Reporting by the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

NGNO Coverage of Election 2001

Albany Breaks Tradition, Votes to Appoint Police Chief

By James Sandler and Austin Ramzy

ALBANY, November 7 — In the last 50 years, voters in this East Bay city of 17,000 have defeated four measures to make the chief of police an appointed position.

On Tuesday Albany residents bucked history. A measure to end the 74-year-old tradition of electing the city's chief was approved with 59 percent to 41 percent. Just one out of four voters turned out to decide the measure.

The result leaves Santa Clara as the only California city that chooses its top law enforcement officer by a popular vote.

Both supporters and opponents of the Albany measure said the outcome came down to the shifting demographics of the city, with new voters looking for a change.

"When you go interact with the electorate today, the community has changed," said Robert Zweben, Albany's city attorney since 1978. "There are many younger families in the community who don't have the historical attachment to an elected police chief."

Albany's population aged slightly over the last decade, according to census data. The number of families with children and the proportion of minorities has increased over the last 10 years.

Dave Greer, a 38-year Albany resident and critic of the measure, blamed the results on a voting base that views as increasingly liberal.. "We are getting a whole bunch of people in here, Berkeley-minded," he said.

Opponents of the measure said electing a chief worked well and facing the voters every four years makes the town's top law enforcement officer responsive to the people.

Supporters of the measure argued that an appointed chief would be more accountable because of City Council oversight. Proponents argued that Albany has outgrown police chief elections. State law requires that elected officials live in the city they serve, but now Albany can search nationwide to find an appointed chief.

James Fyfe, a Temple University criminal justice professor, said an appointed police chief would be less likely to pander to voters.

"In New York elected judges stand up and say, 'Elect me and I'll lock the sons of bitches up.' I think the same is true here. It's too easy for police chiefs to maintain the tyranny of the majority in order to get elected," said Fyfe, a 16-year New York Police Department veteran and an expert on police practices.

Supporters of the measure were careful to avoid focusing the campaign on Larry Murdo, who has been chief since 1986. Last year Murdo said he planned to retire in 2002. This spring, when he realized his retirement fund wasn't as large as he anticipated, Murdo decided to continue until at least 2003 and now will seek appointment to the job.

"Larry Murdo is the last of the homegrown police chiefs in Albany," said Zweben, who supported making the position appointed. "He grew up here, raised kids here. We don't have anyone like that anymore."

Murdo said he finds it noteworthy to be the last elected chief. "John Glavinovich was the first, and I was the last. At least I have that distinction. Nobody will remember the chiefs in the middle."