'95 BROUGHT TROUBLE TO SIMI FORCE\Police plagued by scandal, fatal shooting of officer.

Byline: Terry Kanakri Daily News Staff Writer

The death of Officer Michael Clark while on duty was the most tragic of a series of troublesome events that plagued the Simi Valley Police Department in 1995.

The resignations of four officers linked to an illegal investment scheme after fellow officers reported the suspicious activity followed, and then the accidental wounding of a policeman by a fellow officer.

Most recently, in December, an officer charged with perjury but exonerated in court left the department after being accused of lying on a witness stand in a drug case that contributed to the imprisonment of a Simi Valley woman.

The unfortunate chain of events left the department stunned and, in some cases, embarrassed. But as the new year begins there is a surprising sense of optimism, much of it credited to the new police chief, Randy Adams.

As the year begins, the department also is enjoying praise for its vigilance in checking a surge of gang activity by adding officers to the gang surveillance unit and increasing patrols in problem areas. Several raids yielded numerous arrests, some involving illegal aliens who were deported with the help of the Border Patrol.

"(The year) certainly was eventful and it was traumatic as well," said Detective John Rygh, president of the Simi Valley Police Officers Association. "It's not a year that we want to relive. We lost some good officers and we lost Mike as well. What we're doing is we're looking forward with optimism to a new year and hope that it'll be a better one for us."

Adams, who was named to his post just days after Clark's death, echoed Rygh's sentiments.

"There were certainly some incidents in 1995 that were both shocking and caused some concerns," he said.

The department's most traumatic event occurred Aug. 4, when Clark was shot and killed outside the Aztec Court home of Daniel A. Tuffree while responding to a report of a possibly suicidal resident. Tuffree pleaded not guilty in October to murder and other charges after Ventura County prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty. His trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 22.

The killing, the first in the department's 25-plus years, shook the community and caused many officers to take a hard look at the danger inherent to their jobs.

"The loss of Mike Clark to me was the most significant tragedy that this department experienced. Everybody was just emotionally drained and shocked," said Lt. Dick Thomas. "There's no doubt in my mind that there were a lot of personal conversations between husbands and wives about life and the risks of the police officer's life."

Another low point came when Officer Dave Raduziner was accidentally wounded in the thigh by fellow Officer John Hughes on Dec. 18. Raduziner was hit with gunfire as Hughes shot twice at Mark Pedersen, a mentally disabled man, when Pedersen attacked Raduziner with a penknife, according to police. Pedersen, who was seriously wounded in the chest, was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. His arraignment in Ventura Municipal Court is scheduled for Tuesday.

Raduziner was released from Simi Valley Hospital on Dec. 27.

The Police Department was just plain embarrassed when four of its officers resigned last year after being linked to an illegal pyramid investment scheme.

Former Officer Raymond Madden pleaded guilty in Ventura Superior Court to a felony charge of operating an endless investment chain. Madden's plea came two days after another former Simi Valley police officer, Michael Cratch, was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to the same charge stemming from a separate scheme in Simi Valley.

Cratch and Madden resigned from the Police Department along with former Officers Matthew McCord and Matt Hopkins. The four officers were linked to pyramid schemes by other officers who told the grand jury they were recruited but did not participate.

Although upset that officers would be involved in illegal activity, Adams found a bright spot.

"What's encouraging to me is those disciplinary issues that I've had to deal with have come forward not from outside sources, but from people concerned from inside the department about the professionalism of the department and making sure there isn't any code of silence," he said.

"It's nice to know that anyone who steps over the line, the department here is very proud and they will not cover it up."

Rygh said many officers could not understand why some of their colleagues, who are supposed to uphold the law, would become involved in an illegal scheme and damage their careers.

"A lot of us just shook our heads and wondered why anyone with a good job and a bright future would endanger that for a prospect of a few good bucks," he said. "It's always an embarrassment to me when a police officer does something like that."

On another matter, former Officer David Steven Ming, 27, was fired last month over allegations that he lied on the witness stand in a drug case, according to Blair Summey, past president of the police association. Summey has denounced the termination, saying Ming had "cleared his name" when he was found not guilty of perjury in a Ventura County Superior Court trial.

Capt. Dick Wright confirmed that Ming has left the department but declined to comment further, citing confidentiality of personnel matters.

Despite the roller coaster year, officers say morale inside the Police Department has been on the upswing since Adams, a former assistant chief with the city of Ventura, was hired to run the Simi Valley department.

The chief's position became vacant in February when Willard Schlieter, who served less than a year, resigned amid criticism from police and city officials that he did not provide sufficient leadership.

Schlieter, who could not be reached for comment, has rejected the allegation, citing stress and lack of support from his management team as the main reasons for his short tenure in Simi Valley.

"I see things moving forward in a very stable environment, and that was certainly lacking during Chief Adams' predecessor's tenure," Thomas said. "I didn't see a common purpose in the organization (during Schlieter's tenure). There's a great number of very talented managers and sergeants and officers in this department, but it takes somebody to kind of line them up and see that everyone is marching in the same direction, and that was lacking with Chief Schlieter."

Adams said that when he took the job, he made leadership and communications with employees a top priority. Adams said he now holds regular meetings at all levels of the organization, listens to all sides of an issue and seldom makes a decision without input.

"So far, that's proven to be effective," he said. "I certainly try to make it very clear that if anybody wants to come and talk to me about any issue, my door is open. I like to have that approachability and accessibility to the employees."

In 1995, the Police Department also stepped up its war against gangs.

Police say tensions between Simi Valley's two primary gangs - with a total membership of about 160 - have been high ever since the city's first gang-related killing April 1. Armando Rodriguez, 19, was shot and killed by rival gang member Victor Ramirez on the First Street Bridge over the Arroyo Simi.

Ramirez, who pleaded guilty to murder in the case, was sentenced in July in Ventura Superior Court to a state prison term of 15 years to life. Ramirez also received four years for using a .22-caliber semiautomatic handgun to shoot Rodriguez.

Other worrisome incidents in the past year included a drive-by shooting, assaults, beatings and vandalism as police reported a rise in gang-related activity.

Thomas, who heads the Police Department's gang monitoring unit, said the department made combating gangs a high priority in 1995, and predicted that department attention will intensify even more in 1996 to calm public concern.

"We started focusing the energies of the department in a very specific way to combat the gang problem, and there's no question that the Police Department with the support of the City Council will be enforcing zero tolerance for gang activity in this community," he said. "We don't want gangs; we don't need gangs; it's an unacceptable behavior."

And despite the challenges that the Police Department faced last year and the new ones it will face in 1996, Rygh, the association president, said police are content knowing that their work is making a difference in Simi Valley. The city repeatedly has been ranked as one of the country's safest by the FBI.

"Those are the things that keep us holding our heads up," Rygh said. "We're cops and we're proud of it."

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Photo (ran in SIMI edition only) The death of Officer Michael Clark while on duty was the most tragic event for the Simi Valley Police Department in 1995.