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OCEANSIDE — The political honeymoon lasted only four days for the city’s new mayor who has been fending off demands for an apology after he told a civic group that the Police Department is plagued with “deep-rooted racism and sexism.” 

The biting comments from Mayor Terry Johnson – San Diego County’s first black mayor – hit a nerve in this military town where 55 percent of the residents and most of the Police Department’s top brass are white. 

The police officer’s union and three councilmembers have asked Johnson to issue an apology, but he has refused.  

Instead, the 48-year-old mayor has offered a clarification, saying he approves of the chief, who is white, but believes some police union officials are trying to thwart efforts to improve ethnic and gender diversity in the department. 

“I regret some of the words that I may have said out of poor judgment, particularly in my frustration with the leadership of the police union,” Johnson said at a City Council meeting Dec. 13. “It was inappropriate to direct them at the chief or the rank-and-file.” 

City records show that 58 claims of racial or sexual discrimination have been filed against the Police Department in the past 10 years. Of those cases, the city has paid $5 million to settle six cases of racial discrimination and five cases of sexual discrimination or harassment. 

“He didn’t pull this stuff out of thin air,” Sgt. Leonard Mata, who filed a discrimination claim against the department, said of the mayor’s comments. “You don’t get called the n-word or beaner. It’s more subtle.” 

Mata, a Latino who oversees the vice and narcotics investigations, has noticed that some patrol officers are less cooperative in giving his unit information from the streets, and he has heard white officers claim that promotions are based on ethnicity or gender. 

Mata also believes union officials who are the ones fanning the flames of divisiveness. 

“In general, the women and men of the department are really good people and certainly aren’t racist or people who fear diversity,” the sergeant said. 

Chief Michael Poehlman, who was hired in 1995, has said he is working to improve the number of women and ethnic minorities in the department. 

Ethnic minorities make up 43 percent of the city’s population but just 27 percent of the Police Department’s sworn officers. 

“We can always do better,” the chief said. 

Detective Scott Wright, chairman of the Oceanside Police Officers Association, said the mayor’s comments were “out of line.” The union seeks fair and equal treatment of all officers, Wright said. 

“We’ve gone through some stumbling blocks. ... Nobody’s perfect,” he said. “There’s been mistakes made on both sides of the fence.” 

Among the discrimination claims are allegations from four white officers who say they were passed over for promotion or denied upgrades because of their age or ethnicity. 

The department is reviewing its recruiting efforts and the city expects to hire a personnel specialist by next spring to help increase the department’s diversity and address discrimination issues, said Capt. Mike Shirley, a spokesman for the chief. 

The department also gives officers cultural diversity training and is in the process of establishing a team of officers to help recruit more women and ethnic minorities. 

As of Dec. 13, the department had 166 sworn officers, including 19 women. Besides the chief, the department’s two captains and five of six lieutenants are white. A third captain, a black officer formerly with Los Angeles Police Department, starts Jan. 2. 

Among sergeants, 18 are white, including one woman who is the highest ranking woman in the department; two are Latino; and two are Asian-American. Among the rank-and-file, 96 are white; 21 are Latino; 11 are Asian-American; six are black; and one is Pacific Islander/American Indian. 

Lt. Reginald Grigsby, the highest ranking black officer in the department, recently settled a discrimination lawsuit against the department. 

“There currently exists a climate where minorities are made to be scapegoats for the shortcomings of white officers; employees of color are not respected, nor are they afforded the same professional consideration as white employees,” according to his claim. 

Grigsby did not return phone calls seeking additional comment. 

Mata supports the chief and the mayor, and believes both men want to bring more women and ethnic minorities into the department’s upper ranks. 

“I don’t think (the mayor) used good judgment in what he said. But in a way, I think it’s going to force people to look at this department and it’s commitment to diversity,” he said. 

“The mayor may take the fall but maybe some good will come of it.”