Chief of Police L. Jack Richards was a member of the Balloon Division of the U.S. Army Air Corps, and as such, he participated in all types of work in foreign countries. He was stationed, for a time, at Ross Field in 1920.
It was in 1932 at the May 3rd City Council meeting that the Mayor Earl Busse startled the council and audience with the declarations that the usual four days a month off for the firemen and policemen be reduced to two days and that Chief Richards be fired for “being active in politics and neglecting his duties.”
Nothing came of this, but the bombshell of the evening was the motion from Councilman Link, who moved “…that the office of Mayor and Chairman of the City Council be declared vacant.” So it was that Busse’s term as Mayor was the shortest in Arcadia’s history; not quite one full meeting.
Chief Richards survived his first hurdle as Chief of Police.