UC defends $2.1 million deal for police chief UC BERKELEY Top campus cop retires with lump sum, then is rehired

UC Berkeley officials are defending an unusual arrangement that allowed Police Chief Victoria Harrison to retire last year with a $2.1 million package and then return to the same job right away for more money.

"No laws were broken," Cal spokeswoman Marie Felde said Thursday. "That's very clear."

UC spokesman Paul Schwartz said the retirement package was consistent with university policy and reflected benefits she rightfully earned.

"She did not receive anything special," he said.

The two were reacting to a Contra Costa Times story published Thursday that said the chief of the UC Berkeley Police Department received "improper perks" and that administrators broke or bypassed UC and federal rules.

In an interview with The Chronicle, Harrison said she was stunned by the uproar over what she saw as a difficult decision on her part, but one that allowed her to keep working in a place she loves.

"I'm now 54," Harrison said. "I think I've got a few good years left in me, and I want to continue to contribute to the big U."

Harrison started her career at UC Santa Barbara in 1973 and came to Cal in 1985. Five years later, she took over as chief. In June 2007, however, she found herself in a quandary. She'd been eligible for full retirement for more than a year, with a pension that would have paid her as much as she was earning by working.

"I was at 100 percent of my salary," she said. "People kept asking me, 'When are you going to retire?' They were telling me I was crazy. And I was told that a job at another municipal police department was mine."

The problem was that she didn't want to leave, and her boss, Vice Chancellor Nathan Brostrom, didn't want her to go. The police chief said they explored her options and scoured retirement plans, "reading the fine print." They discovered that "if you take the lump sum payout, you're not considered retired."

Harrison got a $2,130,259 lump sum from the retirement plan. She will also receive $4,621 a month for 10 years, totaling $554,520, from a deferred compensation plan.

Before her retirement, Harrison was earning a base salary of $161,527. Combined with unused vacation pay and a stipend for her work as associate vice chancellor for public safety, her total compensation had amounted to $205,000 a year.

Under the terms of the rehiring, her base pay was $175,000, which increased to $181,125 two months later. In addition, she is receiving $12,700 annually for working with Cal's athletic director and on special projects - for a total of almost $194,000 a year.

On the other hand, Harrison said, she forfeited a monthly pension as well as health insurance and other benefits that would have lasted a lifetime.

"When I leave, I'll have to be self-insured," Harrison said. "If I don't do a good job investing all that money, I could be out on the street with a tin cup. I did a lot of soul-searching about whether I was willing to take that risk."

Harrison wanted to keep her 61 unused sick days and the university allowed it as an exception to policy, Schwartz said, because of "extenuating campus circumstances" - they didn't want to lose Harrison.

Schwartz also acknowledged that the university violated its policies by discussing rehiring before Harrison had retired. He said her "pending employment offer from an outside agency" prompted them to disregard the rules.

However, he insisted no federal rules were broken. Although the Internal Revenue Service states that such discussions shouldn't take place before normal retirement age, that age is 50 rather than 60 in the case of safety employees such as Harrison, Schwartz said.

The university also is permitting Harrison to work full time, although its guidelines say recall appointments should be part time - 46 percent or less.

Schwartz said campuses are authorized to determine the amount of work time based on their needs.

"In this case, UC Berkeley determined a full-time appointment was warranted given a range of campus safety issues confronting the campus, including an increase in violent crime and tree-sitting protesters," Schwartz said.

From UC's perspective, it all seemed like a good solution.

"She didn't want to keep working a job and not be paid," Felde said. "Everything was carefully and deliberately reviewed before the offer was made."

Others, however, find the deal disturbing, especially in light of a recent UC scandal in which millions of dollars in extra compensation and questionable perks were bestowed on top executives without disclosure to UC regents or the public.

"The lesson for us as students dealing with tuition hikes is this: UC won't give us accountability," said Jessica Schley, a 23-year-old junior at Cal and editor of the Berkeley Undergraduate Journal. "We've got to demand it."

Bob Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies, a Los Angeles nonprofit, said, "It's pretty amazing to me. It's like they have a tin ear. The university has done things by themselves without any oversight. They think they can do things other state agencies can't do."

He said it seemed clear that UC hadn't learned any lessons from the compensation debacle.

"They must have really wanted her to stay," he said. "But nobody is irreplaceable. I'd sure like to have that same deal here."