A Close-up Look At People Who Matter : Former Police Chief Among Award Finalists

It may seem odd that on the list of nominees for this year’s Fernando Award--given annually to a volunteer in recognition of a lifetime of community service--is a man who was paid to serve as Los Angeles police chief and then state senator.

“But he did so much above and beyond the job he was hired to do,” said Lee Alpert, an Encino lawyer and Fernando Award board member.

Alpert said that although he doesn’t favor any of this year’s five finalists for the award, he says Ed Davis is worthy of being on the list.

“Ed was sometimes a very controversial guy. You either hated him or you loved him,” said Alpert.

Alpert said he first met the formidable former police chief as a young lawyer when he accidentally stumbled into the wrong room at Parker Center and found himself facing a room full of police brass.

“Son, may I help you? I think you have the wrong room,” Davis said to Alpert. In that moment, Alpert said he saw the kind firmness of the man who was chief from 1970 to 1979 and he later grew to admire and respect him.

Davis, branded as ultra-conservative by his critics, showed himself to be a moderate Republican during his years in the Legislature representing the Santa Clarita and western San Fernando valleys.

As police chief, Davis based his programs on the British Bobbie system, which dates to 1829, and started community policing through his “basic car plan” (in which car units regularly patrol given areas), team policing and Neighborhood Watch programs. Alpert remembers that Davis, who then lived in Chatsworth, did not just set the policy but would go out to the neighborhoods of the Devonshire Division to help set up watch programs.

“It was natural for me to pay particular attention to the people in the San Fernando Valley who didn’t feel they had been given full attention from Downtown city government,” said Davis, 77. Despite his move to Morro Bay after his retirement from the Legislature, Davis said he keeps in close touch with the Valley, which was his home for nearly 30 years.

While growing up in a working-class neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, Davis said he learned community responsibility from his mother. Davis was named police commander of the Valley in 1960 and moved to Chatsworth in 1964. He later was named honorary mayor of Chatsworth and became involved in a variety of community groups.

Davis has attended many ceremonies for the Fernando Award--now in its 36th year--and said he was impressed with the recognition for a lifetime of service. “I didn’t ask for it and didn’t dream it could be attained,” Davis said of his nomination.

Each year’s winner of the Fernando Award is given a statuette of a Native American, chosen because of the strong sense of community it represents, said Fred Thomas, the 1988 winner.

“The award is presented each year to those people who have done the most for the entire San Fernando Valley, not just a particular community,” Thomas said.

The award was created as a way to inspire others to dedicate their lives to community service, Alpert said.

The winners often find their lives are not quite the same, Thomas said.

“There is not a week that goes by that there is not a former winner of the Fernando Award speaking somewhere,” said Thomas, who appears before high school and other youth groups in an attempt to instill in them the same values he holds dear. “You have even more responsibility than you had prior to receiving the award.”

Valley chambers of commerce and past Fernando Award recipients nominate and vote for the winner, who will be named at a dinner Nov. 4. Other finalists are attorney Benjamin Reznik, car dealer Terry York and businessmen Clyde Porter and Kenneth L. Banks Jr.

Last in a series on the five nominees for the 1994 Fernando Award, appearing in Personal Best, a weekly profile of an ordinary person who does extraordinary things. Please address prospective candidates to Personal Best, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth, 91311. Or fax them to (818) 772-3338 .