A profile on Chief Michael Billdt ...

He values loyalty in his top command staff. Those who disagree or show too much independence, sources say, may face the retaliation, often in the form of adverse consequences to their careers.

The chief has noticeably bristled at City Council members' questions during public meetings. People in and around City Hall still talk in hushed whispers about the time last year when Billdt, cherry-faced with irritation, allegedly confronted Councilwoman Wendy McCammack outside of City Hall minutes after she had barraged him with a particularly sharp round of questions.

Billdt's public style has always been buttoned-down professionalism. His answers are tightly delivered, with little deviation or creativity, but plenty of assured consistency. Don't ask him to entertain thoughts about possibilities, which will often trigger a standard response.

"I don't deal with hypotheticals," Billdt will say, brushing aside questions that begin with "what if .." with firm finality.

Billdt's stern-faced demeanor, outward professionalism and apparently rock-solid command of policing strategies and the department he advanced through the ranks in for more than 30 years has earned him some stalwart supporters.

Mayor Pat Morris may be the biggest backer. After overseeing Billdt as chief for one-year, he hailed him as one of the finest in the state, lofty praise that rose eyebrows then and now. And Morris has never waffled. After Billdt, whose reputation for secrecy was enhanced by refusing until just weeks ago to provide the public a resume, revealed that he did not hold an accredited college degree, Morris swiftly came to his public aid, noting the chief's hefty command experience and crime-fighting record.

And Billdt has other respected backers. Of his current command staff, sources say a slim majority are firmly in his favor, despite and overwhelming vote of disapproval from the rank-and-file. And those who count themselves among the chief's camp - veterans like Mitch Kimball, Walt Goggin, Brian Boom, now retired Frank Mankin - are deeply committed to his leadership, sources say.

Respected formers like Roger Poyzer, Wes Farmer and interim Code Enforcement Director Wayne Harp say Billdt is both a keen law enforcement mind and a solid character.

Former Chief Lee Dean, whose tenure is harkened to by many city leaders as one of the better episodes of leadership in modern department history, was impressed enough with Billdt to vault his career, first promoting him to captain and then to assistant chief.

When Lee Dean left in 2001, crime was at one of its lowest rates in decades. The highly respected outgoing chief made no secret that he felt Billdt was the best man to take his job. Instead, the council brought in LAPD veteran Garrett Zimmon.

And, it should be noted, when Billdt took over for moribund chief Zimmon,four-plus years later, nary a voice in city government objected. The City Council effusively sung his praise.

But BIlldt is a highly polarizing figure, a man often either loathed or loved. It has often been his private, one-on-one dealings that have sparked the most resent.

"If you speak your mind to the chief, and he disagrees, he will quickly become unprofessional and take personal offense to it," said retired-Lt. Don Soderbloom, whose career ran aground when he ran afoul of Billdt, and whose case has drawn the attention of state investigators. "Then, you have a target on your back."

In interviews with more than one-half dozen sources - some police officers, a top-level police official in another city and academics, a picture of Billdt emerges as a driven leader with an almost insatiable need to maintain agreement and control information.

Some, Soderbloom included, say a deep, gnawing sense of insecurity borne of a resume noticably leaner than other leaders of his stature drives Billdt to overcompensate, wielding power by instilling fear, crushing internal threats and discouraging debate or dissenting opinion.

Some echoes of those sentiments have been observed by members of the news media during Billdt's tenure.

Billdt rarely directly answers questions, instead preferring to respond to queries with "this is what I'm going to say," before articulating a crisp response. Billdt has been known to answer calls from reporters with calls directly to editors, a pattern of going to supervisors or managers that critics say is consistent with the bullying tactics he uses in interdepartmental dealings. .

And people quoted in the local news media disagreeing with Billdt may get calls to their bosses, as one local professor learned.

One account that some say is demonstrative of the chief's public relations tactics occurred in February, when Billdt and Mayor Pat Morris rolled out a new data compilation that seemed to show violent crime at a historic low. Morris said the city was safer than it had been two decades ago, despite coming off a summer marked by gun
violence.

One of the skeptical voices was Stephen Tibbetts, a criminology professor at Cal State San Bernardino.

Tibbetts questioned the city's new statistics, saying they may have reached faulty conclusions about community safety by using analytic techniques not commonly practiced by the FBI.

When the professor's comments appeared in the paper, Billdt complained to department chair Larry Gaines --Tibbett's boss - to complain, Tibbetts acknowledged in a recent interview.

Tibbetts called back, and he and the chief discussed the matter for more than two hours over the next three days, with Billdt repeatedly urging Tibbetts to call the newspaper and disavow his comments as being "taken out of context," Tibbetts said.

"I told him that I would not do this, because my quotes were not out of context," Tibbetts said. "He repeatedly tried to persuade me to make this call, but I refused."

Tibbetts added that the Billdt called his boss again Tuesday.

Billdt has rejected Tibbetts' account.

When asked whether he urged Tibbetts to call the newspaper, Billdt said, "No. It was my understanding based on our conversation that he believed that his comments may have been taken out of context in terms of what he was trying to convey," Billdt said. "So I suggested that he call the reporter, but I'm not sure whether he did that."

Both men say the conversation was cordial and professional. But Tibbetts said that at times the chief's persistence unnerved him.

"Near the end, he suggested that maybe he could call the newspaper and say he talked to me, and that my quotes were taken out of context," Tibbetts. "I said no, that would be inappropriate."

Gaines came to the chief's defense, saying a hostile, powerful union makes leadership difficult.

But Tibbetts' account is no anomaly.

Numerous allegations have surfaced in recent months that Billdt has made use of threats, favors and sheer force of position as leader of the county's largest municipal police department to forge consensus and further his agenda.

Jeff Breiten, a former captain who clashed with Billdt before he retired a few years ago, said that when he was a patrol commander and Billdt headed internal affairs, Billdt repeatedly tried to pressure him into new positions on investigations, either to trigger more severe or lighter punishment.

"During the review board processes, he would use his power to influence the investigations and change others' positions," Breiten said.