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Mayor Seeks Removal Of Sheriff’s Captain
By
Gary Walker
Bulletin staff writer
Citing “personality differences,” Mayor Eric J. Perrodin
has requested that Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Hamilton be transferred
from the Compton station, the Bulletin learned late last week.
Hamilton, in an interview with the Bulletin, confirmed the story
that Perrodin asked the Sheriff’s Department to remove him
from his post as the head of the Compton Sheriff’s station. “The
city has officially asked for me to be transferred,” said a
somber Hamilton.
The mayor, who won with over 55% of the vote on April 19, had previously
hinted that things would be drastically different if he won reelection
last month. “There are going to be some changes,” he
hinted at the April 26 City Council meeting.
During that same council session, Perrodin accused Hamilton of actively
campaigning for Sheriff’s Commander Cecil Rhambo, who came
in second behind Perrodin in the primary election.
“Do you think that gives me confidence that my captain is for
me when I find out that he’s campaigning for my opponent? Do
you think that gives me confidence in my captain when I find out
that he’s
holding a fundraiser for one of my closest opponents?” he asked
the audience rhetorically.
“I think not,” he said, answering his own question.
Perrodin suggested that there was something afoot in the fact that
some members of the Sheriff’s Dept. have been elected to serve
on various city councils. “You’ve got to start wondering,
what’s going on,’” he contemplated.
Many observers who spoke to the Bulletin felt that the mayor had
gone over the top in his criticism of the captain, who was named
as the head of the Compton station in 2003. Hamilton succeeded Rhambo,
his friend of 35 years, after Perrodin sacked the commander in another
personality clash.
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“I feel that the conduct of Mayor Perrodin at the (April 26)
council meeting was an embarrassment to our city,” thundered
William Kemp, who is competing against Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux
for
the Third District council seat. “A mature politician tries
to bring the city together at the end of a campaign, not divide them.
“Why would anyone choose not to lead in peace, but to rule like a dictator
with ignorance and arrogance?” Kemp, a frequent Perrodin critic who was
also chastised by the mayor during his speech at the now infamous April meeting,
inquired.
UnderSheriff Larry Waldie feels that the removal of Capt. Hamilton is politically
motivated. “Based on the mayor’s comments at city council, in my
opinion, that’s what happened,” he believes.
Waldie, who is second in command behind Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca,
told the Bulletin that he had been informed by Compton City Manager Barbara
Kilroy that the mayor was formally seeking to oust Hamilton. “The city manager
said that the reason was personality conflicts,” Waldie confirmed.
The Captain Speaks
Hamilton spoke at length with the Bulletin late last week after initially declining
to address the charges that the mayor hurdled his way two weeks ago.
“The community had been calling me about the story in the Bulletin last
week and
asking me ‘what’s going on?’ So I had to respond because there
might be others who are wondering if (the accusations) are true,” the captain
explained.
Asked what his initial response to Perrodin’s claims, Hamilton responded, “I
had to laugh. But I was disappointed that it turned personal,” the captain
added.
He addressed the two allegations that Perrodin made concerning his alleged
campaigning for Rhambo, including donning a Rhambo T-shirt, and the rumored
fundraiser that the mayor claimed the captain held in Rhambo's honor.
“That is absolutely not true,” the captain stated forcefully. “It
never happened. I didn’t even realize that Cecil had a T-shirt, because
I’d like to have one, because I like working out,” he said with a
smile, one of the few lighter moments in the interview."
“I challenge anyone to step forward and tell me when I was out campaigning
for
Cecil Rhambo,” Hamilton challenged. “Please show me a photo. I challenge
anyone to do that,” he repeated.
Regarding the alleged fundraiser, Hamilton again denied the charge, stating
with a firm tone that it never occurred. “I have socialized with Cecil at his
home,” the captain acknowledged. “with my wife and children and another
deputy who knows him. But there was never a fundraiser, never a T-shirt or anything
like that.
“Again, I challenge anyone to prove that happened,” Hamilton dared.
“I am not ashamed of my friendship with Cecil,” the captain continued. “He
has the right to run for mayor if he chooses, and I respect that. I’m not
going to hide our friendship.”
Regarding the comments by the mayor in the same meeting, suggesting that because
there are a number of sheriff’s deputies serving as council members in
contract cities that there may be cause for worry, Hamilton remarked, “There’s
no conspiracy that I know of. To imply that we are trying to takeover in cities
where we have a contract is not only absurd, it’s illogical,” Hamilton
added.
The captain touched on other topics, including the mayor’s apparent desire
to see the Compton Police Department return. “After I met him when I was
selected to come to Compton, he made it very clear that if he could, he would
rather bring back Compton P.D.,” Hamilton related. The Compton Police Department
was disbanded in 2000 amid charges of malfeasance and corruption.
The captain said that he had not spoken with Perrodin regarding the council
incident, which he watched on television. “Not once did anyone from the mayor’s
office or from the council come to verify if the information was true. And for
them to believe this without verifying the information... Somebody should have
called me and asked me to please tell them the truth about this,” he finished.
Unilateral Move?
Chief Ronnie Williams expressed dismay that Hamilton had been asked to leave
Compton. “The staff at the Compton station works too hard to hear that
someone doesn’t have confidence in their captain,” he told the Bulletin
via telephone last week.
Williams, who has several stations, including Compton under his command, praised
Hamilton as a good leader and was perplexed about the way that the captain’s
removal was handled.
“Unfortunately, the mayor made some baseless allegations that simply were
not true. Normally, a person would come to me, one of my commanders or Capt.
Hamilton
and we could have had a dialogue and tried to work things out,” Williams
remarked. “That did not happen.”
The chief also had a question for the residents of Compton: “You should
ask yourselves if the removal of a captain for personality conflicts is a valid
reason.”
Waldie did speak with Perrodin, who informed him that he no longer wanted Hamilton
in Compton. “He told me, ‘I want him removed,’” Waldie
recalled. The under sheriff asked the mayor if that was the consensus of the
city’s governing body. “(Perrodin) said ‘No, that’s my
consensus as mayor.’”
Waldie, who served on the council in Walnut, said that the mayor indicated
that he had two votes, his and another councilmember. The undersheriff added
that
the mayor was unsure if he had three votes to remove Hamilton. He did not mention
who was the councilmember who allegedly was on the mayor’s side.
Time to Move On
Throughout the interview, Capt. Hamilton continuously commended his staff for
their hard work and their professionalism. “They’ve worked very hard
to make a difference in this community, and I think that the citizens realize
this,” he said.
Citing the overwhelming defeat of Measure D, a ballot initiative supported
by Perrodin to bring back the Compton Police Department, Hamilton told his
interviewer
that he believes the community of Compton knows what his department stands
for.
“I have received a tremendous amount of phone calls after the story, supporting
the men and women of this department, so I think that they know we are trying
really hard to make an impact here in Compton, and I think that we have.”
The captain, who was born in neighboring Watts, will miss the staff that he
says served him and the city so well, no matter were he eventually lands. “I’m
proud of my record,” he said. He expressed regret that after initially
reducing the amount of crime after taking over from police department, the numbers
have spiked this year. “But that happens in law enforcement, and it doesn’t
mean that we aren’t working as hard as we can for the citizens of Compton,” Hamilton
added.
Kemp, who was the chairman of Measure D, believes that publicly criticizing
of the captain only serves to alienate the public. “What are the citizens
supposed to think when they hear that their mayor is not working with their public
safety leaders?” he asked.
The captain said that he will not fight the transfer, that he will move on,
and his agency will be fine. “The writing is one the wall,” he said dryly.
He hopes that the citizens of Compton will remember as “an ethical man,
an honest man, who cared about the community,” he offered.
“It’s going to be tough to say good-bye.”
Kilroy and Perrodin were unavailable for comment.
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