Who is the culver city police chief

He explained how the city is moving too slowly to address concerns from people of color who have been stopped disproportionately by police in town. They couldn't even vote on a hiring freeze," Kent said. If the city is serious about tackling its history, Kent noted that they could start by addressing the statue of Harry Culver, the man who planned and advertised the so-called "little white city" over years ago.

It's never going to reform its police, which is the current battle in our city unless we reckon with this white supremacist and racist past. Open in Our App. Download it here. By Kate Cagle Culver City. A Police Department source says Cooke is apoplectic over the leak and is conducting a relentless investigation to determine the author of the anonymous memo. So far, Cooke's investigators have determined the date and departmental computer terminal on which the memo was written; sources say the handful of officers with access to that terminal at that time are now subject to intense scrutiny.

While male officers are sometimes treated as good ol' boys, female officers tend to be treated as girls. Cooke apparently feels comfortable with a sexual ethos that has long since been banned in other workplaces. Several women employees of the Culver City department claim to have been showered with sexual innuendos and crude behavior, primarily by the chief.

He said this in front of many employees. In the claim, Smith also alleges she was ordered to perform CPR on a man who was already dead from a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Later tests revealed the man to have hepatitis B, which Smith also contracted. Several other female officers rumored to have suffered harassment inside the department refuse to talk about their experiences.

Several ex-department employees, however, speak of harrowing encounters with the chief. I needed the job. I felt dirty and angry, and guilty because I didn't say anything. It's all him, he sets the tone, he does such crude sexual things and enjoys the power of getting away with it. He'd have this piercing look, nothing said in a humorous way, but in an intimidating, evil, leering way. Another female employee says she abruptly quit after years of being barraged by the chief with sexual chatter and off-color jokes, which were repeated ad nauseam.

He just has rampant disrespect for women. It was a nonstop, day-to-day thing. He just wanted to see how you'd react. Some in Culver City who have worked closely with the chief say he was the prime mover in diversifying the ranks, and say they are mystified by any allegations of misconduct toward women.

I'd be stunned if these accusations were true. Others are more inclined to accept the idea of Cooke as something of a rascal, suggesting it was an attribute he picked up as a rugged kid growing up on the Westside of L. By all accounts, Cooke was a rabble-rouser as a young teen while enrolled in Venice High School. Running with a rough crowd and later as an amateur boxer, Cooke was eventually straightened out by Charles Lugo, a now-deceased former police captain in Culver City.

He straightened himself out and is the antithesis of what he was as a kid. He knows all the angles, and that's why he's such a good police chief. One angle Cooke has added to the usual police manual involves private enterprise. In several cases, Culver City officers have been allowed use of the Police Department in running private businesses.

Another officer, Leon Moore, listed the Police Department in as his business address in a fictitious-name filing with L. County, for Letron Protection Agency. Neither officer returned phone calls. Other police departments strictly prohibit the use of their public facilities for private purposes. In statement papers filed with California's secretary of state in February , Cooke is named as the corporation's president.

Sources say that, over the years, many recipients of concealed-weapons permits issued by the chief were members of the gun club. The corporation declared bankruptcy in For a number of years, Cooke has also run a private security business in Culver City called Cooke Protective Services that routinely employs many off-duty Culver City Police Department officers.

But another security business complains that it's hard to compete with the chief on his home turf. Who else is going to know about it but the Police Department? Cooke just has to contact a sales rep from his private company and contact the warehouse. There'd be a whole list of leads right there, that only he's privy to. In one recent incident, the competitors Cooke bested came from his own department.

The job was a request for extra security at an opening of the newly built King Sahad Mosque in Culver City. A source says representatives from the mosque called the department and spoke to a lieutenant, who was eager to land some off-duty business for himself and other officers.

The lieutenant went to get a work permit and clearance from the chief, the source says, but Cooke denied the permit, saying it would represent a conflict of interest for the department.

Shortly thereafter, at the mosque inaugural festivities in July, several security personnel from Cooke Protective Services were hired to guard the mosque a sight also captured by a Weekly photographer.

That sort of complacency represents more than a simple endorsement of the chief. After a tenure of more than two decades, Cooke's persona has become indistinguishable from that of the city he serves, and by all measures, that city has prospered.

Since , Culver City has evolved from a sleepy bedroom burg to a booming entertainment hub, with an estimated a , business employees now swelling the municipality on weekdays. MGM's old studio lots were renovated with Sony's move to the city in The Fox Hills Mall is thriving.

During that same period, Culver City has shed its lily-white roots and has become a model of diversity. According to the latest census figures, of a total population of 41, about 58 percent are white, 19 percent Hispanic, 12 percent Asian and 10 percent black. Interviews with residents and a review of court records show that Chief Cooke has met the growing minority presence with intense vigilance. Many blacks and Latinos, especially youth, say they live under constant police surveillance, and believe they are being targeted.

Victor Barraza, an year-old Hispanic graduate of Culver High School, who ran track and played on the basketball team, says he has been pulled over four times by the Culver City police in the last year alone.

On one occasion, he says, he was told by officers that a stolen car matched his car's description. Another explanation was a cross hanging from his rear-view mirror. Other times he was given no reason, but said his car was pulled over, he was searched and his identification examined.

Not once, he says, did he receive a citation. I drive in L. Some minorities liken driving through Culver City at night to running a gauntlet. Odie Lopez, a year-old African-American, who until recently worked the graveyard shift at the Target store in Culver City.

He's been pulled over three times in the last year. Three white people were arrested and taken into custody and two others, defined as Pacific Islander or Middle Eastern, were taken into custody following traffic stops in December. To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports patch. Sponsored By. Nicole Charky , Patch Staff.

Posted Thu, Feb 11, at am PT. The department is now changing its approach. Cid released the following message:. Find out what's happening in Culver City with free, real-time updates from Patch. Let's go! During the second half of , the Culver City Police Department put in place four initiatives to help improve our service and overall effectiveness to the Culver City Community: Reimagining Patrol Deployment and Policing Approach Improving Data Collection, Reporting, and Transparency Measures Increased Mental Health Resources Partnerships to Advance Youth In furtherance of our Reimagining Patrol Deployment and Policing Approach initiative, over the last few months the Police Department has instituted our "Park, Bike, Walk, and Talk" patrol deployment, which has officers conducting more foot and bicycle patrols around our Downtown and business districts.