Huntington Beach Police Chief to Retire

Huntington Beach Police Chief Earle Robitaille, whose department has been the target of several recent lawsuits alleging brutality, has announced that he will retire from the force April 17, a department spokeswoman said Friday.

Robitaille, 55, had announced last year that he would retire in March, 1987, and would seek work as a part-time law enforcement consultant. Police Department Spokeswoman Jo Anne Bonkowski, said the chief’s announcement was unrelated to the fact that he was named earlier this week in two lawsuits accusing the department of brutality.

A new police chief for the 197-officer department is expected to be named during the City Council’s next meeting on March 2. City officials would not reveal the names of the leading candidates for the $75,000-a-year post or how their search for Robitaille’s replacement was conducted.

Robitaille, who is also known for his tough talk against the city’s massage parlors, joined the department in 1963 as a patrolman and worked his way up to captain of detectives before he was appointed chief in 1969.

Earlier this week, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of four men and a juvenile of Orange County, asking for $25 million in damages for burns allegedly caused by police using electronic stun guns during five separate misdemeanor arrests.

Robitaille has publicly defended the use of the 50,000-volt devices, contending that they are a painless and effective way of subduing suspects who resist.

Another suit, filed Wednesday, claims that a Huntington Beach motorcyclist stopped for speeding last July was harassed by officers when they ordered him at gunpoint to lie face down on the pavement at the side of Pacific Coast Highway. The suit seeks unspecified damages.