The decision is made

Danette Goulet

On July 4, 1994 an elderly widow saw a couch burning in front of her

Downtown home. Fearing the fire would claim her house, she went outside

to extinguish the blaze with her garden hose.

While she was dousing the flames the water abruptly stopped. She

turned to find a big burly man with a knife had cut her hose and was

standing between her and her house.

Hearing that widow’s story of fear in a community meeting snapped the

last thread of patience that Huntington Beach Police Chief Ron Lowenberg

had with the antics that rocked the city each Fourth of July.

“I turned to the group and said ‘We can fix this problem. It may be

inconvenient for a few years, but if we work together and you let me take

control of this it can be fixed,”’ Lowenberg said.

Lowenberg last week announced the end of his part in keeping the city

under control, saying he will retire on Oct. 18 after 13 years heading the department.

They have been years of highs -- the reduction in Fourth of July

crime, the city being named among the country’s safest, dropping crime

rates -- and lows, in particular nasty episodes in which city employees,

including police officers, bumped up their final year salary to boost

their retirement and used overtime and benefits to increase salaries

significantly.

Still, through it all, the changes in 1994 may have been the defining

one for the police chief.

He recalls telling the group of people of his plan to barricade

streets, limit access to Downtown on the Fourth and have zero tolerance

for drinking.

They told him to do what he had to do.

“We made 549 arrest the next year,” Lowenberg said. “We did everything

I said we were going to do, and it worked. Since then we have been able

to bring the barricades closer in and loosen up on the zero tolerance.”

Some saw his actions as militant and fostered a deep dislike. But

those who have worked with him for many years are sad to see him go.

“He’s always been a person who looks for the best and fairest decision

to be made for all involved,” said Lt. Chuck Thomas, who has been with

the force for 17 years.

Lowenberg’s bold Fourth of July stance earned him respect from

Downtown residents and many on the force.

“That plan was pretty contrary to American way of life,” Thomas said

of Lowenberg’s Fourth of July enforcement. “It took a great deal of

courage and in the end the result was that we looked good because the

problem went away.”

Those results have often subdued Lowenberg critics.

Longtime police critic, former Mayor Dave Sullivan, feels the

department is far from perfect, but does concede that Huntington Beach’s

police department made positive strides under Lowenberg’s leadership.

“I think he has left the department in better shape than when he came

in,” said Sullivan, who had a volatile relationship with the police over

the years as he exposed the police department benefits scam and brought

about a department audit.

“It’s probably not peculiar to the Huntington Beach department, but

they tend they feel that they need not be as much of a team player as

other departments,” Sullivan said. “They feel they should get whatever

they want and that creates budgetary problems.”

Contrary to image of the police not being team players, Lowenberg

feels his crowning achievement was the birth of community policing.

“The thing I’m most proud of accomplishing in my career is achieving

community policing,” Lowenberg said. “This is a great city and it was

ripe for community policing. Most everyone who lives and works here has a

passion for keeping it safe.”

It is one of the three reasons Lowenberg gives for Huntington being

one of America’s safest cities.

The other two reasons he cites are a great police force with dedicated

individual officers and the technology of the computer dispatch, the

helicopter program and the full-service crime lab.

His advice to whoever the City Council hires to fill his shoes in

October is simply to get involved and continue to promote community

policing.

As for Lowenberg, he said he has no intention of leaving the field of

law enforcement to play golf or fish. He will continue to teach Police

Officer Standards and Training courses, the officer training courses and

others.

“I’ll keep my options open,” he said. “If the opportunity for a

full-time job comes along I’ll probably take it.”