Dateline Montebello — The audio was clear. Chief of Police Kevin McClure stated that crime was up in Montebello this year.
He blamed most of the increase on Prop. 47, the initiative that reduced the classification of most “non-serious and nonviolent property and drug crimes” from a felony to a misdemeanor.
But Mr. McClure was strong in his statement — crime was up in Montebello.
Yet a campaign mailer that the newly elected Jack Hadjinian mailed in September, a mailer financed by the Montebello Police Officers Assn., clearly stated crime was down 18 percent in Montebello.
It was, but in 2014. The latest time crime statistics were available for Montebello. That was when Bill Molinari was mayor.
The Hadjinian mailer failed to point out that detail.
After obtaining the mailer and audio, Hews Media Group-Community News published a story and posted the audio and the mail piece, pointing out the inconsistency between Mr. McClure’s statement that crime was up and Mr. Hadjinian’s mail piece that crime was down 18 percent.
Mr. McClure, obviously conflicted, emailed a letter to us contradicting the story.
But there was no indication in the email of what Mr. McClure was going to do next, or the fabrications he would spin to counter his crime statement.
The first paragraph of the McClure letter stated, “I just learned of recent inaccurate reports in articles by the Hews Media Group that I was, a) interviewed about crime rates in the City of Montebello, b) contradicted the mayor in the interview, and c) had an argument/confrontation with the mayor about a campaign ad.
First fabrication by Mr. McClure:
Mr. McClure claimed in the letter that we interviewed him.
We never stated that the newspaper interviewed Mr. McClure, We obtained the digital audio from source and then published the contents.
In the audio, which we published online, Mr. McClure clearly indicated crime was up. He said, “It’s very hard for me to say this: Crime is up.”
Second fabrication by Mr. McClure:
Mr. McClure did not contradict Mr. Hadjinian.
Mr. Hadjinian’s mail piece, paid for by the Montebello Police Officers Assn., was sent to Montebello residents claiming crime was down 18 percent.
Yet Mr. McClure clearly stated in the audio that crime was up in Montebello.
Third fabrication by Mr. McClure:
Mr. McClure claimed he did not have a confrontation with Mr. Hadjinian.
Several sources who regularly attend City Council meetings told us they saw Messrs. Hadjinian and McClure in a heated conversation at a meeting days after the mail piece was sent out.
We had every intention of running Mr. McClure’s letter as a Letter to the Editor until Mr. McClure’s anger got the best of him.
In an extremely questionable and obvious politically motivated maneuver, on Nov. 2 at 3:36 p.m. Mr. McClure posted the letter on Nixle, a city-paid public notification system used by police and other agencies to send out emergency notifications to the public.
Anyone can subscribe to Nixle, (the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Dept. use Nixle), and receive texts such as “Sheriff’s Homicide Detectives are continuing their investigation into what appears to be a possible accidental shooting in East Los Angeles on Saturday evening.”
It is a public system – paid for by Montebello taxpayers – used to send out emergency notifications. The use of the system by Mr. McClure calls into serious question why he chose to post what was basically a Letter to the Editor on a system such as Nixle.
A letter that was riddled with fabrications.
“McClure used Nixle as his own personal newspaper, probably under Jack Hadjinian’s orders, to call into question what was a true story,” said one Montebello resident who did not want to be identified for fear of retribution.
“This is a blatant threat to every reporter in the area by McClure. If you publish a story about us we will come after you, violate the law, and shoot the messenger. You have to question his leadership.”
Mr. McClure blatantly violated Nixle’s Terms of Service by using the system to send out the letter.
The specific restrictions as listed in the Nixle’s Terms of Service that Mr. McClure violated are:
“Under the Terms of Service, the Sender MAY NOT:
(a) act in an unwanted, threatening, harassing, abusive or offensive manner toward any recipient;
(b) use any of the Services for political, commercial or advertising purposes;
(d) post, submit or otherwise do anything with the Services, Content, or Web Site that is unlawful, harmful, tortious, defamatory, profane, obscene, libelous, or hateful to the average user;
(k) transmit fraudulent, deceptive, or misleading communications.”
Among other things, the letter was certainly (using words under each bullet point)-
(a) harassing,
(b) used for political purposes,
(d) defamatory and libelous,
(k) deceptive and misleading.
This is not the first time Mr. McClure’s leadership skills and departmental actions have been questioned or were questionable in nature.
Mr. McClure was sued by several officers in a discrimination lawsuit filed in June 2012 that listed a number of allegations against Mr. McClure.
The city of Montebello, and several other officers in the department were also named in the suit.
The four officers in the lawsuit claimed Mr. McClure ignored minorities when promoting officers, removed African American art from inside the department, dismissed cultural diversity training as a “bunch of — ,” called African Americans filthy names and women extremely derogatory sexual reference.
The lawsuit also alleged that Mr. McClure routinely covered up investigations into illegal misconduct by Montebello officers, including a probe into an officer-involved shooting and excessive force allegations.
Consistent with Mr. McClure’s questionable and politically motivated posting of his letter on Nixle, the officers claimed in the lawsuit that they endured political pressure from the department to support certain candidates in city council elections.
Mr. Hews may be contacted at loscerritosnews.net