Is It a Latino’s Turn to Head Up Santa Ana Police?

If Santa Ana Police Chief Paul M. Walters wins the election for Orange County sheriff on Tuesday, an interesting debate is expected to develop: Should the next police chief be Latino?

Because the Santa Ana Police Department, the second largest law enforcement agency in the county, serves a population that is 68% Latino, there will probably be an effort to include a Latino among the finalists, experts say. Because such demographics have become more common in California in recent years, high-ranking Latinos have become an appealing commodity, often on recruiters’ short lists.

“They are very much in demand,” said Bob Murray, whose recruitment firm, DMG Maximus, has conducted more than 60 searches for police chiefs in cities including San Diego, San Jose and Seattle. “With urban cities in the West and throughout the United States being more and more culturally diverse, you see them reaching out to people who meet that diversity.”

Don Blankenship, president of the Santa Ana Police Officers Assn., said that “from what I’ve seen, [a Latino] can pretty much write his own ticket, if he is a sharp guy who has thoroughly impressed everybody.”

Many Latino officers who reach the upper echelons of management have been recruited for top jobs in other cities. Gene Hernandez, for example, a former police captain in Orange, recently became chief of police in Chino, where 42% of the residents are Latino.

“There’s not a whole lot of us,” Hernandez said. “I’ve had calls where they say they are looking for someone competent . . . and this is a highly Latino community, so [my ethnicity] is a plus.”

After 26 years with the Los Angeles Police Department, Capt. Richard Gonzales was asked by a recruitment firm to apply for the police chief’s job in Corona. Three months ago, he got the job.

Gonzales said his ethnicity wasn’t a requirement, but it helped.

“I think they are looking for someone who will interact and be a part of the community,” he said.

Manny Ortega was a lieutenant in Orange when he was wooed for the chief’s job in Bell in 1988. Two years later, he was recruited to become the police chief of Placentia.

Ortega, now a member of the State Board of Prison Terms, retired from Placentia in 1997 after a vote of no confidence from his officers. But he still gets an occasional recruitment call.

“It comes down to getting a wider pool,” Ortega said. “Some communities seem to feel there would be a greater acceptance of a Latino police chief because of the large percentage of Latinos in the community.”

Since police chiefs usually are chosen from among captains, Ortega’s ascension through the ranks was quick--but not as quick as that of LAPD Sgt. Camarino Sanchez.

Sanchez was 39 when he became chief of the Hollister Police Department six years ago, leapfrogging the ranks of lieutenant and captain. The city’s population was Latino, and Sanchez said he competed against several other Latino candidates for the job.

“I think it was because I was young and enthusiastic as much as anything,” said Sanchez, who has since become chief of the much larger San Rafael Police Department.

Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas said his ethnicity was a major reason he was selected as one of three finalists to replace former Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams in 1997.

“They wanted to look beyond what they had in the past,” said Venegas, a native of Mexico. “They have a growing population of Hispanics and wanted to give a Hispanic candidate consideration.”

Venegas, whose city is 17% Latino, said it can be a “phenomenal boost” for the morale of a city to have a law enforcement leader who is of the same ethnicity as many of the citizens, because it can inspire others.

“Historically, [Latinos] have had a hard time getting into organizations, let alone getting to the rank of executive,” he said. “That’s why we are in high demand. Our task as Hispanic commanders is to help organizations bring people up, men and women, to replace us.”

Paul Whisenand, president of a San Clemente-based executive search firm, predicts that if Santa Ana does end up with a vacancy, “a top-qualified Latino is definitely going to get into the process and will be considered among the final candidates.”

With the race for sheriff a dead heat between Walters and Orange County Marshal Mike Carona, according to a recent Times poll, Santa Ana leaders declined to discuss any possible successors before the election.

But City Manager David N. Ream said there are qualified in-house candidates to succeed Walters if he wins. Ream said the city must consider them first and expand the search only if the city’s personnel board requests it. None of the department’s three top-ranking captains, F. Peter Jensen, Dan McCoy and Bruce Carlson, are Latino.

Opinions among Latino community leaders are mixed on whether ethnicity should be an issue at all.

“I think it’s important that the executive staff of a city reflect the community it serves,” said Santa Ana resident John Palacio, a member of the League of United Latin American Citizens. “It’s a very important and sensitive position and needs to be filled with someone who has an understanding and a knowledge of the diversity of that community.”

But Ruben Martinez, a community and political activist who owns a bookstore in Santa Ana, said, “I don’t care if someone is Polish as long as he respects the people who live in this city. Mexican people, as a rule, when they are respected, they double that respect in return.”