Tiny unit, big result for San Fernando police chief

As chief of the San Fernando Police Department, Robert Ordelheide cherishes simplicity.

He can learn about a problem, choose a plan of attack and see specific results right before his eyes -- sometimes all in the same day. Life with a department composed of 38 officers and 32 civilian personnel feels right to him, especially with the massively complex LAPD right next door.

“It’s so small here that you know who you’re dealing with and not fighting a lot of bureaucracy,� he said. “I am just more and more in love with doing the job and feeling like I’m accomplishing something.�

Ordelheide, who rose through the ranks before landing the top job in the spring, makes you believe him when he says he loves the community and his officers. San Fernando, a city surrounded by Los Angeles neighborhoods in the northeast San Fernando Valley, counts about 25,145 residents within its 2.42 square miles.

By becoming chief, Ordelheide joined an informal band of law enforcement officers patrolling communities of similar size statewide. Through him, one can see the challenges of chiefs everywhere who rarely draw the attention generated by chiefs in larger cities, but whose decisions go just as far, if not farther, in shaping local communities.

The San Fernando Police Department is among the smallest in Los Angeles County. An additional 184 police departments throughout the state rely on 75 officers and civilian personnel or fewer, according to the California Police Chiefs Assn. The Los Angeles Police Department -- the state’s largest -- counts on about 9,500 officers to patrol the city’s estimated 468 square miles, with about 4 million residents.

Several chiefs at the smaller departments said they generally focus on their respective cities, usually factoring in community policing in one form or another. However, they acknowledge that they feel the fallout of what happens in larger departments. When mistakes at large departments such as the LAPD receive national attention -- think the melee at MacArthur Park or the Rodney King beating -- officers all over feel at least a bit more tension with local residents.

“Whenever there’s a Rodney King or a May Day melee, it doesn’t just affect the department that did it, but puts a cloud over all law enforcement,� said James Olivera, interim police chief of Dinuba, a city of 19,603 about 30 miles southeast of Fresno. “To regain that trust back from people can be really tough.�

It also does not help relations with local communities when smaller departments experience their own scandals.

East Palo Alto Police Chief Ronald Davis said that 15 years ago the department was paralyzed by investigations into brutality and corruption, and the community experienced 42 killings in a city of 24,000 people. Then the department, with assistance from other law enforcement agencies, cleaned up its act by firing some officers and removing blight from neighborhoods, Davis said.

The homicides in East Palo Alto dropped, reaching an average of about seven or eight per year, he said. The number of officers increased from 35 to 43 during those years. “A police department has to show it’s part of the city too,� Davis said. “In a big city, you can’t do that as easily.�

Ordelheide, who turned 47 Wednesday, said he has every intention of reaching out to San Fernando residents and avoiding scandals. He feels a special loyalty to the city where he started his career in 1984, because even before then, he carried boyhood memories of the area. His father owned a machine parts shop in San Fernando in the 1960s and early ‘70s. “I remember the carhops and driving down Route 99 with my dad,� said the chief, now a 6-foot-4 bear of a man.

Ordelheide’s family has remained friends with officers on San Fernando’s police force.

After joining the force, Ordelheide served as a sergeant, lieutenant, detective and interim police chief before former LAPD department spokesman Anthony Alba became chief in 2002. Under Alba, Ordelheide ranked as second-in-command.

“Coming from the outside, I relied on [Ordelheide] a lot to connect me better with the community,� Alba said. “That department is very much structured like a family and everyone knows everyone.�

Ordelheide’s goals include pinpointing and tracking crime hot spots, patrolling and monitoring the maintenance of the city’s parks, and examining the city’s roads -- construction, traffic signs and lights -- to try to reduce traffic accidents. In the first half of 2007, the city’s overall crime rate dropped from the previous year by 17%, with no homicides or gang-related shootings, according to police data.

City Administrator Jose Pulido credited a program Ordelheide designed and implemented a little more than a year ago with helping bring about the drop in crime. The Community Action Plan for Neighborhood Protection and Preservation focuses on cleaning up graffiti, forming neighborhood watches and patrolling where data show there is high crime. The city allocated $245,000 for the program’s first two years.

Pulido said Ordelheide’s three-year contract includes a salary of $173,220 per year. The chief oversees a $6.2-million budget, he said.

Sgt. Jeff Eley said he and other officers admire Ordelheide’s ability to balance work, school and family. Ordelheide studied part time for seven years and earned a bachelor’s degree in business and law enforcement from the University of La Verne last year, while serving full time on the force. He lives in Moorpark with his wife of 27 years, Jeanne, with whom he has three sons, Ryan, 26, Brandon, 21, and Chad, 15.

“If he ever had a bad day you couldn’t tell,� said Eley, who has worked with Ordelheide for 16 years. “He’s the backbone of this department.�

San Fernando resident Brenda Esqueda said she’s seen Ordelheide patrol her neighborhood a few times this year and he’s attended some neighborhood group meetings.

“I really believe his heart is in this city,� Esqueda said. “I’m always vocal at council meetings about what needs to be fixed and who I don’t like, but I have nothing negative to say about the new chief.�

Ordelheide, who will be eligible for early retirement when his contract expires in November 2010, said he wants to end his law enforcement career in San Fernando.

“The great thing about the San Fernando Police Department is that you can find a problem and see the impact directly when you try to fix it,� Ordelheide said. “It’s just always felt like home here.�

francisco.varaorta@ latimes.com