Stalemate at police department may be on way to a solution
By Andrea Damewood
Published: April 18, 2010, 12:00am
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The Vancouver Police Officers Guild made it clear it wants Chief Cliff Cook gone.
The city manager and council say they’re not interested in finding a new leader for the department.
The chief said he’s made a commitment to his job and community, and he’s going to stay.
So now what?
It’s been less than two weeks since 130 of Vancouver’s 181 sworn officers, corporals and sergeants voted to say they have no faith in Cook’s leadership, rallying at City Hall, emotions running high.
Less than 14 days ago, City Councilor Larry Smith spoke out passionately on behalf of Cook, with union members filing out of council chambers saluting and booing.
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But a lot can happen in 336 hours: The guild and police administration are now looking at how the department can go on from here — before the acrimony crumbles VPD from within.
Already, Cook, city management and the guild have started discussions about entering into mediated talks.
“This is movement in the right direction,” Cook said. “You can’t solve problems unless you’re communicating. I don’t think we may talk; I think we will.”
The no-confidence vote was a relief for the rank-and-file, who had been feeling marginalized, Guild President Ryan Martin said last week.
“By the vote taking place, now people are starting to listen,” he said. “Yes, there are problems here. Now let’s fix it.”
The issues at department have been long-standing; with several predating Cook, who became chief three years ago (and is VPD’s ninth chief in 20 years).
The guild has said communication is nonexistent and that its concerns about disparate treatment, unfair punishment and lack of management accountability have been largely ignored.
Cook and city officials say the union is resisting changes the administration has tried to make based on recommendations made by the Matrix Consulting Group, which was hired last year to study and help fix the department’s cultural issues.
Those problems are still there, leading outsiders to worry that one side, or both, might get stuck on past hurts.
The guild and administration can “both be very stubborn, because they both want it their way,” Councilor Jeanne Harris said. “We may need to break the mold and start again.”
Assistant City Manager Betsy Williams has been assigned to talk with the chief’s office and guild leadership, both having indicated they’re ready to sit down with a mediator.
Just what format the talks will take — and who will pay for the mediator — hasn’t been decided.
But while both Cook and Martin have no illusions that the task will be easy, they seem ready to build a relationship. Both said almost the same things.
“Failure’s not really an option for us. We have to make (talks) successful; that’s the whole point,” Cook said. “Failure is not communicating.”
Ryan said that it took a long time for the pressure to build to this month’s vote, and “it’ll take a while to fix it.”
Still, he said, “We need to establish trust, and open lines of communication. If the end goal is success, I see us having success.”
Mayor Tim Leavitt said he is was pleased that Williams, Cook and Martin have been talking.
“Everybody still shows up every day for work and is serving the community as effectively as possible,” he said. “But we need to get beyond this because it’s clearly distracting.”
