Pubdate: Thu, 11 Aug 2005
Source: Deseret Morning News (Salt Lake City, UT)
Copyright: 2005 Deseret News Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.desnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/124
Authors: Pat Reavy and Brady Snyder

POLICE CHIEF TO RETIRE

Dinse Hired In 2000, Has Overseen Several High-Profile Cases

In what he described as a "very difficult decision," Salt Lake City Police 
Chief Rick Dinse announced Wednesday he planned to retire by early next year.

"I've been toying with the idea for a while," Dinse said. "I've got 40 
years in the business. I think it's time to try something different. 
Retirement is something I've been looking forward to."

Dinse said he informed Mayor Rocky Anderson of his decision last week. He 
said he wanted to give the mayor ample time to find his replacement and not 
leave the city with a long-term interim chief.

Meanwhile, Anderson said he would look both in-house and outside the 
department for a replacement. Soon he will be putting together a search 
committee of city employees and non-city employees to cull recommendations 
about who should be the new chief.

Dinse didn't plan on making his retirement public this soon. A memo 
announcing his retirement intended only for interoffice use was 
accidentally e-mailed Wednesday to news media. But Dinse said it was 
probably for the best.

"If I didn't go public I may not have made (the decision) ever," said 
Dinse, who noted he had been going back and forth on whether to step down.

In the memo, Dinse told his officers that "it has been a privilege and 
honor to be your chief . . . I just want to take this opportunity to say 
thank you for making my time as chief so personally satisfying and rewarding."

After consulting with his family, Dinse said they all agreed they'd like to 
spend more time with each other and travel more, and Dinse would like to 
spend more time with his new granddaughter.

"When you want to be other places than the office, it's time to move on," 
he said.

Dinse was hired as Salt Lake City's police chief in 2000 after spending 34 
years with the Los Angeles Police Department. He was chief deputy with the 
LAPD by the time he retired from that department, overseeing the western 
Los Angeles district, which included the Los Angeles International Airport, 
Hollywood and Venice Beach. Dinse was significantly involved in the Los 
Angeles Police Department's handling of the 1984 Summer Games. He was 
planning coordinator for the 1987 visit of Pope John Paul II, a field 
commander during the 1992 riots and a task force commander during the 1994 
Northridge earthquake.

His comparatively short tenure in Salt Lake City was also active. The 2002 
Olympics, the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping and the Lori Hacking murder all 
happened on his watch.

"Those cases were high-profile and certainly had some scrutiny that 
occurred, in the Smart case particularly. I don't see those as anything 
negative. There were things to be learned from all of the cases. I see 
those as accomplishments, not negatives," Dinse said.

The people he worked with in Salt Lake City were the highlight of his 
career, he said.

"They are exceptional. They have made this department one of the best of 
its size in the nation," Dinse said. "It's been an enjoyable time. Cutting 
that cord has been difficult."

Assistant Chief Scott Atkinson said the respect officers had of their chief 
was mutual.

"He brought a lot of good things to the department. He's a great mentor, a 
great leader. He helped us to move forward and brought a lot of integrity 
to the department. We will all miss him," he said.

Anderson confirmed that. "I've had police officers tell me they've never 
worked for a chief they've had so much respect for," the mayor said. "I've 
really enjoyed the open and candid relationship chief Dinse and I have 
had." Officials from other law enforcement agencies had high praise for Dinse.

"If all my police chiefs I dealt with were Rick Dinse, I'd have an easy 
life," said Jeff Sweetin, who oversees the Rocky Mountain region for the 
Drug Enforcement Agency.

He said Dinse participated in groups such as the Narcotics and Dangerous 
Drugs Committee and the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area 
program.

"He's the finest chief I've see in 36 years of law enforcement, and that 
includes in Los Angeles," said HIDTA director Steve Gorman.

The local head of the DEA, Barry Jamison, had equally high praise.

"The DEA considers the Salt Lake City Police Department, and in particular 
Rick Dinse, to be one of our biggest allies," he said. "The difficult 
issues suddenly become easy when you're dealing with Rick Dinse."

Murray Police Chief Pete Fondaco, who is also chairman of the Law 
Enforcement Administrators and Directors group locally, said Dinse's 
retirement would affect the entire county.

An exact date of retirement won't be picked until later, Dinse said. Until 
then, he said he still had a few goals to accomplish.

"There are always things you never really fully complete. I don't think any 
chief that leaves a job can say they accomplished all his or her goals. You 
should always have something to challenge you," he said.

Currently at the top of the chief's "to do" list is getting a bond measure 
approved to build a new police headquarters, an Emergency Operations Center 
for the city and a new patrol division for the east side.

Dinse replaced Reuben Ortega, whom Anderson vowed to oust when running for 
mayor in 1999.

And when asked what he would be looking for in a replacement for Dinse, the 
mayor often described someone unlike Ortega, who used heavy force to crack 
down on drug users at the Liberty Park drum circle and deputized Salt Lake 
City police officers as Immigration and Naturalization Services agents in 
an effort to crack down on illegal aliens.

"I won't be hiring a police chief that would send in police in full combat 
gear because somebody might be smoking a joint in the drum circle," 
Anderson told reporters. "We want to have someone who has a lot of energy 
and who brings innovation to the job," Anderson said.

Dinse said he and his wife still have a home in California and would 
probably spend the majority of their retirement there, closer to other 
family members. Initially however, he said they would probably stay in the 
Salt Lake area and do some traveling.

Although he is retiring, Dinse said he wasn't closed to the idea of working 
again. If an offer came up to work in the areas of Homeland Security or 
emergency preparedness he'd be willing to listen.
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MAP posted-by: Beth