Steve Marcin |

07 Apr 2016

Anaheim Police & the KKK: Email Shows Top Brass Went Into Damage Control Mode After Park Clash

Police Captain Steve Marcin sent an email to his lieutenants saying top brass was “not allowing misguided public comments or media spin” to “misrepresent” police response at Pearson Park.

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

A copy of an email the Anaheim Investigator obtained through a California Public Records Act request last month shows that Steve Marcin, Captain of the Field Services Division of the Anaheim Police Department, with the support of Deputy Chief Dan Cahill, told lieutenants under his command that, in the aftermath of the Saturday, February 27th clash between knife-wielding Klansmen and anti-racist counter-protesters at Pearson Park, top brass was “not allowing misguided public comments or media spin” about police activity that day “to misrepresent our operational planning, uniformed response and investigative follow up.”

Marcin’s email, entitled “KKK Follow Up” and dated Wednesday, March 2, 2016, urged all “captains, lieutenants and sergeants” to “step up” and keep “our officers informed” about the February 27th incident, while the “Chief and Deputy Chiefs” were “working this issue externally.” As an example, he cited the fact they all “marched” at an “Anaheim Peace Rally” that took place on Monday, February 29th–a highly unusual move especially since Sergeant Daron Wyatt, Public Information Officer for the Anaheim Police Department, was quoted a few days earlier as saying “we don’t want [to] look like we are taking anyone’s side” in a protest.

Furthermore, Marcin wrote that “[t]he Chiefs and a number of captains attended the city council meeting” on Tuesday, March 1st and “listened to inaccurate, accusatory, and misinformed public comments about our preparation, response and investigation with respect to” police response to the violence at Pearson Park the previous Saturday. “The Chief,” typed Marcin, “addressed the Council in front of the audience. The Chief stood steadfast in setting the record straight…. The Chief emphasized that APD personnel were prepared and that our response and investigation was prompt, appropriate, fair, and complete.”

The text of Marcin’s email is as follows:

PLEASE communicate the following with your teams at your earliest convenience. It’s important for them to know our Chief and staff are supporting our teams and not allowing misguided public comments or media spin to misrepresent our operational planning, uniformed response and investigative follow up.

Anaheim Peace Rally — Monday February 29:
APD [Anaheim Police Department] Press Releases have made a point to note that virtually all of the people involved in Saturday’s violence were not from Anaheim. Consequently, a number of Anaheim faith based groups, non-profit organizations, community groups, political leaders and department heads held a peace rally in Pearson Park then walked to City Hall. Our Chief and Deputy Chiefs attended this rally and marched with the other Anaheim residents. The message of the event was that Anaheim does not want violence and that we as a city, stand for constitutional rights and public safety. The Chiefs attended to demonstrate APD’s support of this stance. A few individuals attempted to disrupt the march with their own agenda. However the organizers and virtually all of the participants stuck with the message that the Anaheim community denounces violence. It was important the Chiefs represented us all at that event.

City Council Meeting – March 1:
The Chiefs and a number of captains attended the city council meeting last night. We listened to inaccurate, accusatory, and misinformed public comments about our preparation, response and investigation with respect to Saturday. At the conclusion of public comments, the Chief addressed the Council in front of the audience. The Chief stood steadfast in setting the record straight. Anaheim Police had a plan to allow the public to exercise 1st amendment rights and would respond if needed to keep the peace or if violence occurred. Once the attack began, APD responded swiftly, regained control and conducted a thorough and complete investigation. Filing decisions are now with the OCDA. [Orange County District Attorney] The Chief emphasized that APD personnel were prepared and that our response and investigation was prompt, appropriate, fair, and complete.

I see firsthand how our Chiefs are working this issue externally. It is up to us to work it internally. The Chiefs are doing what they’re paid to do. We as captains, lieutenants and sergeants need to step up and do what we’re paid to do….. This department belongs to all of us. Let’s ensure we take good care of it by keeping our officers informed, maintaining a consistent message, and addressing any misguided or misinformed comments promptly.

The Investigator believes that Marcin’s email is a classic textbook example of what experts in the fields of business management, organizational theory, and public relations would call crisis containment and damage control. The actions it makes reference to were essentially part of a calculated strategy undertaken by top brass to minimize the negative impact the bloody Pearson Park skirmish had on the image of the Anaheim Police Department.

According to an article published in the Handbook of Research on Crisis Leadership in Organizations, when a business firm is suddenly confronted with a crisis that poses a serious threat to its well-being, its leaders quickly “turn to … activities” that limit “reputational and financial threats to the organization.” Although The Investigator realizes the Anaheim Police Department isn’t a “business,” it does function remarkably similar to one.

The following quotes neatly summarize the unwritten goals of Marcin’s email:

When crises cannot be avoided, despite careful planning or prevention activities, leaders must turn to the activities associated with crisis containment and damage control …. Crisis containment is defined as the decisions and actions aimed at mitigating the severity of the crisis, and, specifically, limiting the reputational and financial threats to the organization ….

[E]ffective crisis containment and damage control requires consistent message and communication to key stakeholders. In fact, the competency most closely identified with crisis leadership behavior is the ability to communicate effectively. Very often, the type of communication observed during a crisis event is one that is rooted in the public relations tradition and attempts to position the [organization] or the problem in relatively favorable terms. In other words, crisis communication is used to positively shape the stakeholders’ perceptions of the crisis and the organization. During the damage control or containment phase of a crisis, leaders will identify and connect with key organizational personnel, provide or solicit necessary information and instruction, and attempt to restore calmness or provide reassurance to affected constituents.

For the record, The Investigator has never had any objections to the Anaheim Police Department presenting an honest and truthful account about what precautions it took to mitigate the possibility that violence would erupt between Klansmen and counter-protesters at Pearson Park. What The Investigator opposes, however, were any attempts by top brass to misrepresent the facts about what transpired that day, not only to cover-up any mistakes or tactical errors that might have been made, but to manipulate public opinion.

That being said, The Investigator has proof suggesting that this is indeed what has occurred. There is evidence that Police Chief Raul Quezada has made misleading statements both to the Anaheim City Council and the Anaheim Public Safety Board when he claimed that his department didn’t know when and where the Klan would be at Pearson Park. Police emails obtained under a California Public Records Act request show that they did in fact know that information roughly 24-hours before they were expected to appear.

And contrary to the assertion that Marcin made in his email that the “investigation” into this matter was “prompt, appropriate, fair, and complete,” the OC Weekly has interviewed Tom Bibyan, one of the counter-protesters at Pearson Park who was allegedly stabbed by Charles Donner, a Klansman. Bibyan asserts he did nothing to provoke the violent assault that left him hospitalized for four days. Yet, as of the date of this posting, detectives from the Anaheim Police Department have still not interviewed him to get his side of the story. Why not?

[Below is Captain Marcin’s email]

Marcin Email 1 of 2

Marcin Email 1 of 2

Marcin Email 2 of 2

Marcin Email 2 of 2

Posted in Anaheim City Council, Anaheim Police Department, Anaheim Public Safety Board, Charles Donner, Civil Liberties, Crisis Containment, Damage Control, Dan Cahill, Daron Wyatt, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Ku Klux Klan, OC Weekly, Pearson Park, Public Information Officer, Raul Quezada, Steve Marcin, Tom Bibyan

14 Oct 2013

4 Comments

On Pins & Needles: Retiring Police Chief Told Officials Anaheim Could Face ‘More Civil Unrest’

Retiring Anaheim Police Chief John Welter warned public officials back in May he was “very concerned” high tensions between cops and residents in Leatrice-Wakefield could spark “more civil unrest.”

By DUANE ROBERTS
Editor & Publisher

According to copies of several emails the Anaheim Investigator obtained through a California Public Records Act request, retiring Anaheim Police Chief John Welter told the Mayor and City Council back in May he was “very concerned” escalating tensions between cops and residents in the Leatrice-Wakefield neighborhood, a working-class Mexican community located about one mile Southeast of the Disneyland and California Adventure theme parks, could lead to a confrontation where somebody “will eventually cross the line and get arrested,” sparking “more civil unrest.”

All of the emails in question, which were sent to Susan Ray, an administrator for the Office of the Mayor and City Council, on Wednesday, May 1, 2013, touch upon a “major event” which occurred in that neighborhood the prior evening where the Anaheim Police Department deployed 12 patrol units, including two Sergeants and the Watch Commander, to handle a crowd “watching and yelling” at officers responding to a “disturbance” call. This incident was considered so serious the city activated its “Emergency Virtual Operations Center,” something usually done when a natural disaster, plane crash, or act of terrorism occurs.

In an email Chief Welter shot off about the incident the very next day, he contemptuously dismissed the crowd as being a “group of criminal residents” who feel “they have the right and power to drive the police from neighborhoods.” He complained “[t]hese incidence [sic] of community interference and threats to police have been going on for months now. I predict that someone will eventually cross the line and get arrested. Depending on who, when and where that arrest occurs, it will very likely cause more civil unrest.” In closing, he added: “These actions will only get worse as the criminal element gain power.”

The text of Welter’s email is as follows:

Good afternoon, At the bottom of this email is information on police/community activities that has me very concerned. I covered this situation at our monthly Department Head meeting on May 1. These incidence [sic] of community interference and threats to police have been going on for months now. I predict that someone will eventually cross the line and get arrested. Depending on who, when and where that arrest occurs, it will very likely cause more civil unrest.

I’m bringing this to your attention because of the increasing examples of disrespect and insults to others by many in Anaheim. When a group of criminal residents feels as though they have the right and power to drive the police from neighborhoods, we will have a very difficult time protecting the law abiding residents from escalating violence.

There have been instances of resident interference that prevented officers from engaging in routine activities like impounding abandoned or stolen cars. On one occasion, the resident interference provided an opportunity for a potential criminal suspect to evade police detainment during an investigation.

These actions will only get worse as the criminal element gain power. The law abiding residents will be the true losers in the end. Police will be made to be the ‘murderers’, ‘assassins’, and ‘criminals.’ And certain members of our community will use all of this as a platform to drive their individual agendas.

Attached to Welter’s email was several messages he exchanged with Captain Jarret Young earlier that same day. At 7:38 a.m., the Captain blasted out an email to all high-ranking members of the Anaheim Police Department offering them a brief summary of what transpired in the Leatrice-Wakefield neighborhood the night before. The brouhaha first began when “[o]fficers were handling a call in the alley of Wakefield,” typed Young. It was there, he said, that they encountered “subject on a scooter or bike” who “began yelling and resisting” when they “attempted to detain” him:

FYI

Ref this call … Lt Hale called me last night. Officers were handling a call in the alley of Wakefield when they were confront [sic] by a 415 (Disturbance) subject on a scooter or bike. When the officers attempted to detain the 415 subject he began yelling and resisting. Several residents came out to the alley and a crowd gathered. Most of the crowd was anti-police. Officers called for code 3 assistance. [REDACTED] responded to the help call along with several other units.

The mother and family of Martin Hernandez were some of the people in the crowd. When they saw [REDACTED] they focused their attention on him.

Lt Hale got [REDACTED] out of there and attempted to calm down the family/crowd.

I think there was only one arrest made.

I sent a message to Lt. Trapp to have the CPT [Community Policing Team] officers to reach out to their contacts in the neighborhood today and make sure they correct any misinformation about what happened.

I will pull the call and the reports when I get in later this morning.

At around 8:58 a.m., Welter asked:

What time was this? Approximately [h]ow many cops and residents?

Young later replied:

The time was about 2250 hrs…. After the call for assistance 12 units total went on-scene. This includes two sergeants and the WC. [Watch Commander]

According to the report about 60 residents were out watching and yelling at the officers.

In the first email cited above, the City of Anaheim redacted the name of the officer whom Young stated was hurriedly whisked out of the Leatrice-Wakefield neighborhood by Lieutenant Frank Hale, claiming various provisions of the California Public Records Act enabled them to withhold information about his identity. But the Anaheim Investigator has subsequently spoken to a witness who was present in the back alley at the time the incident occurred, and they have alleged the officer was Dan Hurtado, a policeman who shot and killed Martin Angel Hernandez, a 21-year old resident of that community, on Tuesday, March 6, 2012.

The aforementioned correspondence offers proof of something the Anaheim Investigator has always suspected but was unable to confirm up until now: that Anna Drive was only one of many working-class Mexican communities where tensions between cops and residents had been running high for months on end. In Leatrice-Wakefield, hostility toward the police never simmered down after Hernandez‘ death. If anything, it intensified as local residents continued organizing marches, vigils, and protests. The police have literally been on pins and needles in these neighborhoods; they have had to proceed very cautiously to avoid stirring up more anger.

In the aftermath of a week of “civil unrest” that had roiled the City of Anaheim in late July 2012, Leatrice-Wakefield was specifically identified by the Anaheim Police Department as one of ten neighborhoods in Central and South Anaheim that were considered to be “hot zones.” According to a copy of a highly confidential 43-page “Incident Action Plan” that was leaked to the public via the internet, police officers assigned to patrol this community one weekend were ordered by their superiors to adhere to “civil unrest protocols” at all times, donning “all appropriate PPE [Personal Protective Equipment]” as needed.

In respect to Welter’s remarks about “criminal residents,” the Anaheim Investigator doesn’t lend much credence to them. Although we can’t dismiss the possibility persons engaged in illegal activities might invoke the cry of “police brutality” as a ploy to discourage cops from investigating their wrongdoing, it is our opinion his comments reflect those of a man bitter his last year as Anaheim’s top lawman was sullied by intense criticism. But this was a partly a product of his own doing: had Welter not been so lackadaisical toward the spate of fatal officer-involved shootings that occurred under his watch, things might have turned out differently.

[Below are electronic reproductions of some of the documents referred to in this article. Click on them to enlarge.]