New Valley Deputy Chief Won’t Change Directions

Deputy Los Angeles Police Chief Martin H. Pomeroy, who will succeed Deputy Chief Mark A. Kroeker next week as the San Fernando Valley’s top cop, said Thursday his biggest goal will be continuing Kroeker’s programs, including the community policing project he praised as a national model.

“Mark and I are philosophically aligned,” Pomeroy said. “I intend to maintain and expand what he has done.”

Described as a thoughtful and even-handed administrator not unlike Kroeker, Pomeroy said he plans to meet with the 31 officers assigned to community policing on Monday, his first day on the new job. He said he wants to assure them “that the things they’re currently doing are things I want them to continue doing.”

“I think Mark has developed a model for community policing and it would be foolish of me to tamper with that,” he said. “I fully intend to carry on in the same direction.”

Community policing will be just one of many issues the 47-year-old Pomeroy faces as he assumes the helm of the LAPD’s operations at the Valley Bureau, which includes five patrol areas and about 1,500 officers. He replaces Kroeker, 49, who will take command of the department’s operations in south and central Los Angeles, where his mission will be to duplicate the goodwill he fostered between police and the public in the Valley.

Pomeroy will be called upon to soothe suburban residents’ increasing fear of crime, reach out to the Valley’s growing non-English-speaking communities, and grapple with the department’s limited resources--all in the shadow of Kroeker, an extremely popular police official widely praised for renewing public confidence in the department and boosting officer morale after the Rodney G. King beating.

Colleagues said Thursday they believe Pomeroy is up to the task, noting the 24 1/2-year Los Angeles Police Department veteran shares many of the qualities, including fairness and accessibility, that helped Kroeker.

Since spring, Pomeroy has been the LAPD’s employee relations administrator, a post in which he investigated officer grievances and represented the department in contract negotiations with the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents most of the rank-and-file of the 7,600-member force.

“We found him to be a fair individual, a good listener,” League President Dave Zeigler said. “Needless to say, we didn’t always agree with him, but we worked well together and we’re sorry to see him leave.”

Zeigler said there were many times during the protracted and bitter contract negotiations “when one side or the other were dragging their feet on certain issues, and he or I were able to call each other and cut to the quick and get the matter resolved.”

Before becoming the LAPD’s chief labor negotiator, Pomeroy commanded the 350-officer Narcotics Group, where he placed a strong emphasis on integrity and expanded the office’s internal auditing team to five officers and a sergeant to investigate misconduct complaints.

“I cannot think of any other division that has a whole (self-auditing) unit the size of ours,” said Cmdr. James Jones, who succeeded Pomeroy as head of the Narcotics Group.

Recently retired Detective Thomas D. Thompson, who worked directly for Pomeroy as a member of the so-called Special Investigations Team, said he was “very interested in officers’ moral values as far as the straight-and-narrow. He was very anti-corruption.”

Pomeroy also began placing more undercover officers on the street to arrest low-level drug dealers, an effort that involved taking many detectives away from long-term investigations of major traffickers, Jones said.

But Pomeroy believed that his limited resources should be trained on the core problem, which he viewed as brazen drug dealing that was getting out of hand and ruining neighborhoods. It was a conclusion, Jones said, made only after a detailed analysis of his staff and the best use of its time.

Pomeroy became known for his meticulous analyses in the 1970s, when he was a young officer assigned to a narcotics research unit. Lt. George Aliano, who was his boss, recalled that his reports on various drugs and their local use were so good they became training manuals for the district attorney’s office and brought him many commendations.

“His work was so thorough,” said Aliano, who today heads the Valley narcotics unit. “He was a guy who would’ve been wasted not using his talent.”

Pomeroy has also worked in the 77th Street, Southeast, Wilshire and Newton divisions, and did stints in juvenile and Internal Affairs.

A printer’s son who was born in Tempe, Ariz., he grew up in Lynwood and Fullerton and has a master’s degree in public communications from Pepperdine University. Tall and slim with gray hair and glasses, he lives in Placentia with his wife, Pamilla, and is the father of four children.

Pomeroy was reluctant to discuss long-range plans for law enforcement in the Valley, saying it was too early for that and promising “no immediate changes.” Some movement is expected among mid-level LAPD management, including the captains in charge of police stations, he said, but those changes will come from Chief Willie L. Williams.

“I think the best thing I can do is go to the Valley and introduce myself and continue those programs he’s already begun,” Pomeroy said, referring to Kroeker. “After I’m there a while, and should the need arise and there be a community consensus, then we can fine-tune or change those programs.”

Profile: Martin H. Pomeroy

Born: Feb. 9, 1946, in Tempe, Ariz.

Residence: Placentia.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in public management from Redlands University; master’s degree in public communications from Pepperdine University.

Personal: Married; four children, ages 10 to 23.

Career highlights: Joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1969; sergeant, 1975-76; captain, 1976-80; lieutenant, 1980-86; captain, 1986-90; commander, 1990-1993; appointed deputy chief, October, 1993. During his 24-year career with the LAPD, Pomeroy has worked at divisions including narcotics, juvenile, internal affairs, Newton, Southeast, Wilshire and 77th. He will assume command of the LAPD’s San Fernando Valley bureau Monday.

Quote: ‘I think Mark (Kroeker) has developed a model for community policing and it would be foolish of me to tamper with that. I fully intend to carry on in the same direction.’