2 More Deputy Police Chiefs Reassigned

Two more Los Angeles Police Department deputy chiefs were transferred to new assignments Wednesday in a continued reshuffling of the department’s top brass triggered by last week’s appointment of Deputy Chief David Dotson as the Police Commission’s chief aide.

Deputy Chief Clyde L. Cronkhite was named to head the department’s central bureau, the largest of the department’s four geographical units, while Deputy Chief Lew Ritter was transferred from central bureau to the personnel and training bureau, which was formerly run by Dotson.

“We are just trying to broaden the experience of some very good people,” Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Wednesday in announcing the moves.

In the transfers that will take place on Sunday, Cronkhite, 47, will move over from the support services bureau, which he headed for the past four years while the department’s new computerized communications system was activated.

Will Command Divisions

At the central bureau, Cronkhite will serve as commanding officer of the Newton, Rampart, Central, Northeast and Hollenbeck divisions.

“It’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long time,” Cronkhite said Wednesday. “Most of my career with the LAPD has been in line activities. That’s what I enjoy most. I’m glad to return to that duty.”

Ritter, 48, said that he was “very pleased” to be taking over at the personnel and training bureau.

“There’s a twinge of feeling for the community where I worked for so long . . . and I hate to lose that line working relationship with policemen doing police work,” Ritter said. “But on other hand, this is one of the most important jobs in the department, especially if we expand by 1,000 officers.”

Police Plan on Ballot

A plan to increase the department by 1,000 officers through a tax increase will be on the June ballot.

In another transfer announced Wednesday, the department’s planning coordinator for the 1984 Summer Olympics, Cmdr. William Rathburn, has been named commanding officer of the support services bureau in place of Cronkhite. A commander was appointed to the open slot instead of a deputy chief due to a 1982 City Council decision to reduce by four the number of deputy chiefs in the department. Deputy chiefs earn between $62,000 and $79,000 a year.

It was also announced on Wednesday that Cmdr. Mark Kroeker, commanding officer of the department’s detectives, and Cmdr. Keith Allen, second in command at the department’s Valley bureau, will switch assignments effective Sunday.