RICHMOND
Police chief faces hard questions

Popular newcomer wows residents, angers some officers

Jim Herron Zamora, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

When he moved from North Dakota, Chris Magnus knew that Richmond is a tough town with one of the state's highest crime rates.

But the 46-year-old police chief did not expect that 15 months into the job, some of fiercest critics would be his own officers.

Since taking over as chief of the Richmond Police Department, Magnus has received praise from community activists, business leaders and others for his easygoing manner, openness, take-charge attitude and detailed new plan to combat crime. He won over some skeptics who wondered if a cop from nearly all-white Fargo, N.D., was right for the job in such a racially diverse city.

The other side of the story is that Magnus is the focus of complaints of racial discrimination by eight senior African American officers contained in a lawsuit filed last month. The plaintiffs -- three captains, four lieutenants and a sergeant -- accuse Magnus and his top deputy, a white woman, of discrimination in promotions and assignments as well as making a number of racially insensitive remarks -- including using the word "jigaboo" in jokes.

Magnus has repeatedly denied the claims in the lawsuit. The city has hired an outside attorney to investigate the allegations and report later this month.

"I don't know if he's got a split personality or what," said Gary Bell, an African American who formerly served on the City Council and who is a supporter of Magnus. "We should give him a chance. It's unfortunate that people are already picking sides in this. His challenge is to recognize the sensitivity of the community with regards to racial issues."

Magnus took over the department in January 2006 after six years as chief of police in Fargo, a city of 91,000 with about one killing every two years compared with about 40 a year in Richmond, a city of about 103,000.

Even before he started the job, Magnus made a good impression by flying to the Bay Area at his own expense to attend routine community meetings.

The chief, who has short, graying blond hair and a light mustache, also moved into a racially mixed neighborhood just east of Richmond's Iron Triangle. He often rides his bike to work and can be seen walking his two dogs around the city. Magnus acknowledges he is an outsider but said he has tried to compensate by exploring the city.

When asked about the comparisons between Fargo and Richmond, Magnus notes that before Fargo, he worked 18 years as a cop in more diverse Lansing, Mich., where he grew up.

Richmond's population, according to the 2000 census, is 36 percent African American, 31 percent white and 25 percent Latino with the rest consisting of Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders and people of mixed race. Lansing is nearly a quarter African American and about 10 percent Latino. Like Richmond, Lansing is a blue-collar city where many industries have closed.

"Chief Magnus has really embraced community policing -- he is serious," said Councilwoman Maria Viramontes, who backed a 2005 effort to declare a state of emergency in Richmond because of violent crime.

Viramontes was one of several council members, business owners and community leaders, including many African Americans, who attended a Chamber of Commerce reception last week to honor the chief.

"I was little worried about where he came from but he has done well as far as his dealing with the city," Elmina Green, chairwoman of the city's Human Relations Commission, said at the reception. "He's not afraid to get out in the community. He has an open-door policy and he goes to lots of community meetings. He listens."

Magnus said that his goal was to shake up the department and make officers accountable. On the department's redesigned Web site, residents can find all the officers who patrol their neighborhoods, and can e-mail them individually or as a group. Each patrol officer now has a publicly available voice-mail box for citizens to leave tips or make complaints.

"I really believe in beat ownership," Magnus said. "I believe in taking responsibility and accountability. I want officers to treat their beats like it's the street you live on. If you wouldn't tolerate trash or graffiti near your house, then don't tolerate it on your beat."

The lawsuit accuses Magnus of discrimination in passing over the eight officers last year when the chief created two new deputy-chief positions and filled them with a white woman, Capt. Lori Ritter, and a Latino, Lt. Ed Medina. African American officers also complained that the promotional process was changed to make it more difficult for them to be promoted.

When the black officers complained, they were ignored and, in some cases, given worse assignments or evaluations, said their attorney, Chris Dolan.

"He dismissed their complaints with ridicule," Dolan said.

The 27-page suit states that Magnus allegedly responded to complaints that promoting Ritter fostered a "master-slave mentality" by making a joke at the expense of Capt. Cleveland Brown, one of the officers now suing. The suit quotes Magnus telling a black officer: "Picture this ... Lori (Ritter) standing over Cleve (Brown) wearing leather boots up to her waist, cracking a whip, saying, 'Dance jigaboo, dance.' "

Magnus insists he never made those statements or used that slur. He defends his promotion decisions.

"I view my role as championing what is best for our organization as a whole," Magnus wrote in a letter to rank-and-file officers in February. "During the past year I have been continually reminded how subjectively different people interpret the concept of 'fairness.' What seems obviously 'fair' or 'just' to one person or group can come across very differently to others."

To many Richmond residents, the allegations bring back memories of the so-called cowboys scandals from the late 1970s and early '80s. The Police Department was rocked by lawsuits over accusations of wrongful death in which officers killed six African American men in separate incidents and beat others. The department agreed to reforms to settle a federal lawsuit, but the court-appointed monitor later quit, saying his efforts to fight discrimination were being undermined by police management.

Since that time, the department has promoted black officers, and the two chiefs who preceded Magnus were African American. Currently, the department is about one-third African American and about a third white, with the rest Latino and Asian American. Ten of the 16 highest-ranking officers are African American, including all eight who sued.

Some see the division over Magnus as a reflection of a conflict that preceded his arrival.

"The chief walked into a buzz-saw," Bell said. "He didn't know the history. He got burned."

E-mail Jim Zamora at jzamora@sfchronicle.com.

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