

The department’s hiring of Nancy Greenstein to the new community
services director for university police marks a departure from the
practices of most conventional police departments.

Greenstein will act as a liaison between the police department
and the public, in addition to reporting to police leaders about
changes that the public would like to see in their department.

Normally, departments promote sworn officers from within their
ranks to positions not directly related with law enforcement.

Now, instead of promoting officers off the streets for jobs in
finance, communications and community relations, some departments
are opting for civilian professionals in those fields to fill the
highly specialized positions, said university police Chief Clarence
Chapman.

"It is very cutting edge and interesting to do this because
police departments are so inbred," Greenstein said.

Greenstein joins the university police after serving 10 years as
the Public Safety Administrator for the City of West Hollywood.
During her tenure there, she helped bridge the gap between gay
residents and Sheriff’s department deputies in the city, in
addition to her key involvement with West Hollywood’s annual
Halloween Festival.

Chapman, along with university administration officials want
civilians to take over these specialized positions and to let sworn
police officers go back what they were originally hired to do
­ catch criminals out on the beat.

"I wasn’t hired to be a public relations expert," he said. "We
(now) hire people who are tenured, experienced and successful in
police-community relations," he added, referring to Greenstein’s
position.

While Chapman has made structural changes within the department,
the union representing university police officers remains undecided
about the addition of Greenstein and the policy changes that she
will implement.

"We want to give her an opportunity to fairly do her job," said
Sgt. Manuel Garza, president of the UCLA Police Officer’s
Association. "At this point, we have nothing to base a valid
opinion on," he added, noting that the proper venue for any
dissenting opinion is at the union’s regular meeting at the end of
the month.

The university police’s civilian administrator program is
modeled after those in Inglewood and Pasadena. And although the
university police union has not expressed resistance to
Greenstein’s arrival specifically, there has been open opposition
to civilian administrators from the police union at the Pasadena
Police Department.

Like university police, the Pasadena Police Department has been
restructuring to a "community-based policing" model.

Civilian and Commander Mary Schander of the Pasadena Police
Department said that initially she did not feel welcome by the
sworn personnel.

"There have been people who have said that I don’t belong here
and that I can’t do the job," Schander said. "I think it is
something that I am qualified for ­ I have been dealing with
(police) management issues since the 1970s," she added. Schander is
currently in charge of 87 employees at the department, including
seven sworn officers.

While both Schander and Greenstein are civilian administrators,
only Schander has direct authority over police officers, a
responsibility that Greenstein will not assume.

"I don’t want to run a police force. I’m doing exactly what I
want and that is working with sworn people in terms of problem
solving," Greenstein said.

The way officers at university police view Greenstein will
depend on her performance over the next year. But Greenstein does
anticipate some initial uneasiness from officers.

"I’ve heard that some of the officers are afraid of a civilian
bossing them around," Greenstein said. "That is not the intention
here, nor would that be my interest coming from the outside," she
added.

Although Greenstein does not know what form her job will
eventually take, she does have some general ideas about what she
wants to accomplish.

She asserts that the main purpose of her position is to free up
university police captains from public relations and thus allow
them to get back to pure police work, while at the same time
developing programs for community relations.

"I’m the head of division that is evolving, so there are a lot
of tasks that have been given to me," Greenstein said. "As the job
evolves, I’ll see what resources are necessary and what resources
are available here and then go from there," she said.

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