The answers didn't please him. "It seemed to me that I had a lot of people that didn't know what they were doing," Riley said.

From this, he says, came the impetus for a restructuring that concluded with the firing of the seven lieutenants last month.

But one fired lieutenant who asked to remain anonymous said Riley took a "hands-off" attitude towards his managers from the beginning of his tenure.

"He never included the lieutenants. We were excised from the beginning," the lieutenant said.

In another unpopular personnel move, Riley brought in Nelson Ostiguy, whom he had known in the state police, as a "consultant" and head of the detective division and special operations.

In making this move, Riley demoted a long-serving HUPD lieutenant. This move was followed by charges that he had hired a crony at the expense of a department insider.

In the fall of 1996, Riley removed Sgt. Kathleen Stanford and Lt. John F. Rooney from their posts as head of the Criminal Investigations Division (CID), replacing them with newly made Sgt. Richard W. Mederos.

Although Mederos was seen as a "can-do" officer who was popular with his colleagues, Riley's treatment of his senior staff upset many veteran officers in his departments even though both Stanford and Rooney had requested transfers from the position.

The third internal tempest involved Riley's creation of a senior deputy position--captain of the department. HUPD had had several captains during its three decades of existence, but the position had not been filled for several years.

On Sept. 25, 1996, Riley gave the job to Jack Stanton, a highly respected HUPD watch commander.

Several lieutenants charged that they had been passed over for the position because of personality conflicts with Riley. They further charged that Stanton was unqualified and noted that he did not hold the recommended college degree.

"[Stanton's] experience was an over-whelming factor putting him in for that position," Riley said. He said the degree provision was only a "preference."

One lieutenant, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he and three other colleges filed an internal grievance against HUPD for mishandling the captain's search.

And, finally, Riley's biggest move was to remove the lieutenants, who he characterized as dead weight in a department that refused to adapt to his new policies.

Several of the fired lieutenants dispute the charge that they resisted Riley's policy changes from the beginning.