In the week since the Police Officers Association announced its membership had taken a vote of “no confidence” in Chief Mike Lewis, several city officials have spoken out in his defense.

City Manager Mike Sedell said he and the City Council have full confidence in the chief, who has headed up the department since September 2006.

“The chief is doing nothing different today than he was doing a year ago, or two years ago, when (the officers) were very supportive of the chief,” Sedell said. “He is doing a good job and is doing a lot for this community.”

Councilmember Steve Sojka, a longtime member of the Simi Valley Police Foundation, agreed.

“I’ve seen (Lewis) engaged in the community, getting involved in various organizations—the Police Foundation, the Rotary Club, the Education Foundation,” Sojka said. “He’s personable, he’s easy to approach, he’s level-headed, he has a lot of common sense . . . and I’m impressed with his performance.”

Not so are the men Lewis has been assigned to lead, the 110 sworn Simi officers below the rank of lieutenant represented by the POA, who on Oct. 28 called an emergency meeting to discuss the current leadership and direction of the department.

The discussion ended with a near-unanimous 107-1 vote of “no confidence” in Lewis, according to a press release distributed Nov. 6 by the public relations firm that represents the union.

“The no-confidence vote sends a clear message to city leadership and community residents that their police officers perceive the chief to be, in their words, ‘incompetent, disinterested, noncommunicative, uncaring and/or ineffective,’” the release states. 

Despite these strong claims, the union doesn’t have the authority to remove the chief; that power rests with the city manager.

Detective Bill Daniels, union president, said the vote was not driven by the current contract negotiations. He said there have been “grumblings” of discontent within the membership for about a year and a half.

He said part of the reason for the officers’ displeasure with Lewis is that the chief hasn’t developed a relationship with them and they don’t feel they’re being supported. In fact, Daniels said, Lewis is part of the reason negotiations have been slow going.

“I would say that probably the stumbling block that we have in resolving this involves some noneconomic items—items that he is pushing,” the detective said. “It seems the optic is we’re not only battling the city, we’re battling the chief as well.”

Sedell countered by saying the chief has “fought for his troops” on a weekly, if not daily, basis. He said Lewis is constantly relaying to the city the wants, needs and concerns of the department but that the city can afford only so much due to “economic realities.”

Lewis told the Acorn he’s not convinced the vote or the statements in the press release reflect the true sentiments of his officers since the release was written by an “outsider,” a PR firm.

“If negotiations weren’t taking place right now, I have no doubt this wouldn’t have been an issue,” the chief said. “It’s a union tactic, if you will . . . to bring pressure to bear on the decision-makers—the City Council.”

Sojka said he feels the union’s claims against the chief have no merit, particularly the notion that Lewis has trivialized Simi’s “America’s Safest City” ranking.

“That couldn’t be farther from the truth,” Sojka said, noting the chief has spent the last year participating in a public education campaign to lower the crime rate. “He’s got his eye on the ball; he wants to get back to that safest-city status. But it’s tougher as we grow.”

Like the chief, Mayor Paul Miller questioned the timing of the “no confidence” vote.

“If they had any problems they could have brought that stuff up a long time ago, but I think this is all situational,” said Miller, a former Simi police chief, adding that these latest developments involving Lewis can’t help but further complicate negotiations.

“Anything that they’re doing right now is making things more difficult,” he said.

Daniels insisted that the timing of the vote has nothing to do with the ongoing negotiations. He added that the goal of the vote is to let the community and the city know that the membership is not comfortable with its current leadership.

“Are we looking for somebody to get fired? No, that’s not the objective behind this,” Daniels said. “If this (vote) that the membership did, if that could make people aware of the displeasure, maybe something will be done so the displeasure doesn’t exist anymore.”

POA’s list of complaints against Lewis

•He placed SVPD SWAT team at risk during the execution of a high-risk search warrant. Instead of following accepted protocol, the chief only allowed officers to carry small-caliber pistols, despite the risk factors calling for specialized weaponry. •He trivialized the importance of keeping Simi Valley ”America’s Safest City,” a title it held for many years. •He’s created an environment of divisiveness never before seen in the police department, pushing officer morale to an all-time low. •He’s interjected himself in the current contract negotiations, siding against his officers on most every issue. •He’s failed to act as a public safety advocate in balancing the fiscal concerns of city hall with the demands of modern law enforcement and the critical protection of residents. •He’s made no attempt to make the case to city leaders that the Simi Valley Police Department is understaffed for its mission. Over the past decade, despite a significant increase in population, the department has shrunk to 121 sworn officers, 11 of whom are managers who don’t provide police services. This personnel shortage translates to six officers on night patrol protecting more than 126,000 residents.

Source: Freeman Public Affairs