Newport Chief’s Conduct Is Coming Under Scrutiny : Law enforcement: Arb Campbell’s ties to the city’s prominent business people have rankled his department.

NEWPORT BEACH —  He’s driven a silver Mercedes seized in a drug bust and lives in a harbor-view home, with neighbors like sporting goods heir Willard S. Voit and Orange County scion Henry Segerstrom, owner of South Coast Plaza.

He lunches at the sumptuous Ritz restaurant and frequents the private Balboa Bay Club, a longtime social landmark for some of Southern California’s most prominent individuals.

For the past seven years, Arb Campbell, the son of a Virginia coal miner, has lived the good life as Newport Beach police chief, making more than $100,000 a year. But Campbell, 53, now faces the battle of his otherwise quiet career.

One of his police dispatchers has accused him and Capt. Anthony J. Villa Jr. of raping her 11 years ago at a drunken Police Department party near a landfill. Four other current and former female employees have filed a lawsuit charging him with condoning sexual harassment of them by Villa, his friend and longtime partner in a real estate deal.

Campbell vigorously denies the charges. But city officials placed him on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation.

Ten days ago, in an unprecedented move, his officers issued an overwhelming vote of no confidence in him, just as some of the city’s prominent business people began flexing their political muscle to get him reinstated to his office from paid leave.

A former Los Angeles police officer who spent 20 years rising through the Newport ranks, Campbell is known in police circles as a golf lover and avid party-goer, especially before taking the helm of his 250-member department.

Appointed in 1986 to reform a police force plagued by civil rights lawsuits and a reputation for excessive force, Campbell has been praised for improving the reputation of his officers and solving widespread complaints about summer traffic and beach parties.

But his reign has seen controversies that have now surpassed his predecessor’s, and may threaten to hasten the retirement he announced last month then rescinded two days later, saying through a spokesman that he “is not going to sit back and let these allegations run wild.”

Campbell has never enjoyed the press and declined to be interviewed for this story, even if only to discuss his leadership and successes as chief. His lawyer, Bruce Praet, says Campbell is frustrated with the case.

“All the allegations have been presumed true without any consideration to his denials,” Praet said. “He’s very disappointed in the fact that he’s dedicated what, 27 years, to the citizens of Newport Beach, six years as their police chief. And with 15 minutes’ notice, he’s effectively removed from office based on essentially 11-year-old frivolous allegations.”

Campbell’s problems first emerged on Sept. 24, when four women sued the city of Newport Beach, Campbell and Villa, charging that the department had become “a hotbed of sexually offensive conduct at the top levels of the command structure.”

The department, their lawsuit states, is a place where only women “who go along to get along” are promoted. It contends that Villa touched breasts and made sexually suggestive remarks to the women that included a vivid description of a pornographic movie.

On Oct. 15, police dispatcher Peri Ropke announced at a press conference that she was joining the lawsuit, accusing Campbell and Villa of raping her in 1981.

Through Praet, Campbell and Villa have denounced the charges as groundless allegations by disgruntled employees who had been fired or disciplined.

The women have claimed they were fired or disciplined only after they formally complained of sexual harassment on and off the job. One won reinstatement to her job before the city’s Civil Service Board while another settled her case to get her post back. A third, an officer who was fired, will seek reinstatement next month. They questioned whether the chief could deal objectively with their complaints about Villa when the two are longtime friends who own property together.

“Be fair with Arb,” said Fullerton Police Chief Philip A. Goehring, president of the Orange County Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs Assn. “Police officers by their nature are strong-willed people. . . . As chief of police, you are in a role that you have the last say, and you are not going to appeal to everybody’s sense of right and wrong, and can’t make everybody happy.”

“I’m just feeling a little empathy for a fellow chief. . . ,” Goehring said. “I don’t know if he’s right or wrong, but I think I’m going to use the presumption of innocence standard.”

In the weeks since the lawsuit was filed, current and former employees of the department have told The Times they had concerns about Campbell, with men and women alike suggesting that sexual harassment does exist in the department and has for years. And they talked of problems broader in scope than just the sexual discrimination charges.

Other officers questioned Campbell’s judgment in deciding to use a 1985 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL seized in a local drug arrest. State asset seizure laws under which the car was obtained say such vehicles must be used for law enforcement purposes, in effect discouraging routine and personal use by officers.

Further rankling current and former department employees is the chief’s friendship with wealthy political financier Voit, an heir to the family that produced the world’s first inflatable beach ball. It has given some of them an impression of cronyism and catering to the elite in this upper-crust community of 70,000.

Voit and the Campbells are longtime friends, numerous sources said, but some officers have grumbled privately about what they thought was a great deal on a home Campbell bought from Voit before assigning all department travel to Voit’s Seven Seas travel agency in June, 1990.

The department has spent $15,000 to $17,000 with Seven Seas each fiscal year since then. Department heads are not required to put such contracts out to bid, although most of the other city departments do business with Harbor Travel.

Less than a month after he became chief, Campbell changed his address to a Balboa Peninsula home Voit inherited from his mother.

Almost a year later, the Campbells paid $330,000 for the house, a four-bedroom home cater-corner to a small beach and within walking distance of the legendary Wedge surf spot. When contacted by The Times, several real estate agents in the area said the Campbells received a bargain price considering that similar homes in the neighborhood then sold for at least $50,000 more.

Campbell’s wife, Lavonne, has taken a $2,500 Voit-paid trip to Hong Kong that her husband could not join her on. The Campbells also bought a car from Voit.

This close relationship rankles many officers who see a double standard since they are barred from accepting free coffee and half-price lunches at local sandwich shops.

Some employees and former staffers say Voit has been at the police station so often some officers thought him a city councilman, and that he used to have after-hours access to the building. They say that Voit has received priority treatment for police calls and that if officers did not respond fast enough they hear about it through supervisors that the chief was upset.

For instance, The Times has obtained a memo that Campbell left with police dispatchers outlining that they were to call Voit if neighbors complained about his moving van blocking their alley garages, and instructing them to explain to the caller that such an obstruction was not a parking violation.

Voit is among 30 or so prominent business people led by builder Bill Lusk that call their group of law enforcement supporters the 10-4 Club. They are considering ways to help Campbell get reinstated.

“Arb would like to keep his family matters private,” Praet said. “About the Voit sale of the home, he indicated that, you know, quite frankly, it’s no one’s business.” Praet added that Campbell says he paid market value for the home.

Through a spokeswoman at his travel agency, Voit declined to be interviewed.

At the request of former City Manager Robert L. Wynn, City Atty. Robert Burnham reviewed Campbell’s purchase of Voit’s home in 1987 and reported that there was no conflict of interest. Burnham said he did not do an appraisal of the home and concluded that it was just a sale involving two friends who had nothing to gain from each other.

But while Charles (“Pete”) Gross was police chief, he banned Voit from seeing the Campbells at the station because he thought the frequent visits left the wrong impression with the public and other officers.

“He had no influence over me, but it was untenable for the department,” Gross says now. “People in the community were commenting on it. I went to one meeting in the community and someone joked that Voit should get a parking spot at the station marked Assistant Chief. . . . I did not like the appearance of the whole thing.”

Some current and former police chiefs point out that it is a fine line to walk in satisfying the demands of a well-off community without the appearance of providing special favors to them.

“With a good staff, the job of chief can be done in one hour a day really,” added ex-Tustin Police Chief Charles R. Thayer, a former colleague of Campbell’s who now works as a probation officer in Lake Havasu City, Ariz. “But appearances require a lot of attention.”

In fact, Campbell has seldom made news since he launched his police career with the Los Angeles Police Department in 1961. He left in 1966 to join the Newport Beach Police Department, where he has steadily risen through the ranks, becoming acting chief in January, 1986.

Campbell is the father of four daughters, and his second wife, Lavonne, is a Newport juvenile detective whose drug-prevention programs are popular in the community.

“He’s a very easy-spoken fellow, has an easy-to-get-acquainted-with type personality, is respected by his peer chiefs,” Goehring said. “Chief Campbell has a good sense of humor (and) really a strong measure of experience in law enforcement fields.”

When Campbell took the department reins in 1986, keeping the peace in Newport Beach had been an issue for more than a year. Under Gross’ eight-year tenure, more than 100 lawsuits and claims had been filed, alleging excessive force, false arrest, harassment and civil rights violations.

Though a vast majority of cases were eventually dismissed or ended with small financial settlements, the Newport Beach Police Department was perceived by the public as overzealous and too aggressive.

Taking the heat was Gross, who felt his leadership and law enforcement priorities come under unfair scrutiny. Citizens complained that he was not doing enough to control summer crowds and rowdy parties, while his attempts to bring more democratic management techniques into the department’s traditionally authoritarian structure were not readily accepted by his officers.

The City Council eventually called in the National League of Cities to audit the Police Department and make recommendations. After the league completed its audit in January, 1986, Gross stepped down.

His successor was Campbell, who moved quickly to adopt the recommendations of the League of Cities report, including better officer training and an internal affairs division to investigate allegations of misconduct.

Though the record has been marred by two of the largest payouts the city has ever made in lawsuits filed against the department, police records show that citizen complaints, claims and lawsuits have steadily declined.

A jury awarded $300,000 in damages to Ricky Patrick Miller, who was shot in the back by a Newport Beach officer during a scuffle in 1988. The city settled for $1.5 million in annuities and cash payments a lawsuit brought by Sundaga Bryant, who was critically wounded when an officer mistook the boombox stereo he was carrying for a sawed-off shotgun.

Campbell is credited with starting a canine unit, bike and beach patrols, drug education programs, and enforcement measures during the summer months when the city’s most popular areas are inundated with tourists and beach-goers. A second helicopter and a mobile command center were added to the department’s array of equipment.

“He came to grips with the problems and is an outstanding manager,” said Newport Beach Councilman John C. Cox Jr. “Over the years he was well liked in the community. . . . We got the changes we wanted out of Campbell. He was not just throwing Band-Aids at problems.”

Campbell earns special praise for solving the chronic summer traffic with a residents’ vehicle lane and additional officers to cite repeat cruisers.

“It’s almost indescribable the improvement that came about since he came aboard,” said Donald Elder, president of the Balboa Peninsula Point Assn., which represents 800 residents and the Campbells’ neighbors.

Some current and former officers who requested anonymity criticized the department dedicating so many officers and so much attention to the peninsula while, they say, other parts of the city suffer.

But Elder said Campbell crafted a way to enforce curfew laws and to ticket youths for cruising if they passed a police checkpoint too many times, as well as creating the residents’ lane for cars with windshield stickers that enable them to bypass the checkpoint.

Of the rape and sexual harassment allegations against Campbell and his department, Elder said the association is waiting to hear the results of a city investigation into the charges. Negotiations were underway last week with city officials to resolve the status of Villa and Campbell, who feels the no-confidence vote was orchestrated by the city manager and the women’s legal representatives to try and squeeze him out.

Campbell’s attorney said that his client’s retirement plans have become overshadowed by his preoccupation with the situation and winning reinstatement. “He feels that before he can retire he must clear his name,” Praet said, “so that he can retire in the manner in which he’d previously planned.”