El Monte : Police Chief Honored

The International Union of Police Assns., AFL-CIO, has named Wayne Clayton as police chief of the year for sponsoring state legislation allowing cities and counties to pay punitive damages for police officers who are successfully sued for actions taken within the scope of their duties. Clayton, 53, has been with the El Monte Police Department 29 years.

The union, based in Washington and representing 16,000 police officers across the country, also has designated a special award to City Atty. Sidney Maleck, who drafted the ordinance later introduced by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys).

Maleck said the legislation grew out of a case involving two on-duty El Monte police officers sued for using excessive force during a fight outside a local nightclub. The City Council paid the $2,000 judgment against the officers, a decision later unsuccessfully challenged in court by a local resident. Maleck has been city attorney nine years.