FULLERTON – All three newly elected City Council members see Police Department reform as the municipality’s top priority, with two saying they will consider outsourcing police services.

This week’s recall election drove three sitting councilmen from office by 2-to-1 margins for what their critics said was a lack of leadership after the death of transient Kelly Thomas; two officers face charges linked to the violent encounter.

Their replacements – Greg Sebourn, Travis Kiger and Doug Chaffee – are expected to take office by mid-July. All three said they want changes to the Fullerton force.

“There is some sort of corruption going on in the Police Department, so you can’t just ignore it,” said Sebourn, referring to several incidents of misconduct in recent years. “That has to be dealt with.”

Sebourn said the city should at least approach the Sheriff’s Department about taking over the Fullerton Police Department. He said he wants to see what that agency can offer and at what price. “I think we have to proceed cautiously,” he said. “We have to absolutely look at every possible solution to see if we will benefit from it.”

Kiger also said he would support getting a proposal from the Sheriff’s Department – “I would never turn down an opportunity to get a quote” – but said the existing department can also be reformed. He pointed especially at officer discipline, which he said has been lacking.

“Ultimately, I think we can improve what we have,” he said. “But in order to do that, we have to have leverage.”

Chaffee said he wouldn’t support outsourcing police services. But he said the council should over take the power to hire or fire the police chief from the city manager, the municipality’s top administrator. He also said the city and its police should make a formal apology to the Thomas family, which he said would help restore the public’s faith.

Two Fullerton police officers – Manuel Ramos and Jay Cicinelli – have been criminally charged in connection with Kelly Thomas’ death last July. A surveillance video captured Thomas’ final conscious moments, and Chaffee said it shows that the homeless man was doing nothing wrong.

“Right now, we are at a zero-trust level,” he said. “I think that the topic is so damaging, and I think that an apology could be a way of building a bridge and getting things done.”

The head of the Fullerton Police Association, a union that represents the city’s 154 sworn officers and dispatchers, said his group would fight any attempt to outsource services. Cpl. Barry Coffman said it’s not accurate and not fair to characterize the department as corrupt.

“I think they are misinformed,” Coffman said about anyone saying the department has had corruption. “They don’t know what corrupt is. … They take this Kelly Thomas incident and say there has been a cover-up. Just because they didn’t get information when they wanted it, they conclude there is corruption.”

The newly elected council members replace Councilmen Don Bankhead, Pat McKinley and F. Richard Jones. It was the second time that Bankhead has been recalled; he also was voted out of office in 1994 over a utility tax and then re-elected later that year. Until this week, that was the only successful recall in modern Fullerton history.

The three new council members will take their seats at the council table as soon as the county certifies the election results and the city formally recognizes them. City Clerk Lucinda Williams said she anticipates that to happen no later than July 17.

“I’ve got a feeling that we’re in for a fast ride. Things are going to change,” Bankhead said on Wednesday morning, hours after the second recall of his political career.

Both Bankhead and McKinley said they could not think of anything they would have done differently in their handling of the Kelly Thomas case, the flashpoint issue in their recall. The three recall targets were slammed for their mild public response to Thomas’ death, but Bankhead said they didn’t want to do anything that might make evidence in the case inadmissible in court.

“I think we did the right thing,” McKinley said. “People say, ‘Oh, you should have done more.’ I don’t know what more they wanted from us.”

McKinley called the new council members “upstanding people.” He said he congratulates them, wishes them well – and thanks them “for taking over this constant barrage that we face every (other) Tuesday night.”

Contact the writer: Contact the writer: lponsi@ocregister.com or 714-704-3730

The new council members

Greg Sebourn

Age: 39

Profession: Businessman/educator

Former service: Citizens’ Infrastructure Committee and Water Rate Study Ad Hoc Committee

Doug Chaffee

Age: 68

Profession: Attorney

Former service: Planning Commission, Friends of the Fullerton Arboretum, Redevelopment Agency Citizens Committee

Travis Kiger