Council Reportedly Fires National City Police Chief

The City Council in National City has fired longtime and sometimes controversial Police Chief Terry Hart, according to a statement issued Wednesday by the city’s police association.

It was unclear when the council took the action to dismiss the often-outspoken Hart. The reason for the firing also was not immediately evident.

City Council members and Mayor George Waters could not be reached for comment late Wednesday. Neither could Hart nor City Manager Tom McCabe.

Hart, who has headed the 65-officer department for the past decade, was slated to make a statment in National City at 9 a.m. today, police said.

Hart has recently been at odds with the council and the mayor over budgetary issues, according to one National City police officer. “We heard there was some kind of disagreement over finances,” said the officer, who asked not to be named.

In its statement, the National City Police Officers Assn. condemned Hart’s dismissal as “excessive, unjustified and without merit.”

“His firing,” the association said in a statement, “suggests that the City Council has made a conscious decision to place petty politics above their moral and ethical obligation to support progressive safety services.”

Others have viewed Hart differently. Among other things, the chief has come under fire for his department’s treatment of Latinos, who compose about half of the blue-collar South Bay city’s population of 55,000.

“He’s a very gung-ho type of police chief, and he has said in the past that he prefers an aggressive approach to law enforcement,” said Roberto Martinez, a community activist who heads the U.S.-Mexico border program in San Diego for the American Friends Service Committee, the social-action arm of the Quaker church.

In an interview with The Times last year, Hart noted that the department had a “kick-ass” reputation. “We make more arrests per officer than any department in the county,” Hart said.

However, critics had long contended that National City officers were frequently overzealous, particularly when dealing with Latinos. Last year, Martinez said his group had compiled 35 complaints from Latinos who contended that they were victims of excessive force by National City police since 1983.

“I’m never happy about anyone losing his job,” Martinez said Wednesday, “but we do feel it (Hart’s dismissal) is going to lead to an improvement in police-community relations.”

However, the police group said that Hart’s departure would likely exacerbate an already serious morale problem in the department.

“The police officer’s association remains firm in their support of Chief Hart and stands ready to assist him in any way possible,” the group’s statement said.