NOW IN CHARGE ADAMS TAKES OVER AS CHIEF, WITH 'ZERO TOLERANCE' POLICY.

Byline: Nicholas Grudin Staff Writer

GLENDALE - New Police Chief Randy Adams was officially sworn in Tuesday night and said he will immediately launch a ``zero tolerance'' plan by law enforcement in Glendale.

Adams, 51, comes to Glendale after 30 years in law enforcement, most recently as chief of police in Simi Valley, where he consistently led the city to the top of the FBI's list of safest cities in America.

``Chief Adams comes to us ready and more than able to assume command of the finest department in the state of California,'' said City Manager Jim Starbird at the formal swearing in.

In Glendale - Los Angeles County's third-largest city, with a population of 200,000 - Adams said he hopes to find similar success.

``I have zero tolerance for criminal activity - we want to keep Glendale a nice, peaceful community,'' Adams said. ``Even though it's a large city, we want it to have that small town feel.''

To do this, Adams will impose the so-called ``broken window'' response that Los Angeles Police Department Chief William Bratton is implementing. That approach aggressively targets vandalism and other minor crimes with the aim of deterring major crimes by the same offenders in the future.

``We will be aggressively dealing with the major issues and the more minor things, to prevent them from becoming larger issues,'' said Adams, adding that his strict standards will apply to members of the 240-officer Glendale department, as well.

A handful of Glendale police officers is currently involved in a civil suit stemming from allegations made in 2001 that male officers sexually harassed female officers, including one allegation of rape.

``One of the first things I do will be to communicate my expectations to the department - I set pretty high standards,'' Adams said. ``We need to be mentors to the community and set examples by how we lead our own lives both professionally and personally.''

Adams does not plan on making any major changes in the structure of command, saying that the Glendale Police Department has been a well-run operation.

``We're just going to try to enhance our current efforts,'' Adams said.

In 2001, of 56 cities in California over 100,000 population, Glendale and Simi Valley were respectively the seventh and first safest cities.

The crime rate in Glendale is 2,285 per 100,000. Simi Valley had 1,551 per 100,000.

Gang and organized crime will be primary focuses of Adams' agenda, he said.

Adams will be earning a salary of about $158,000, plus benefits - $20,000 more than retiring chief Russ Siverling.

Adams' arrival roughly coincides with the completion of the new police headquarters, a state-of-the-art $57 million facility scheduled to open in May.

``One of the largest initial challenges will be the transition into the new facility,'' Adams said. ``We're going to have a challenge here as we proceed in this decade of harnessing all of the information out there and help the officer on the street to make law enforcement more efficient.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Randy Adams, center, is sworn in as Glendale police chief in Glendale Tuesday by clerk Rita Buchanan, left, as City Manager James Starbird, right, looks on. Adams was previously chief of police in Simi Valley.

(2) Adams watches as his wife, Kathleen, pins on his new badge during his swearing-in Tuesday.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer