Torrance Police Will Review Discipline Policy : City Council Also Plans to Study Department’s Procedures After $6-Million Civil Fine Is Paid or Appealed

A $6-million civil judgment against the Torrance Police Department will lead to a review of discipline within the department and of procedures for investigating traffic collisions involving officers, city officials said.

Police Chief Donald Nash said in an interview Friday morning that he would discuss the issues with Deputy Police Chief Jim Popp and the department’s four captains at a regular administrative meeting later that day.

The chief later declined to discuss the results of the meeting.

In a separate interview, Mayor Katy Geissert said she expects the City Council to review the Police Department’s internal affairs procedures once the civil judgment has been paid or appealed.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded $5.9 million on Sept. 8 to John Rastello of San Pedro, whose 19-year-old son, Kelly, died in a 1984 traffic collision with off-duty Torrance police Sgt. Rollo Green. The jury ordered last Wednesday that Nash and five officers pay an additional $82,500 in punitive damages.

Jurors found that the Police Department covered up for Green, who had been drinking before the accident, by delaying a field sobriety test for more than an hour and by failing to measure Green’s blood-alcohol level. The jury also concluded that the cover-up followed a Police Department “custom and policy” of condoning misbehavior by officers.

Favor Changes

Jurors spoke out strongly after their verdict in favor of changes within the county’s third-largest police department. They said Torrance officials need better procedures for investigating and punishing police misconduct.

Rastello and one of his attorneys, Browne Greene, went a step further, demanding that Nash be fired.

But Geissert and several council members said they still have confidence in Nash; the chief, who took office in 1970, said he will not step down.

The future of the Police Department was just one of the concerns facing city officials after the $6-million judgment.

City Council members said they are preoccupied with deciding how to respond to the massive judgment. The city’s lawyers say they have several grounds for an appeal, but settlement discussions with Rastello’s lawyers are continuing.

So far, Geissert said, “We have not seen a reasonable settlement offer.”

Financial Straits

A Torrance employee, who asked not to be named, said that the city wants to settle the case but that its insurance company is balking at paying.

The insurer, Protective National Inc., has been in financial straits and under state supervision for three years, according to Nebraska state insurance regulators. But a lawyer representing the Omaha-based company said any suggestion that the company is stalling is “an outright lie.”

Nash said immediately after the verdict that he was proud of the Police Department and saw no need for changes.

Nash, although continuing to protest the verdict, said on Friday that it is common sense to review Police Department procedures after such a large loss.

‘Gets Your Attention’

“Naturally, a trial of this magnitude gets your attention,” Nash said. “Certainly, you take a look at some of the things that were said and evaluate. You’d be dumb if you didn’t.

“Is there a better way of handling it? We’re taking a look at what we’re doing. . . . That’s just something you normally would do.”

Nash said one change was made not long after the crash: The department adopted a written policy that requires a traffic division supervisor and crime scene investigators to respond to all officer-involved crashes. The policy also requires officers trained in drunk-driving detection to investigate crashes involving officers who have been drinking, as they did on the night of the collision involving Green and Kelly Rastello.

Trial testimony showed that the department considered, and rejected, a policy that would have forced officers to submit to blood-alcohol tests after accidents. Administrators also decided against a policy of calling the California Highway Patrol to investigate accidents involving Torrance officers.

Although a mandatory blood-alcohol test is used by the Los Angeles Police Department, Torrance officials said they believe such tests would violate police officers’ rights and would not be admissible in criminal proceedings. And the CHP cannot be called, they said, because it will not investigate officer-involved accidents for police departments.

Painful for City

Geissert said the seven-week trial was a painful experience for the entire city.

She said it was only during the trial that she learned of several misconduct allegations, including the revelation that a police lieutenant quit in 1987 after he was accused of sexually molesting his daughter.

“I did mention to the city manager that (the City Council) should be kept better informed,” Geissert said. The mayor added, however, that she and City Council members had been told about most serious personnel matters.

Geissert set no date for the council review of Police Department procedures.

Asked if there should be a new policy for investigating and punishing misconduct, Geissert said: “Maybe there should be. I’m sure that will be something that will be under consideration.”

Trial testimony showed that police discipline has been left almost entirely to Nash and his subordinates. Geissert said the council will decide whether City Manager LeRoy Jackson should review misconduct allegations more often.

Other council members said in interviews that they had been instructed by City Atty. Kenneth Nelson not to comment until the case is resolved.

More Drastic Changes

At a press conference Thursday, Rastello and Greene said the city needs to make more drastic changes.

Greene called on the City Council to fire Nash and “clean house” in the Police Department.

Rastello concurred: “The Police Department needs to be cleaned up from the top to the bottom.”

But Geissert and council members said they have no intention of firing Nash, who joined the department in 1948 and became chief in 1970. The 65-year-old chief said he has no plans to retire.

Jurors said they will be upset if they learn in the future that the Police Department did not change after their verdict.

“It did appear to us there was a policy within the Torrance Police Department of protecting their officers,” said juror Carol Soldano, an office manager, “or taking care of their own, or taking very light action against them.

“I know it’s a very difficult and stressful job,” she said. “But that does not excuse public misbehavior.”

Juror Joe Nunez, a clerk at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, said the Police Department should have a policy of giving blood-alcohol tests to officers accused of misconduct related to drinking. And punishments should be more severe than the short suspensions and alcohol treatment programs that are ordered for many officers, Nunez said.

‘Very Lax’

“It was like, ‘Go out and drink all you want and if you get caught, it really doesn’t make much difference,’ ” Nunez said. “It was very lax.”

Jurors aimed most of their disdain at Nash.

“He is responsible for everyone in the department,” said juror M. E. Caddell, a Defense Department employee. “I don’t think he did enough.”

Jurors said they expect their verdict to make a difference. Said Julie Nameth, a homemaker: “I would sure like to think that things will change.”

Staff Writer Janet Rae-Dupree contributed to this story.