news story / By Ryan Burns

Why Was Garr Fired?

The termination of Eureka’s police chief has some residents flummoxed, others irate

(June 30, 2011)  The tumultuous four-year tenure of Garrr Nielsen as Eureka’s chief of police came to an abrupt end Friday morning when City Manager David Tyson unexpectedly fired him without cause, reportedly giving him just minutes to clear out his desk, change out of his uniform and leave the building. While Nielsen’s stint in Eureka seems to be over, his departure clearly won’t be the last twist in a storyline fit for the tawdriest of TV melodramas.

A brief recap: Nielsen was hired by Tyson in April 2007 to reform a department mired in controversy after four officer-involved shooting deaths. The new chief soon encountered fierce resistance from within the department. Just a year into his tenure, in a special meeting of the city council that would come to be known as “Black Friday,” about a dozen departmental employees railed against Nielsen, characterizing him as a vindictive bully. One worker warned the council that she’d filed a sexual harassment claim against him. The public, however, lauded his efforts, and the council voted unanimously to extend his contract. (Nielsen was later exonerated of the harassment charge.)

From there things got even nastier. An anonymous blog called “Above the Law” alleged that Nielsen and police dispatcher Tawnie Hansen, both of whom were married to other people, were having an affair, a claim both parties vehemently denied (“Broken Blue Line,” July 2, 2009). The Grand Jury investigated more anonymous claims against the chief and found them to be without merit. Hansen, in turn, sued a fellow EPD employee for spreading the rumor on the “Above the Law” blog — and was awarded $10,000 in a settlement.

More salaciously, Hansen filed a suit against the city, accusing Tyson of making unwanted, aggressive sexual overtures toward her, and she claimed that after she rebuffed Tyson’s advances he deliberately slow-played the investigation into her harassment complaints, motivated by anger and misguided jealousy of Nielsen over the false rumors of an affair. Last November the city settled her suit for $200,000, splitting the cost with its insurance carrier.

Absent any official explanation for Nielsen’s termination (Tyson, citing legal constraints, will say only that there was “a difference in management styles”) the public has been left to draw its own conclusions based on this sordid history.

In a phone conversation from Oregon Monday, the former chief spoke judiciously about his abrupt dismissal, downplaying his personal conflicts with Tyson. Instead he attributed the underlying motive for his firing to a small contingent of well-connected officers within the department. This handful of officers, Nielsen said, remains entrenched in the old culture of the EPD, a culture that prided itself on being the most aggressive police department in northern California.

“The attitude was, ‘We never back down. We never walk away. We refuse to be seen as anything but the badass cops of Humboldt County,’” Nielsen said.

Among the changes made during his tenure were disbanding the SWAT team, expanding officer training around mental health issues, partnering with the county’s domestic violence services department, and establishing a problem-oriented policing (POP) unit to deal with nuisance properties and persistent drug problems. Nielsen said his proudest achievement was changing the relationship between the department and the public.

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