Gang of Four
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Know Your City Council
What’s going on in South Pasadena’s backroom?
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Know Your City Council 
He Who Must Not Be Named: Joe Payne*
*Update: I wouldn’t normally add the asterisk for a comment, but it’s only fair to draw attention to Mike Ten’s response. I’ll do the same for anyone else mentioned.
I’d like to thank those of you who got in touch with me. And I heard roughly the same story enough that it’s worth posting. The South Pasadena Review already wrote that Joe Payne, a reserve officer for the South Pasadena Police Department, said he was approached by David Sifuentes months ago about the police chief position. I haven’t heard a bad thing about Payne. He’s well-liked among the ranks, and he worked for the SPPD for 35 years before he retired two years ago. The South Pasadena Police Officers Assn. maybe thinks he’d push for pay hikes. That helps to make sense of Mike Ten’s presentation, which implied South Pasadena is the deadliest place on Earth for a cop. That’s an assertion that seems to contradict the recently released Uniform Crime Report showing (yet another) significant drop in crime under Chief Dan Watson’s leadership.
Payne isn’t entirely without baggage. According to the L.A. Times, he’s one of six who sued the city after being demoted in the wake of scandals that plagued the department in the late 1990s. There’s nothing to suggest he was a bad cop, it’s just that when former Chief Michael Berkow came in to clean house, he thought there were too many cooks in the kitchen.
Anyhoo, here’s what I’m hearing is raising the hackles of residents:
• The perceived arrogance of council members who plan the ouster of — and the successor to — the city’s police chief behind closed doors.
• Elected officials who are giving the appearance of ignoring their constituency in favor of deep-pocketed campaign donors.
Hey, don’t shoot the messenger. If I got something wrong, please let me know via comments or email. Ditto if I got something right.
If you’re interested, there’s a fluff piece on Payne after the jump. It was in the April 2009 El Pueblo newsletter, which is “The publication of the All City Employees Benefits Service Association.” The full 24-page newsletter is here as a pdf, but it’s big and not much worth the bother. And yes, there are typos (um, South Pass?), but I’m too tired to clean it up.
Men like Retired Police Lieutenant Joseph Payne are spoken of in tall-tale form. “Stalwart” and “workhorse” comes to mind as does the simple elegance of “dedication.”
To have the esteemed record Joe enjoys, one has to have the qualities listed above. In short, to achieve a thirty-five year career as a police officer, where never once has a day of work been missed, a person needs the stuff Joe has.
And what is that stuff? Easy: it’s called heart.
Of course, as one can expect, Joe modestly qualifies his success: “I never went AWOL,” which indirectly means Joe never irresponsibly left his position. Sure, he may have called in sick once in a while, or missed a day or two for other uncompromising reasons. But Joe never simply left a day’s work without explanation, and in 35 years, that says something.
By and large, Joe, who has worked as a background investigator with the Los Angeles Police Department for the last six years, existed as an agent of dependability
while with his former long-term employer, the South Pasadena Police Department. Regularly, he picked up shifts for other officers who for various reasons could not make it into work.
“Ours (South Pasadena) was a small police force. So when one guy called in sick, it affected almost everything.”
A 1972 graduate of both Pasadena Community College and then Rio Hondo Police Academy, Joe’s career as an officer began as a Police Explorer, then after the academy and the rigorous training involved there, at 21, he became a full fledged cop.
During the following three-and-a-half decades, the Temple City native worked virtually every division South Pass had to offer: from beat cop to detective, watch commander to training officer, Joe had done it all with the force up until 55 when he voluntarily retired.
He credits his prolific career with SPPD with the diminutive size of the force. By contrast, LAPD is a much larger and different entity.
Joe is no longer a cop. He now recruits individuals who he believes would best suit the role of a cop. Undoubtedly if Joe’s recruitment skills hold fast, and if his number of successful recruits stays on track, he will be instrumental in the LAPD achieving the 10,000 police officers Mayor Villaraigosa proposed for the City.
Of course as a recruiter, Joe’s stellar record undoubtedly comes into play, particularly for his experience and understanding of the psyche a police officer should have in a city like Los Angeles.
When asked what makes a good cop today, Joe responds, “They have to be curious, understanding and tolerant.”
Are the recruits much different today than years ago when he started?
“They’re older,” he states, citing the economy as one reason the hiring landscape has changed for the LAPD. “Many more are professionals.” In that, Joe brings to light that not only does he meet individuals who were once in finance and real estate, but he even sees people with law degrees.
All this hedges toward situations where an older age group now seeks the stability found in a law enforcement career. And to this end, Joe’s plate is full. At the time of this interview, he was in the midst of reviewing twelve cases, six of which seemed promising. And that’s only the tip of the hiring iceberg for the LAPD.
On occasion, Joe is a volunteer police officer with his old South Pasadena force. But when asked if he would perform the same duty for the Los Angeles Police Department, his “no” is emphatic.
Granted, he loves the work, but the size and intensity of Los Angeles is, at this time in his life, not his cup of tea. As is, recruitment has its own set of challenges, particularly in regard to generational differences from today’s recruits and when Joe himself was a recruit.
But even so, Joe maintains a good cop knows no age boundaries.
“The reasons are all the same. It’s fascinating work. They (a good cop) want to help. They want to make a difference. Hopefully during the training process you find good ones and get rid of the bad ones.”
And who should know better than a 35-year vet who has never missed a day.
Posted: February 12th, 2010
http://cheynegateley.com/wordpress/2010/02/12/he-who-must-not-be-named-joe-payne/#more-544
Since moving to South Pasadena two years ago I’ve marveled at how much living here is like being in a Frank Capra movie. The small-town friendliness, the community spirit, the sense of fairness and consideration permeating everything from the business we conduct to the celebrations we share — it all adds up to something right out of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Including, unfortunately, some self-serving machinations for power worthy of George Bailey’s foe, Mr. Potter.
For those readers who haven’t caught up on the ongoing saga regarding the bizarre treatment of our beloved police chief Dan Watson by the South Pasadena City Council, take a look at my post here, and the follow up posts here and here. Make sure to follow the links to other media within each post.
You might want to scroll down my blog’s comments section here to read the thoughtful and eloquent reply from Chief Watson himself.
After a groundswell of community support, standing-room-only council meetings with passionate speeches in favor of Chief Watson by South Pasadena residents, thoughtful letters to the editor and full page ads in the local paper expressing support from hundreds of citizens, the matter was supposedly placed in the hands of the City Manager.
And we all thought we’d have the happy ending. You know, the one right out of a Capra film where the hero keeps his job and the town celebrates with a big party.
But the City Manager didn’t place another employment agreement on the Chief’s desk. And then, several weeks ago, The Pasadena Star News reported that Dan Watson would not accept an offer to rescind his retirement and keep his job even if he was (eventually) asked. Most of us have a good idea why he made this decision: because he is a class act who values harmony in his department and peace in his community more than a fight with a city government that seems determined to “make a change” despite a huge public outcry. I was sad and angry when I learned the news, but I wasn’t surprised. The chief — and his countless supporters — were up against a political wall that wasn’t budging.
Apparently, Chief Watson’s decision wasn’t good enough. At last week’s council meeting, several council members stated that they would yield their council comment time to councilman Mike Ten. What happened next was nothing less than shocking. I’ll let Larry Wilson of Pasadena Star News sum it up:
…in the midst of a huge national – and South Pasadena – downturn in serious crime, Councilman Mike Ten recently took “council comment time” from his fellow Gang of Four members at a public meeting to project a 10-minute Fox News feature on how the criminals are taking over and how tough it is to be a cop today – duh. He tried to frighten citizens for no reason at all – or, rather, because he has to justify somehow the purge. Chief Dan Watson then had to get up to tell little old ladies – and men – who had been scared witless that South Pas is actually a very safe place to live.
Sweet South Pas, being run by a machine – who would have thunk it?
http://southpasadena.blogspot.com/2010/02/newsworthy.html