Police Chiefs

After a five-month search, a campus police lieutenant from UCLA has been appointed chief of campus police at UC Irvine, university officials announced Thursday. Kathleen Stanley will take over the post Oct. 1, filling a spot vacated in April by former chief Michael P. Michell, who was assigned to the newly created post of emergency preparedness director for the university. Stanley will have an annual salary of $75,000, university spokeswoman Karen Newell Young said.

Police Chief W. Douglas Franks was placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation, apparently into his absence from the department to attend the birth of his grandson, Franks' attorney said Friday. City officials apparently are investigating the chief's absence in August, when he took time off to visit family members in the Northeast, his attorney, Donald Petrich said. "Chief Franks' daughter had to have a Caesarean section, and naturally, there are risks involved," Petrich said.

The city of Huntington Park has offered the position of interim police chief to William F. Reed, a retired captain from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Reed, a former member of the county's elite Special Enforcement Bureau, replaces Frank Sullivan, who stepped down under duress earlier this month amid allegations of discrimination, favoritism and corruption in the department.

The police chief of Mexico's Coahuila state, Gaspar Ramos, was shot in the neck and left arm and shoulder while eating tacos at an all-night restaurant, the state attorney general's office said. Ramos was in serious condition at a hospital. Police were searching for his attacker, identified by Mexican news media as the son of a local nightclub owner who had been arguing with the police chief at the restaurant.

Gov. Christine Todd Whitman fired the head of the New Jersey State Police after he said in a newspaper interview that minority groups were more likely to be involved in drug trafficking. Whitman said State Police Supt. Col. Carl Williams' comments "are inconsistent with our efforts to enhance public confidence in the State Police." In an interview with the Star-Ledger of Newark, Williams said he did not condone racial profiling, but said it is naive to think race is not an issue in drug crimes.

Lt. Alex Perez, who has worked with the Inglewood Police Department for 13 years, will become the department's interim police chief March 1 while a search for a new police chief is begun. Perez, 43, will step in a day after Police Chief Oliver Thompson retires Feb. 28 after heading the department for the last five years. City Manager Paul Eckles said he will ask the City Council at tonight's meeting to sign a contract with an executive recruiter to help with hiring a new police chief.

For Pomona Police Chief Joe Romero, 2011 was going to be a significant year. His department would celebrate its 100th anniversary, and he would announce his retirement. But Tuesday morning, all of that changed when he met with City Manager Linda Lowry, who told him that his services would no longer be needed. Lowry could not comment further on Romero's dismissal, because he was still an at-will employee, making it a "personnel matter," said Mark Gluba, assistant to the city manager.

Interim Police Chief James Dillon said he has submitted his resignation and is seeking to return to the position of commander as soon as a replacement is found. Dillon, a veteran police officer, assumed command of the West Covina Police Department Dec. 11 after Police Chief John Distelrath was placed on paid leave amid a city investigation into a series of allegations, including conflict of interest. The probe has divided the department and created turmoil.

Former Riverside Police Chief Russ Leach was charged Monday with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol when he crashed his city-owned vehicle last month after a night of drinking, officials said. The Feb. 8 accident happened after Leach had four drinks at home and at least seven more at a strip club in Colton, according to an investigation by the California Highway Patrol. The CHP said Leach, 62, had been taking "several" prescription medications that carried strict warnings that they not be mixed with alcohol.

Police chiefs from 20 European capitals on Wednesday asked for tougher measures to protect people at airports from terrorist attacks. Athens Police Chief Simonas Papadogiorgas said discussions also centered on controlling violence at sports events and safeguarding art and antiquities in Europe.