B y   J e r r y   B o y d

A request for some discussion on how "the brass" handled the task of supervision @ FPK.

I was only a Sgt there for a brief time "on loan" while we prepped Carson Station for opening. However, my entire approach to supervision and management was shaped by my few years at the Stone as a Deputy. What I learned there served me well as a Lt and Capt with Irvine PD and as Chief of Police in Coronado and Martinez.

Unlike at other LASD assignments I worked (which shall remain nameless) the operative, effective approach at FPK was "don't sweat the small stuff". Violations or law or major P & P violations were never ignored in my opinion. But the nit picking B.S. that is guaranteed to drive good street cops crazy was kept to a minimum. Sure there were a couple of Sgts and an occasional Lt @ FPK who were not secure in their own skin. They would nit pick and, thus, were not well respected.

The best "brass" would, if you engaged in a less than major screw up, pull you aside in private and basically convey the message that you ought not to do that again. Because they were good cops too (they wouldn't kiss their 10-15 paperwork off on a Deputy) you respected their experience and what they had to say. I think most of us appreciated getting cut some slack on the "small stuff" knowing that if we did something really major we'd pay the price. What I'm trying to say is that the good "brass" got the job done out of respect not intimidation. I tried to keep that in mind throughout my career and I had some of the best examples in the world to copy in the persons of FPK Sgts, Lts and the only Captain I worked for there.

Speaking of Captains, I owe whatever success I may have had in my career to some private

a_ _ chewing and good advice Capt. M. D. Wert imparted on me in his office one day. My screw up wasn't huge but it was definitely "politically incorrect" as I threatened County Supervisor Kenneth Hahn with arrest if he didn't stop interfering at the scene of a huge cluster in the Brook. Hahn wanted my job, went to Pitchess, and Pitchess had Wert on the phone in a heartbeat. I don't know what Dean told Pete but I know what he told me. I owed the man and learned a great deal from him.

Ending this lengthy thing, I was never a Marine...but the Corps could not have any more impact on its members than good FPK leadership had on those of us who the Good Lord allowed to work there and who paid attention.

 

  Dates at FPK  68-71 Sgt 74