The Streets are Watching

Scottsdale Blackout March for Justice and an End to Police Brutality

2012-02-22T18:36:00.000-08:00

Scottsdale Campaign for Justice and an End to Police Murder

Meeting at Scottsdale & Indian School Rd
8:00pm until 11:00pm
Friday, February 24

**WEAR BLACK**
**BRING NOISE MAKERS**
**TAKE THE STREETS**

We will march, once again, for justice in Scottsdale over the killings of 6 people by officer James Peters.

We want to make it clear to the City of Scottsdale that we will not stop until justice is had by the victims, their families, and everyone else who was involved. We intend on seeing this through, and will achieve this goal no matter what.

We demand:
-Officer James Peters be immediately fired from his position

-Officer Peters be charged with murder

-Negligence charges brought against the Scottsdale Police Department for ever letting it get this far.

We will march once again through the streets of Scottsdale.

Be ready.

Report outlines fatal shot fired by Scottsdale police officer

2012-02-22T18:00:00.000-08:00

Just before Scottsdale police opened fire on Jason Prostrollo, the former Marine appeared in the doorway of a friend's home holding two halves of a pool cue as he walked toward police.

"I saw a very methodical slow paced walk, like he knew what he was doing coming at us and he was gonna take us on," Lt. Ron Bayne told investigators following the Jan. 28 shooting. The incident was outlined in a 244-page police report released last week.

Bayne used his .40-caliber Glock pistol to shoot and kill the 25-year-old Prostrollo after police were called to the north Scottsdale home of Prostrollo's friends.

The friends had called police because Prostrollo was drunk and threatening the homeowner with a large hunting knife.

Bayne, a 19-year police veteran, told investigators that he has been in many situation where using deadly force was a potential option.

"We've given commands and people have complied. There was never an indication in my mind that (Prostrollo) had any intention of complying at all," Bayne said.

The day after the shooting, a police spokesman said officers could not use a Taser on Prostrollo because of windy conditions. The report says the officers were armed with Tasers and several officers mention windy conditions that night, however the report does not specify that is the reason a Taser was not used.

As Prostrollo walked toward officers, he made "karate-type moves" using the sticks, Bayne said.

Another officer described Prostrollo coming out in a stick-fighter position, with a stick in each hand on his sides.

Sgt. KC Moore told investigators that another officer was giving Prostrollo commands to stop, but Prostrollo did not listen.

"He had a very piercing stare. Almost like, I don't know if I wanna call a death stare, but he wasn't paying attention to what we were saying," Moore said.

As Prostrollo continued walking toward officers, the K-9 officer, who was giving Prostrollo commands to stop, yelled that he was going to release his dog.

At the same time, Moore said he heard two loud pops, which was Bayne firing his weapon.

Bayne's bullets hit Prostrollo, killing him and hitting the dog, which was taken to an animal hospital and survived.

How it all started

The incident began the night before at Ernie's Restaurant and Bar, 10443 N. Scottsdale Road.

Prostrollo's friends, a 50-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman, had known Prostrollo for about six months. Their names are redacted in the report.

The couple told police that they went to Erine's about 10:30 p.m. Jan. 27 to play pool and have some drinks. There, they ran into Prostrollo, who had told them he was a former Marine and had served in Iraq.

"That night, Jason was drinking but did not seem to be impaired," the 50-year-old man told police.

Later, the couple invited Prostrollo back to their house to play pool.

The three left Ernie's shortly after midnight and drove to the home in the 12000 block of north 135th Place.

A few hours later, the girlfriend went to bed and by this time, Prostrollo appeared to be drunk, different and more aggressive in his storytelling, the report states.

"Jason kept pouring himself more drinks, Jack Daniels and getting very liberal with the drinks," the man said.

About 3 a.m., the man called a cab for Prostrollo.

The cab arrived about 30 minutes later, and Prostrollo, who was unable to walk straight or complete his sentences, got in the cab, the man told police.

About 4 a.m., the cab driver called 911 to say that 10 minutes earlier, a man had held a knife to his neck and forced him to drive back to the house on 135th Place.

About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang and someone was banging on the front door, the man told police.

He saw it was Prostrollo, and he allowed him into the foyer.

"Jason was at the front door and was very animated, talking nonsense and paranoid."

Prostrollo was rambling about his brother, his mission in the Marines and stating, "You know what you did."

The man offered to call another cab for Prostrollo and asked him to leave.

"I could see this guy was not all there right now," the man told police.

At about the same time, the 33-year-old woman called 911. She told the dispatcher that she had locked herself in the bathroom because a friend was threatening her boyfriend with a knife.

She heard her boyfriend call out her name, so she walked outside to the foyer and saw Prostrollo standing in the kitchen holding a large military-style bowie knife with a round handle and large silver blade. She saw Prostrollo put the knife down and she ran out of the house, where police met her.

Police then called the boyfriend on his cellphone and told him to exit the house. He complied. Moments later, Prostrollo exited the house. He was wearing a white tank top with his dog tags around his neck. The girlfriend told officers that Prostrollo was a former military man who possibly had post-traumatic stress disorder. Prostrollo's father later confirmed the diagnosis for The Republic.

"The subject has something in his left hand that looked like a pool stick. In his right hand he had something that looked like a darkened barrel of a rifle, just the barrel. Both objects appeared to be the same length. The subject had his hands raised up near his head holding the two objects," the report states.

Officer Anthony Sanborn, the K-9 officer, was instructed to give commands.

"At a point when it was clear that he wasn't listening to Sanborn, I started giving my own commands," Bayne said.

When Prostrollo reached about 7 yards away, Bayne said he fired two rounds without pause.

"From all my years of training ... with his level of violence that (Prostrollo) had displayed all night, it was clear to me that he wasn't gonna comply with our commands and he had every intent to hit one of our officers," Bayne said. "And I believe that that would've caused life-threatening injuries if he would have been successful with that."

Trio recalls run-in with Scottsdale officer involved in seven shootings

2012-02-22T17:51:00.000-08:00

By: Hatzel Vela

SCOTTSDALE, AZ - New people are coming forward and talking about run-ins with the same Scottsdale officer who has been involved in seven police shootings.

Read the police report.

Megan Fells was with her boyfriend and their friend, Andrew Thomas, when Officer James Peters stopped them on Brown Avenue.

The police report Peters wrote said he first noticed the trio jaywalking, then stopped when he saw their license plate light not working.

Fells doesn’t think they were jaywalking and said she still has the same license plate light.

She said things quickly escalated when Thomas, who was sitting in the back seat, questioned Peters why he had to show his identification.

"If you don't give me your [expletive] I’m going to pull you out of the car and take it from you,” Fells recalled Peters said in the exchange.

Fells said Peters was screaming and yelling in her boyfriend’s face, who was driving the car.

"He most definitely has an anger issue. I didn’t hear a peep from the other officers. He [Peters] pretty much ran the show,” she said.

ABC15 checked out the police report and the stories were similar, except the situation seemed under control.

http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_northeast_valley/scottsdale/trio-recalls-run-in-with-scottsdale-officer-involved-in-seven-shootings

New audit flags problems with Maricopa PD internal investigations

2012-02-15T12:13:00.000-08:00

MARICOPA, AZ (CBS5) -

A just-released audit of the Maricopa Police Department showed 54 percent of citizens surveyed put the department's reputation at "poor to unsatisfactory."

"There was room for improvement here," said Brenda Fischer, who took over as city manager in May.

Fischer ordered the audit in response to complaints from citizens and employees. The review was conducted by Citygate Associates, LLC, and cost $42,000.

"We've struggled through some morale problems," said Fischer. "This audit allows us to be aligned and headed in the same direction."

She pledged accountability and transparency, starting with the audit that looked at nearly 200 internal affairs investigations over more than three years.

The review found employees had "little confidence" in internal affairs investigations, and many of the investigations dragged on too long.

Auditors recommended an independent third party review of these cases to "re-establish confidence."

Auditors also flagged an unusually high number of citizen complaints, writing that the department's been called the "last-chance department" for hiring officers with prior problems or credibility issues.

"I'm not a second-chance chief. I'm here because I feel that this city and police department has huge potential," said Chief Steve Stahl, of the Maricopa Police Department.

Stahl took over this week after serving as interim chief the past few months.

They are striving and starved to do good work. We need to give them a chance," said Stahl.

Stahl said he plans to change schedules soon to hold daily briefings with patrol officers to improve communication. Currently, officers work 12-hour shifts, three days a week – a schedule that does not allow for a briefing at the beginning of an officer's shift.

He also said he has an open-door policy, which he believes has made a difference already within the department.

As for the internal investigations, he said they don't know yet whether they'll take another look on their own or call in outside help to review the cases.

http://www.kpho.com/story/16937701/new-audit-flags-problems-with-maricopa-pd-internal-investigations?google_editors_picks=true

Former Buckeye police officer loses Arizona certification

2012-01-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

A former Buckeye police officer has been stripped of his certification to be a peace officer in Arizona but a former Goodyear commander will not face disciplinary action in an unrelated matter.

The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which oversees peace-officer training, conduct and certification, revoked former Buckeye Officer Ralph Peck's peace-officer certification at its hearing Wednesday, and opted not to open a disciplinary case against former Goodyear Cmdr. Ralph McLaughlin.

Peck, a 17-year police veteran, was fired in July 2010 "for repeated displays of poor judgment, unacceptable conduct and negligence" after internal audits found he did not complete several reports and mishandled evidence, according to AZ POST documents.

The two audits in December 2007 and October 2009 found Peck, a school resource officer, had failed to complete 131 reports for such crimes as assault, child abuse, sex offenses, domestic violence and auto theft. The first audit also found that he improperly handled and stored six pieces of evidence when he left marijuana, a knife and pellet gun in the drawer of his desk on school property.

After the first audit, Peck acknowledged the wrongdoing, citing lack of supervision and time, was placed on supplemental probation for one year and a performance-improvement program and suspended 138 hours without pay.

In May 2010, Peck left his department-issued AR-15 rifle and ammunition on the hood of his patrol car from about 1 a.m. to 5:50 a.m., AZ POST documents state. Another officer discovered the weapon and gave it to a lieutenant for safekeeping. Peck said he did not recall leaving the gun on the hood of his car.

He was fired July 14, 2010. He appealed the termination in May after returning from active military service, but the firing was upheld.

McLaughlin resigned as the Goodyear Police Department's second-in-command July 8 amid multiple investigations into mismanagement and misconduct allegations.

He was accused of poor leadership and lax discipline, particularly in relation to a 2008 fatal hit-and-run in which a Goodyear officer was accused, and of unlawfully releasing court information about a former colleague. The AZ POST case focused on the incident involving the unlawful release of court information, documents show.

A Phoenix police investigation found that in February McLaughlin released indictment information to the media before a judge had signed off on it and the defendant, a former Goodyear police sergeant, had been notified. Releasing indictment information is a misdemeanor when not done as part of official duties.

The Yavapai County Attorney's Office opted not to file charges against McLaughlin because there was not enough evidence "beyond a reasonable doubt" that he had the "necessary criminal intent" when he released the information.

An AZ POST official said generally the board looks at corruption and typically does not discipline officers for "simple mistakes."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/01/18/20120118buckeye-police-officer-loses-arizona-certification.html

Phoenix police unit under scrutiny: Review of internal-affairs unit spurred by conduct and enforcement concerns

2012-01-13T00:05:00.000-08:00

The Phoenix police officers whose job it is to investigate the actions of their colleagues will soon find themselves under scrutiny.

The city has hired a California firm to assess the Phoenix Police Department's Professional Standards Bureau, the internal-affairs section that reviews and investigates the conduct of the department's own.

The outside review grew out of requests by citizens, the Phoenix police union and police department managers and personnel for an outside appraisal of the procedures and methods used by the bureau.

Phoenix officials confirm that there has been dissatisfaction within department ranks about the bureau's ability to uphold department standards and to conduct investigations fairly. One lieutenant who worked in the bureau recently left his work there in disgust and accepted another assignment.

"Concerns about procedures and methods in the PSB were heard from citizens, police management, from union leaders and others," Phoenix Assistant City Manager Ed Zuercher said.

Zuercher said Matrix Consulting Group, based in Palo Alto, Calif., sent several employees to the department to interview present and past officers of the bureau, as well as others in the department.

Matrix will be paid $77,000 for the work, which is to be completed in 90 days.

Zuercher said the impetus for the assessment came from members of the Community Engagement and Outreach Task Force formed after Phoenix City Councilman Michael Johnson, an African-American and former police detective, was thrown to the ground by a Phoenix officer at a March 2010 house fire. The officer said Johnson had insisted on going dangerously close to the fire, while Johnson said the officer overreacted.

The Task Force sought ways to improve communication and relations between the police department and the residents of south Phoenix in particular. Zuercher said some people expressed concern about the effectiveness of the bureau in policing officers and enforcing proper conduct.

Police Department employees, some of command rank, also have suggested that standards of conduct within the department have eroded, and that lax enforcement by the bureau is partly to blame. Some Police Department employees also blame police-union pressure to lower standards of conduct.

Dave Kothe, a spokesman for the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, the police union, represents officers facing discipline after bureau investigations. He said "ninety percent of the trouble between PLEA and Police Department management is over internal investigations."

"Again and again we have seen inconsistency in how officer misconduct is treated," Kothe said. "If an officer is in trouble for not writing reports when he has gone on calls, then he should be treated the same as any other officers with similar infractions. That's not what we're seeing."

Grievous as some conduct may seem, Kothe said, similar penalties must apply. As an example, he cited a case last year in which an officer was accused of having intimate relations with women he came into contact with while on duty.

"A lot of people wanted to throw the book at him," Kothe said.

"But in the past when that same kind of conduct was investigated, we didn't fire people; we suspended them," Kothe said. "When they do something with an employee two years ago, they are required to do the same thing on similar misconduct two years later."

The bureau has 21 "sworn officer" personnel, Sgt. Trent Crump, a police spokesman, said.

"Their job is to conduct administrative investigations, including allegations of employee misconduct," Crump said. "They are supervised by an assistant chief, a commander and two lieutenants."

He said the bureau in 2010 conducted more than 200 investigations, including allegations of officer misconduct. It also investigates all officer-involved shootings.

Crump said the Matrix assessment will include"examining the operations of our PSB investigations."

"Matrix will compare current PSB operations with 'best practices' in other departments and they will identify opportunities for improvement," Crump said. "They will examine and evaluate PSB training for its investigators, and supervisory and command staff. They will also look at how cases are assigned, tracked and at the timeliness of case completion."

"There have been concerns related to the quality of PSB investigations, the length of time to do investigations and our ability to hold officers accountable for their actions," Acting Chief Joe Yahner said.

"And you have to hold officers accountable for their actions for there to be public trust in the department," he said. "That's why we welcomed this review and recommended to city management that they go ahead with it ... public trust is what it's all about."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/01/10/20120110phoenix-police-unit-under-scrutiny.html

Future Riot Shields Will Suffocate Protestors with Low Frequency Speakers

2011-12-19T15:50:00.000-08:00

It's not the first crowd control tool to use sound waves, but Raytheon's patent for a new type of riot shield that produces low frequency sound waves to disrupt the respiratory tract and hinder breathing, sounds a little scary.

Crowd control tools like the LRAD Sound Cannon emit bursts of loud and annoying sounds that can induce headaches and nausea. But Raytheon's non-lethal pressure shield creates a pulsed pressure wave that resonates the upper respiratory tract of a human, hindering breathing and eventually incapacitating the target. The patent points out that the sound waves being generated are actually not that powerful, so while protestors might collapse from a lack of oxygen reaching their brains, their eardrums won't be damaged in the process. Phew!

And like Roman soldiers joining their shields to form a large impenetrable wall, these new riot shields can actually be networked together to form a larger acoustical horn, vastly improving their range, power, and effectiveness. There's no word on what the long-term medical implications might be if you find yourself on the wrong side of one of these shields. But I imagine the unpleasant experience is not unlike being force choked from afar by Darth Vader. [Google Patents via New Scientist]

http://gizmodo.com/5867984/future-riot-shields-will-suffocate-protestors-with-low-frequency-speakers

Phoenix officer arrested, charged with assaulting wife and discharging firearm

2011-12-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

A Phoenix police officer who is also a Marine Reservist and recently back from a combat tour in Afghanistan has been arrested on charges of assaulting his wife and discharging a firearm.

A Casa Grande police spokesman said that Armando Ramirez was arrested Saturday and booked into the Pinal County Jail on one count of aggravated assault/domestic violence, one count of disorderly conduct with a weapon and one count of unlawful discharge of a weapon.

No one was injured by the gunshot, the spokesman said.

A Phoenix police spokesman, Sgt. Trent Crump, said Tuesday that Ramirez, 37, is a five-year member of the force. He also said Ramirez had previously served 10 years in the Marines and since joining the Phoenix police has done a combat tour in Iraq and a recent seven-month stint in Afghanistan.

Crump said Ramirez had resumed duties in the South Mountain Precinct on Dec. 5.

Ramirez has been placed on paid administrative leave and assigned to his home by the Professional Standards Bureau until an investigation is completed, the spokesman added.

Crump said he had spoken on the telephone with Ramirez.

"He said to me that he loves his family very much and is going to do everything possible to make this right,'' he said.

Crump said that "appropriate action'' will be taken by the Police Department, "when the facts of the case are known and have been reviewed.''

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/12/13/20111213phoenix-officer-accused-domestic-violence.html

Phoenix ex-officer Contreras sees fraud charges renewed

2011-11-22T21:37:00.000-08:00

A one-time Phoenix police officer has been indicted for the second time in a year on fraud and racketeering charges.

A Maricopa County grand jury indicted former patrolman George Contreras on three counts of fraud and illegal control of an enterprise after investigators presented evidence suggesting Contreras and his employees were paid for hours of off-duty security work that they did not perform.

Contreras was originally indicted with three other Phoenix officers in 2010 on similar charges, but the case was sent back to a grand jury in July after a judge determined that testimony presented to the grand jury could have violated the officers' due-process rights.

Contreras was the only officer to be reindicted. Prosecutors dismissed charges against his former co-defendants, Steven Paul Peck, Benjamin Hugh Sywarungsymun and Aaron Lentz.

The new indictment alleges that Contreras committed fraud and operated an illegal enterprise by receiving payment from condominium complexes for security work that Contreras and his employees never performed.

Contreras' attorney, Cary Lackey, said that any wrongdoing on the part of his client was an oversight and that Contreras was the victim of a "witch hunt" orchestrated by Phoenix police administrators who disliked the former patrolman.

The new indictment handed up last week eliminates four theft counts that targeted the other three officers. Their charges were dismissed on Friday.

Lackey said state prosecutors cut deals with the other three officers in exchange for testimony against Contreras, but he said he was not concerned about what their testimony might reveal.

"There was really not a whole lot they could say that was that damaging anyway," Lackey said. "I don't hold it against them or any of their attorneys for what they did."

The case centers on whether Contreras and employees of his company, Raptor Services, performed security work they were paid for from 2005 through 2007 at a townhouse complex near 48th Street and Broadway Road.

The criminal case grew out of a three-year police administrative investigation that reviewed the work of nearly 30 officers, including 15 from the South Mountain Precinct where Contreras worked.

A spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said the Phoenix Police Department will use administrative investigations to handle any remaining issues with the three officers whose charges were dismissed.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen O'Connor's July order sending the case back to a grand jury included instructions that state prosecutors had to tell the jurors a number of facts:

That there were no written agreements in place between the officers and the homeowners associations.

That none of the HOAs involved had documentation showing any financial loss.

That Contreras' business did not coordinate payments to the officers that came directly from the HOAs.

Lackey said the absence of Police Department guidelines prohibiting Contreras' business and the lack of any victims from the townhouses will continue to play a role in his defense, in addition to ensuring that prosecutors heed O'Connor's instructions about grand-jury testimony.

"I plan to go over that (grand jury) transcript with a fine-tooth comb and hold the state's feet to the fire," Lackey said. "We have an attorney general willing to sign off on this investigation on a 5-year-old overbilling of a condo complex when they can't even get their victims straight. There was no intent. They have to prove he intentionally or knowingly stole something from somebody."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/22/20111122phoenix-ex-officer-contreras-sees-fraud-charges-renewed.html

Goodyear police spokesman put on paid administrative leave

2011-11-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Goodyear Police Department's spokesman has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Interim Police Chief Bill Cusson confirmed Friday that John Rowan, a civilian employee who also is the assistant to the police chief, was placed on administrative leave Wednesday as the "result of an internal investigation."

Cusson would not say what allegations are being investigated. He said whether Rowan returns to work or is terminated "would depend on the outcome of the investigation at this point."

Rowan declined comment, citing city policy.

The move is the latest development in the inner turmoil that has plagued the Goodyear Police Department this year.

Rowan was reassigned last November and in January told city leaders he felt the move was retaliatory for sworn testimony in a federal lawsuit he gave the day before he was reassigned.

The lawsuit is related to the hit-and-run death of 18-year-old Jered Pendleton April 6, 2008, that involved a Goodyear officer. In his testimony, Rowan recounted a possibly incriminating conversation in Police Chief Mark Brown's office the day after the hit-and-run.

City Manager John Fischbach said at the time the reassignment was not retaliatory and was meant to preserve the integrity of an investigation spurred from Rowan's testimony. Rowan was moved back to his post in April after the investigation was completed.

That investigation turned out to be an independent inquiry into the department's handling of the Pendleton case, which concluded the department mishandled the investigation and officers protected one of their own.

Brown retired abruptly March 30 after the investigation was released, and Cmdr. Ralph McLaughlin, the department's second in command, resigned July 18 amid additional investigations into mismanagement and misconduct allegations.

A department-wide management audit released in August found several issues, including inadequate ethics and professional-conduct training, poor internal communication, and little accountability for professional standards.

Auditors made 31 recommendations, many of which Cusson already had addressed since taking over the department in April.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/18/20111118goodyear-police-spokesman-placed-paid-leave-brk.html

County to Shell Out $1 Million to Family of Man Who Died While in MCSO Custody

2011-11-19T16:27:00.000-08:00

You can tack another $1 million on to the more than $50 million in legal settlements Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has cost county taxpayers -- the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve a settlement in a lawsuit filed by a man who died while in the sheriff's custody.

The family of Juan Farias Mendoza initially sued the county for $6 million.

Mendoza found himself in the custody of the MCSO following a 2007 arrest for driving under the influence. While in custody, Mendoza had several altercations with Arpaio's detention officers, which the lawsuit claims led to his death.

According to the notice of claim, Detention officers used pepper spray, Tasers, physical force, and a spit mask on Mendoza while he was in custody. A county medical examiner later found that the bruises on Mendoza's body showed signs of trauma.

The sheriff's office didn't immediately respond to our request for comment, but Arpaio tells the Arizona Republic that he doesn't recall the details of Mendoza's death.

"It was settled due to the nature of doing business," Arpaio tells the paper. "That wasn't up to us, that was the county that decided to settle it. We have nothing to do with us. We never like to lose anybody in jail, but we have ... 300,000 (inmates) come through our jails since I've been sheriff. Sometimes you have people that pass away."

Luis Guerra, the attorney representing Mendoza's family didn't return New Times' multiple phone calls.

See Mendoza's family's notice of claim here.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/11/county_to_shell_out_1_million.php

Ex-Glendale officer barred from state law enforcement

2011-11-19T16:18:00.000-08:00

A former Glendale officer accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to teenage girls and sexually abusing one of them is now barred from police work in Arizona.

The state Peace Officer Standards and Training Board on Wednesday voted to revoke Christopher Balmaceda's certification to serve as an Arizona officer.

Balmaceda, a 3 1/2-year officer, resigned from the Glendale Police Department in April.

Maricopa County prosecutors opted not to pursue a criminal case against him.

For two years, the married father worked off-duty at Mountain Ridge High school twice a month, usually providing security during the day. Balmaceda was removed from the job and assigned to administrative tasks in late January after a parent told police that his daughter's friends had received suggestive text messages from Balmaceda.

Mountain Ridge students told police that the 25-year-old officer sent at least four female students, ages 15 to 17, text messages from his personal cellphone.

Records obtained by investigators showed Balmaceda sent 3,600 text messages to five female students from September 2010 through January, according to an internal probe.

Detectives began a criminal investigation after a 17-year-old said Balmaceda had kissed and touched her one night in January after she met him at an abandoned Bashas' store in north Glendale while he was on duty.

Balmaceda admitted to police investigators that he had sent "numerous sexually explicit text messages" to the high-school students and that he had an encounter with the 17-year-old, according to a Glendale police report.

Balmaceda did not speak to detectives investigating potential criminal matters.

Police recommended Balmaceda be charged with one count of sexual abuse and four counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office later decided not to charge against Balmaceda, saying there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction. The county spokesman cited two reasons: the 17-year-old victim's comments that she was trying to get information from Balmaceda to report his wrongdoing and a cellphone provider couldn't provide the text messages Balmaceda sent.

In addition, Balmaceda's reported admissions during an administrative interview could not be mentioned in court due to federal laws, a county attorney's spokesman said.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/glendale/articles/2011/11/18/20111118glendale-police-officer-barred-from-state-law-enforcement.html

The cop group coordinating the Occupy crackdowns

2011-11-19T16:15:00.000-08:00

As cities across America evict encampments of the Occupy Wall Street movement, similarities of timing, talking points and tactics among major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs have led critics to wonder: Is some sort of national coordination going on?

The White House says there’s no federal oversight. Speaking November 15 aboard Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said “The president’s position is that obviously every municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues.”

But a little-known but influential private membership based organization has placed itself at the center of advising and coordinating the crackdown on the encampments. The Police Executive Research Forum, an international non-governmental organization with ties to law enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been coordinating conference calls with major metropolitan mayors and police chiefs to advise them on policing matters and discuss response to the Occupy movement. The group has distributed a recently published guide on policing political events.

Speaking to Democracy Now! On November 17, PERF Executive Director Chuck Wexler acknowledged PERF's coordination of a series of conference-call strategy sessions with big-city police chiefs. These calls were distinct from the widely reported national conference calls of major metropolitan mayors.

The coordination of political crackdowns on the Occupy movement has been conducted behind closed doors, with city officials and PERF refusing to say how many cities participated in the conference calls and the exact nature of the discussions. Reports of at least a dozen cities and some indication of as many as 40 accepting PERF advice and/or strategic documents include San Francisco, Seattle, New York, Portland, Oakland, Atlanta, and Washington DC.

The San Francisco Police Department and Mayor Ed Lee's office did not returned the Guardian's request for comment about the PERF calls by press time. However, Oakland interim Police Chief Howard Jordan was quoted by the Associated Press confirming Oakland and San Francisco police involvement in the strategy sessions.

PERF coordinated a November 10 conference call with city police chiefs across the country – and many of these cities undertook crackdowns shortly afterward.

"We know that there were influential conference calls of private groups that include police chiefs who played key roles in repressing the anti-globalization movement, in order to stage rolling attacks on occupations across the country,” said Baruca Peller, an organizer for Occupy Oakland. “In less than a week an unprecedented number of protesters have been brutalized and arrested, and in many cities such as Oakland these evictions were pushed for by the local one-percent.”

“Occupy Oakland is calling for a national day of re-occupation on Saturday, to let them know that if they can take a national offensive against us, we can take a national offensive in response and we will re-take these public spaces and what is already ours."

According to PERF's website, general membership in the group is exclusive to “the executive head of a municipal, county or state-funded agency that provides general police services. The agency must have at least 100 full-time employees, or serve a population of 50,000 or more people.”

PERF’s current and former directors read as a who's who of police chiefs involved in crackdowns on anti-globalization and political convention protesters resulting in thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, and millions of dollars paid out in police brutality and wrongful arrest lawsuits.

These current and former U.S. police chiefs -- along with top ranking police union officials and representatives from Canadian and British police -- have been marketing to municipal police forces and politicians their joint experiences as specialists on policing mass demonstrations.

Chairing PERF's board of directors is Philadelphia Police Commissioner and former Washington D.C. Metro Police Chief Charles Ramsey, who was responsible for coordinating the police response to protests against international banking institutions including the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. Those protests, and Ramsey's response to massive anti-war demonstrations in Washington DC in the lead up the the Iraq War, often resulted in preemptive mass arrest of participants that were later deemed to be unconstitutional.

Ramsey's predecessor as organization chair is former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and former Miami Police Chief John Timoney, who is responsible for the so called “Miami Model,” coined after the police crackdown on the 2003 Free Trade Agreement of the Americas protest.
The police response to protesters in Miami lead to hundreds of injuries to protesters. The ACLU won multiple suits against the Miami P.D. over abuse to protesters and free speech concerns.

Prior to the 2003 protest, Timoney was quoted as saying that the FTAA was “the first big event for homeland security … the first real realistic run-through to see how it would work.”

Timoney arrived in Miami with plenty of baggage. At the 2000 Republican National Convention, Timoney coordinated a crackdown that resulted in more than 420 arrests with only 13 convictions, none of which resulted in jail time. As in Miami, there was well documented abuse of some of the people arrested.

Also among PERF's directors is Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan, who was responsible for the crackdown on protesters at the 2008 Republican National Convention. That event also resulted in lawsuits, protester injuries and an outcry from the national press about police brutality and the preemptive nature of the police action.

PERF is more than a mere policy group. Wexler has personally represented PERF at major political events, in face-to-face dialog with police tactical commanders and leadership. That was the case at the 2008 Republican National Convention, where Wexler and Minneapolis Police Chief Dolan coordinated what is widely regarded as one of the most aggressive political crackdowns in recent American history.

Wexler spent the afternoon of October 14 observing Occupy Philadelphia with Philadelphia police commissioner Ramsey.
Speaking to the Philadelphia Tribune, Ramsey said: “They wanted to see what the Occupy protesters were doing here in Philadelphia. As we walked through their encampment, almost immediately they were texting other groups around the country – it was happening while we were there and that was very, very interesting. It’s instant communication, and it’s worldwide. We have to become more adept at using the technology. Our police department has its own active Facebook page as a way of reaching out to the community.”

“Had a great one-day conference in Philly about social media – very pertinent these days with the occupy protests ...” Wexler stated from his twitter account.

As the occupation movement grew, PERF began circulating a publication titled Managing Major Events: Best Practices from the Field. The manual – a copy of which we downloaded -- amounts to a how-to guide for policing political events, and gives special attention to policing “Anarchists” and “Eco Terrrorists” at political events.

The guide encourages the use of undercover officers and snatch squads to “grab the bad guys and remove them from the crowd.” It urges local law enforcement to use social media to map the Occupy movement.

An earlier PERF guide Police Management of Mass Demonstrations advocates the use of embedded media to control police messages, the use of undercover cops to infiltrate protest groups, the use and pitfalls of preemptive mass arrest, an examination of the use of less-than-lethal crowd control weapons, and general discussion weighing the use of force in crowd control.

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2011/11/18/cop-group-coordinating-occupy-crackdowns

2 Goodyear police officers cleared in fatal hit-run probe

2011-11-17T01:23:00.001-08:00

Goodyear officials announced Monday two police officers accused of misconduct in a fatal 2008 hit-and-run investigation will not face criminal charges and that a police vehicle involved in the incident has been cleared of causing the teen's fatal injuries.

A letter from the Arizona Attorney General's Office dated Oct. 19 said the office would not pursue criminal charges against Det. Anna Ybarra or Sgt. Deron Miller because "no reasonable basis, factually, or legally, exists to justify or support criminal charges of Obstruction of Justice, Hindering Prosecution, or any other criminal offense," according to the document obtained by The Republic.

Michael Benchoff, the senior litigation counsel who wrote the letter, also said he did not believe "any jury would find them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, if in fact they had been charged." He based his decision on a review of a Department of Public Safety criminal investigation into the officers' conduct.

An independent investigation into the Goodyear Police Department's handling of the hit-and-run released in March concluded Miller hindered the investigation by not informing investigating officers that Goodyear Officer Bradley Hardin may have been involved. It also said Ybarra obstructed justice when she called Hardin two days later to tell him officers were coming to his house to seize his vehicle.

Goodyear officials also said Hardin's police car has been ruled out as the vehicle that caused 18-year-old Jered Pendleton's fatal injuries by a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office evidence examination.

According to an evidence comparison outlined in the MCSO examination report, bolts from the car's undercarriage were a different size than injury patterns found on Pendleton's body. The comparison also ruled out a GMC tow truck because the bolts were a different size and shape.

Bolts from a Chevrolet pickup truck also were compared and had a similar shape and size but could not be identified or excluded as a match because there wasn't enough detail in the injury pattern, the report states.
No arrests have been made in Pendleton's death and the case remains open.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/11/15/20111115goodyear-police-officers-cleared-fatal-hit-run-investigation-brk.html

Ex-Tempe policeman sentenced in theft case

2011-11-17T01:19:00.001-08:00

A former Tempe police officer has been sentenced to probation for stealing items from the department's property and evidence facility.

Authorities say Elliot Campbell was arrested in May and resigned after 11 years on the force.

Maricopa County prosecutors say Campbell was sentenced Friday to two years' probation for theft of a credit card or obtaining a credit card by fraudulent means. He also was sentenced to a concurrent two-year probation term for tampering with physical evidence.

His work vehicle was searched by Tempe investigators and evidence envelopes were located that contained impounded gift cards.

A search warrant was served at Campbell's home. Police found a refrigerator, men's wrist watch and some tools that had been checked out of the property and evidence facility.

http://www.kpho.com/story/15768292/ex-tempe-policeman-sentenced-in-theft-case?utm_source=va&utm_medium=rec&utm_campaign=content

Avondale police officer who shot, killed man placed on leave

2011-10-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

An Avondale police officer who shot and killed a man Friday has been placed on paid administrative leave pending joint criminal and internal investigations, officials said.

The Glendale Police Department has taken the lead on the criminal investigation into the shooting death of 20-year-old Avondale resident Gregory I. Martinez by Avondale Officer Kevin Sapp, a patrol officer who has been with the force for two years, Avondale police spokesman Reuben Gonzales said. Investigators will determine whether Sapp handled the incident appropriately.

The Avondale Police Department is working with Glendale on the criminal investigation and also concurrently conducting an internal affairs investigation, Gonzales said. Both investigations and placing Sapp on administrative leave are standard procedures for officer-involved shootings.

Avondale hasn't had an officer-involved shooting where somebody was shot for at least six or seven years, he said. There was a shooting about four years ago, but officers did not hit anybody.

Gonzales said they brought Glendale in to head the criminal investigation because "they have a designated shoot team as part of their investigation, so that way we can get an outside view into the shooting as well."
Sapp responded about 4 p.m. Friday to a house on the 11700 block of West Yuma Street, near Maricopa County 85 and Avondale Boulevard, where it was reported Martinez was "being disorderly and causing damage to the residence," Gonzales said. When Sapp arrived, Martinez, who lived in the home with his mother and father, was out front holding two large knives.

Martinez didn't follow Sapp's commands to drop the knives and advanced on the officer while still armed with the knives, Gonzales said. Sapp fired his duty gun, striking Martinez.

"There was a perceived threat by Officer Sapp, and that's why he shot him," Gonzales said.
Martinez was airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, where he later was pronounced dead. Sapp was not injured.

Avondale officers had responded to the residence several times in the last three years for various calls, including domestic violence and disturbance calls, Gonzales said. It wasn't clear if Martinez was involved in the previous calls.

No other information was available pending the Glendale police investigation and the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office report, Gonzales said.

It was unclear how long the Glendale investigation would take, he said, especially considering officers also are investigating another shooting in Glendale the same day that left a Glendale officer dead.

Officer Bradley Jones, 27, died about 1 a.m. Saturday in the hospital after he was shot about 8:30 p.m. Friday during a confrontation at an apartment complex near 75th and Glendale avenues, police said. Responding officers pursued and shot the suspect, who remained hospitalized Monday.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/31/20111031avondale-police-officer-who-shot-killed-man-place-leave-brk.html

Yuma officer fired, accused of demanding sex

2011-10-31T16:22:00.000-07:00

YUMA - A veteran Yuma officer has been fired after he was accused of using his position to demand sex in exchange for help.

A grand jury indicted former Yuma police Sgt. Torrin Fannin Tuesday with one count of bribery of a public servant and one count of obstructing a criminal investigation.

The police department alleges the 36-year-old Fannin met the woman while responding to a call in November 2009. The sergeant had responded to other calls for assistance as well.

Yuma police spokesman Sgt. Clint Norred says the department believes the criminal sexual conduct occurred multiple times and began in early 2010 and continued through last month.

Fannin worked for the Yuma Police Department 10 years. He was terminated Oct. 18 for willful dereliction of duty, dishonesty and jeopardizing the public trust of law enforcement.

Norred was unable to say whether Fannin has legal counsel.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/26/20111026yuma-officer-fired-sex-case.html

Seven Myths about the Police

2011-10-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

From Crimethinc

(For practical tips on protecting you community from the police, click here.)

The police exercise legitimate authority. The average police officer is not a legal expert; he probably knows his department protocol, but very little about the actual laws. This means his enforcement involves a great deal of bluffing, improvisation, and dishonesty. Police lie on a regular basis: “I just got a report of someone of your description committing a crime around here. Want to show me some ID?”
This is not to say we should unthinkingly accept laws as legitimate, either. The entire judicial system protects the privileges of the wealthy and powerful. Obeying laws is not necessarily morally right—it may even be immoral. Slavery was legal, aiding escaped slaves illegal. The Nazis came to power in Germany via democratic elections and passed laws through the prescribed channels. We should aspire to the strength of conscience to do what we know is best, regardless of laws and police intimidation.

The police are ordinary workers just like us; they should be our allies. Unfortunately, there’s a big gap between “should be” and “are.” The role of the police is to serve the interests of the ruling class; anyone who has not had a bad experience with them is likely privileged, submissive, or both. Today’s police officers know exactly what they’re getting into when they join the force—people in uniform don’t just get cats out of trees. Yes, most take the job because of economic pressure, but needing a paycheck is no excuse for evicting families, harassing young people of color, or pepper-spraying demonstrators. Those whose consciences can be bought are everyone’s potential enemies, not allies.

This fairy tale is more persuasive when it is couched in strategic terms: for example, “Every revolution succeeds at the moment the armed forces refuse to make war on their fellows; therefore we should focus on seducing the police to our side.” But the police are not just any workers; they’re the ones who chose to base their livelihoods upon defending the prevailing order, thus the least likely to be sympathetic to those who wish to change it. In this context, it makes more sense to oppose the police as such than to seek solidarity with them. As long as they serve their masters, they cannot be our allies; by denouncing the institution of police and demoralizing individual officers, we encourage them to seek other livelihoods so we can one day find common cause with them.

Maybe there are some bad apples, but some police officers are good people. Perhaps some police officers have good intentions, but once again, insofar as they obey orders rather than their consciences, they cannot be trusted.

There’s something to be said for understanding the systematic nature of institutions, rather than attributing every injustice to the shortcomings of individuals. Remember the story of the man who, tormented by fleas, managed to catch one between his fingers? He scrutinized it for a long time before placing it back at the spot on his neck where had he caught it. His friends, confounded, inquired why on earth he would do such a thing. “That wasn’t the one that was biting me,” he explained.

Police can win any confrontation, so we shouldn’t antagonize them. With all their weapons, equipment, and surveillance, the police can seem invincible, but this is an illusion. They are limited by all sorts of invisible constraints—bureaucracy, public opinion, communication breakdowns, an overloaded judicial system. If they don’t have vehicles or facilities available to transport and process a great number of arrestees, for example, they can’t make mass arrests.

This is why a motley crowd armed only with the tear gas canisters shot at them can hold off a larger, more organized, better-equipped police force; contests between social unrest and military might don’t play out according to the rules of military engagement. Those who have studied police, who can predict what they are prepared for and what they can and cannot do, can often outsmart and outmaneuver them.

Such small victories are especially inspiring for those who chafe under the heel of police violence on a daily basis. In the collective unconscious of our society, the police are the ultimate bastion of reality, the force that ensures that things stay the way they are; taking them on and winning, however temporarily, shows that reality is negotiable.

Police are a mere distraction from the real enemy, not worth our wrath or attention. Alas, tyranny is not just a matter of politicians or executives; they would be powerless without those who do their bidding. When we contest their rule, we’re also contesting the submission that keeps them in power, and sooner or later we’re sure to come up against some of those who submit. That being said, it’s true that the police are no more integral to hierarchy than the oppressive dynamics in our own communities; they are simply the external manifestation, on a larger scale, of the same phenomena. If we are to contest domination everywhere, rather than specializing in combating certain forms of it while leaving others unchallenged, we have to be prepared to confront it both in the streets and in our own bedrooms; we can’t expect to win on one front without fighting on the other. We shouldn’t fetishize confrontations with uniformed foes, we shouldn’t forget the power imbalances in our own ranks—but neither should we be content merely to manage the details of our own oppression in a non-hierarchical manner.

We need police to protect us. According to this line of thinking, even if we might aspire to live in a society without police in the distant future, we need them today, for people are not ready to live together peacefully without armed enforcers. As if the social imbalances and fear maintained by police violence are peace! Those who argue that the police sometimes do good things bear the burden of proving that those same good things could not be accomplished at least as well by other means.

In any case, it’s not as if a police-free society is suddenly going to appear overnight just because someone spray-paints “Fuck the Police” on a wall. The protracted struggle it will take to free our communities from police repression will probably go on as long as it takes us to learn to coexist peacefully; a community that can’t sort out its own conflicts can’t expect to triumph against a more powerful occupying force. In the meantime, opposition to police should be seen as a rejection of one of the most egregious sources of oppressive violence, not an assertion that without police there would be none. But if we can ever defeat and disband the police, we will surely be able to defend ourselves against less organized threats.

Resisting the police is violent—it makes you no better than them. According to this line of thinking, violence is inherently a form of domination, and thus inconsistent with opposing domination. Those who engage in violence play the same game as their oppressors, thereby losing from the outset.

This is dangerously simplistic. Is a woman who defends herself against a rapist no better than a rapist? Were slaves who revolted no better than slave-holders? There is such a thing as self-defense. In some cases, violence enforces power imbalances; in other cases, it challenges them. For people who still have faith in an authoritarian system or God, following the rules—whether legal or moral—is the top priority, at whatever cost: they believe they will be rewarded for doing so, regardless of what happens to others as a result.

Whether such people call themselves conservatives or pacifists makes little difference in the end. On the other hand, for those of us who take responsibility for ourselves, the most important question is what will serve to make the world a better place. Sometimes this may include violence.

Police are people too, and deserve the same respect due all living things. The point is not that they deserve to suffer or that we should bring them to justice. The point is that, in purely pragmatic terms, they must not be allowed to brutalize people or impose an unjust social order. Though it can be empowering for those who have spent their lives under the heel of oppression to contemplate finally settling the score with their oppressors, liberation is not a matter of exacting revenge but of rendering it unnecessary. Therefore, while it may sometimes even be necessary to set police on fire, this should not be done out of a spirit of vengeful self-righteousness, but from a place of care and compassion—if not for the police themselves, at least for all who would otherwise suffer at their hands.

. . .

Delegitimizing the police is not only beneficial for those they target, but also for police officers’ families and police officers themselves. Not only do police officers have disproportionately high rates of domestic violence and child abuse, they’re also more likely to get killed, commit suicide, and struggle with addiction than most sectors of society. Anything that encourages police officers to quit their jobs is in their best interest, as well as the interest of their loved ones and society at large. Let’s create a world in which no one oppresses or is oppressed, in which no one has to live in fear.

“Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both.”
- Frederick Douglass

How to Fuck the Police

On the Streets:
Organizing a Copwatch Program

Copwatch groups seek to contest or at least limit police repression by directly monitoring police officers. Copwatch volunteers patrol the streets, observing police and recording their interactions with civilians. They often concentrate on areas of high police activity or to which known trouble-making cops are assigned. Copwatch groups also advise people of their rights and listen to their stories, and otherwise endeavor to undermine and thwart the police state.

Most radicals, not to mention many others, realize that the idea of policing itself needs to be completely rethought. In the meantime, people have to be protected from the brutality they face daily at the hands of the police.

Get a Group Together

Form a group. Put out calls for one everywhere, even on the bulletin boards of church groups and local grocers, not just in the activist community. Approach your neighbors—the best neighborhood watch includes a copwatch.

Educate people in your community and other communities, especially targeted ones, about their legal rights, and about how to carry out a copwatch. Hold classes everywhere in your city, at accessible places and times. These can be formal events, or informal teach-ins outside a movie theater or between performers at a show.

Hold regular, accessible, well-advertised meetings—don’t depend on the internet for all or even most of your communications. Many of those who need copwatch most are unlikely to have easy or regular computer access. Decide as a group what your goals are and how you will go about achieving them.
Find hotspots where police repression frequently takes place. Look for them in the police blotter in your local paper, or ask around in neighborhoods, or approach lawyers who do a lot of street work and request advice.

Establish patrols, and have them report on their observations on a regular basis. Your group will be more effective if it is well organized.

For a variety of reasons, it makes the most sense for people to do copwatch patrols in their own neighborhoods. If it is important that you patrol another neighborhood, make an effort to become familiar with it: get to know locals, and make sure you understand local issues and context. Canvas from door to door if necessary, introducing yourself and your group and announcing your intentions and motivations. Be open to input from locals; they are the ones who will experience the bulk of the repercussions from everything that happens in their neighborhood. Come through on your commitments: don’t just show up out of nowhere doing a copwatch program for a little while and then disappear, stick around until locals know who you are and that they can count on you.

When the cops are particularly brutal or kill someone, raise a ruckus about it. Put pressure on them and keep it on. Approach the survivors and follow their lead as to how to handle things. Offer to organize protests or benefit events, screenprint shirts, or play media liaison for them. If they’re into it, hold demonstrations, spray paint the names of the victims and murderers everywhere, smash out the windows of the offending police station.

Agitate for laws and regulations that enforce stricter controls on police. Try to get the worst police officers fired. If your community has a Citizen Review Board, make an effort to give it teeth. Police review boards should be elected by district, not appointed. They must be empowered to impose punishments and fire officers.

People from communities that are terrorized will often be understandably afraid to stand up for themselves. A copwatch program can be the first step towards solidarity with each other.

How to Copwatch

To copwatch effectively, all you need is your eyes and ears, and some means of recording incidents. A small notebook and pen or pencil are the most useful and least conspicuous. A camera or video camera can also be useful, as can a cell phone or an audio recording device.

Copwatching is generally safest and easiest if you make sure to follow the letter of the law. There should be no drugs, alcohol, or illegal weapons on your person or in your system. Be careful not to jaywalk. This author has friends who have done a perfect copwatch, then jaywalked almost immediately after leaving the scene, receiving a $50 ticket for their efforts. If you are driving, make sure that you and all of your passengers have on seat belts. Resist unnecessary horn honking or loud music as you drive away—violations of noise pollution laws and ordinances can be used as excuses to detain and arrest you. If you are not following the very letter of the law, you may end up doing more harm than good and could get yourself arrested. Don’t give them any excuse to bust you.

Copwatching is best done with two or three others—you are less likely to be arrested in a group. One cool-headed person can take the role of speaking to officers, getting their names, ranks, badge numbers, district designations, squad car numbers, license numbers, and general descriptions, thus making them aware of your being there as observers. The others should hang back, recording every detail of the encounter, being careful not to interfere, provoke, or draw attention. If you have the numbers, one person can pose as an individual onlooker with no connection to the rest of the group. Decide on your roles before the encounter, if possible.

Presumably, you are there to defuse the situation, not escalate it. Don’t goad the police into arresting people as a way of getting back at you because of your attitude. Reign in the hostility you feel towards them—be polite but firm. Remember, police are dangerous. Walk, don’t run, and avoid quick or sudden movements around them.

At the same time, don’t be so easily intimidated that you cannot accomplish your task. Police officers who feel threatened by your concern about the victims of their repression may well threaten you, shouting “Move on!” and puffing themselves up like territorial frogs. In the course of your interactions with them, you’ll develop a sense of what to expect from them and an instinct for exactly how seriously to take their threats.
Carry cards detailing legal rights, flyers with information about local copwatch programs, and other information with you to give to people subject to arrest or harassment. Inform people about their rights, and of any numbers, local services, or internet sites by means of which they can contact a lawyer or learn how and where to file a complaint. Citizen complaint review boards are often virtually useless as a way of dealing with police brutality, but they can be useful for documenting incidents. Be aware of local laws and limitations—for example, in some cities, in order to be able to file a lawsuit against the city, you must send a letter to the mayor announcing your intention to sue the district within six months of the incident in question. In such a case, you should emphasize to people who have suffered police brutality that they should keep their options open: “You don’t have to follow through with it, but you should secure your right to sue if the incident was severe enough for you even to think about doing so.”

When observing police officers’ interactions with civilians, try to get as much information as you can. Make note of the day, time, and exact location of the incident; the officer’s name, badge number, district, and physical description; where arrestees are being taken; the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any witnesses; and vehicle or license numbers for any police vehicles involved in the incident. Use cameras or other recording devices to document the event from beginning to end. Take down complete descriptions of police actions and any resulting injuries. If there are injuries of any sort, even preexisting ones, be sure to detail what medical attention was or was not offered by the police—people have been let go by officers after copwatch members observed them being denied medical attention, even though the injuries had been not caused by the police.

If you feel it is warranted, you can call 911 and report that someone is being injured. Wait until the end of your statement to note that it is the police doing so, but don’t leave that out, and stick to the facts. As all 911 calls are recorded and are relatively hard for the justice system to “lose,” they can provide useful documentation for legal proceedings. You can also call a friend’s or your own answering machine and record what is happening as it happens, assuming the tape is long enough. The sound quality may not be as good as an on-site recording device would provide, but the police cannot confiscate the tape; this method can be particularly useful if everyone present is getting arrested. If you get arrested and the police don’t take your cell phone immediately, call a talk show or progressive radio station from the back of the police vehicle.
If you witness someone else being arrested, try to give the arrestee a way to contact you, and vice versa. This is not to say you should give your name or get their name in front of police. Give your name and contact information only if you are comfortable with the police getting it, unless there is another way.

If you are comfortable doing an assertive copwatch, introduce yourself when you approach the scene and explain that you are there doing a copwatch. Ask police why they are detaining or arresting people, but don’t ask arrestees for their names directly, as they might not wish the police to have it. If arrestees say their names and addresses to the police loud enough for you to hear, write them down. If the justification for the stop seems to be vague, ask officers to name the section of the law they are enforcing. Officers will lie and make mistakes—if you know the code do better or have a copy of it with you, speak up. Don’t approach or speak to the arrestee directly while he or she is being detained; if you do, you risk being arrested. Sometimes you’ll have to do just that, but know what you’re getting into.

If a detainee is let go or ticketed, make use of the opportunity to give your flyers and rights cards to them. If a detainee is arrested, you can fold a card in half and ask the officer to give it to him or her—fat chance, but miracles happen. You can’t speak to an arrestee directly without risking trouble, but you can loudly talk about what rights people have with the police or a bystander or your compatriot. These include the right to remain silent, the right to speak to an attorney, the right to refuse a search of your person, personal items, or car.

Stick around until the police have moved on. The Rodney King beating began with what seemed to be a routine traffic stop.

Make use of every opportunity to have educational conversations. Speak to onlookers about their rights, about what citizens can do about police brutality, about community alternatives to policing. When answering questions about legal matters, don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” This is always better then giving out wrong information.

Collect statements from other witnesses if you can. Many will not want to get involved. Try to persuade and educate them otherwise, and get statements from them even when you can’t get their names.

Keep the information you have gathered from your copwatching. If your copwatch group does not keep records, keep track of it yourself. It can be useful to submit copies of your records to government agencies, so they will have them documented and on file. Do not edit any videotapes you shoot, as this can render them useless as evidence in court.

If possible, carry with you the text of the laws most commonly used to justify harassment. In addition to being familiar with and ready to cite local laws, it can help to learn local police regulations, though it is often difficult to obtain copies of these. During your encounters with police, be forceful rather than tentative, but remain polite.

In extreme cases, police will smash or confiscate and “lose” your equipment to keep you from having evidence against them. If it seems like this might happen, a member of your group should swiftly leave the area with the evidence that has been gathered so far.

Be prepared to be arrested. Though copwatch is not illegal, police will trump up charges. Carry ID and at least $50 if you want to be able to get out of jail swiftly and easily.

Know what you will and will not do in extreme situations. Consider in advance what risks you are willing to take and what charges you are prepared to receive in order to intervene if someone is being beaten, injured, or killed by the police. Decide this ahead of time and talk about it within your group, so all of you know what to expect from one another. If you copwatch in some areas, you will eventually find yourself in this situation.
Be prepared to follow through on your work. If you couldn’t get an arrestee’s name and you feel that the situation was bad enough to warrant further investigation or that the abuse will continue after the arrest, go to the station to which he or she has been taken. Loudly and firmly ask what condition the arrestee is in and demand to know the charges he or she has received; explain what you saw during the arrest, and ask to make a complaint against the officers. This makes the police aware that people are concerned and will follow through; it may stop a back room beating.

Be careful leaving the area after a copwatch. Police have been known to follow, ticket, target, or beat copwatchers a few blocks from the site at which they were observed. Don’t let down your guard.
Report on what you have seen to your group, to whatever citizen review boards your area has, however ineffective, and to your community at large. Talk to city council members about police conduct, and show them your evidence. Tell them you want hearings and policy changes. Get your information to the National Lawyers Guild and or the ACLU. Tell community and church groups. Write up reports and spread them through local independent media outlets, both websites and papers.

If your copwatch group is ready, you could establish a copwatch hotline, a phone number people can call to report the activities of police officers; you could even have a response team ready to follow up calls. You could also start your own local copwatch paper or website, reporting on your observations, the conduct of local police, and the struggle in your community to survive and thwart police repression.

Copwatching Alone

Don’t copwatch alone if there are other options. You should not ignore those in exceptional danger just because you are alone, but be aware that lone copwatching entails taking extra risk. If you have been convicted of felonies, have a lengthy arrest record, or are not a citizen, you should probably not copwatch alone unless the circumstances are really exceptional. Be less assertive in engaging the police or the individual being detained or arrested than you would be if you were in a group. Police officers are much more likely to arrest or assault you if there are no other witnesses present.

Be especially careful to obey the letter of the law. If possible, remain at least twenty feet from the incident that you are watching; try to phone someone and let him or her know what’s happening. As always, take complete notes and, if possible, photos, audio, or videotape of the incident. If you take photos, make sure that they are taken at the last possible moment, to ensure the safety of you and your camera. Be especially careful leaving the area.

In Private and Community Spaces:
Handling a Police Raid

If police knock on your door, do not invite them inside; step outside and close the door before speaking to them, locking it behind you if need be. If there are other people in the house, make them aware that the police are present. Don’t address other people in the house by name; let them decide how they want to identify themselves. After saying clearly “I do not consent to this search,” stand aside and maintain silence. Do not answer any questions.

If you are arrested or detained in the course of a raid, do not resist unless it is absolutely imperative that you escape and there is a high likelihood that you will be able to do so; instead, calmly ask on what basis you are being held. Don’t volunteer any information or answer any questions except when you are asked to identify yourself. No matter what they tell you, speaking to the police can never accomplish anything except making things worse for you and those you care about. If you have a lawyer, upon interrogation—whether formal or informal, whether by federal agents or local officers—simply present your lawyer’s card and state, “You can speak with my lawyer.” If you don’t have a lawyer, assert and maintain that you will seek legal counsel before answering questions.

If the police say they have a warrant, ask to see it but do not at that point resist the search. A warrant is simply a piece of paper signed by a judge; it should have an address and some terms of the search. It is not valid without a judge’s signature. In most cases, the police cannot enter your residence legally without a warrant. To get a warrant, they must have probable cause and a judge must sign his or her name validating this; judges can be sneaky, but they also don’t want any heat to come back on them. This is why we often don’t see warrants used in activist raids: there simply isn’t the probable cause. If they can’t get a warrant, the police may try to use other pretexts to get in: fire code violations, health violations, looking for people who have warrants out for their arrest. Educate yourself on local laws and municipal code. If the police come by when there is someone inside who has a warrant, it may be best for that person to go outside so the police cannot use this as a justification for entering the building.

If your space may be raided, decide in advance how you will handle this. Except in a few specific cases—for example, if you are engaged in a political squatting action with widespread community support, and you intend to resist eviction by militant means—it will make the most sense to cooperate carefully with the police, and then take revenge later by legal or extra-legal means. Determine with everyone involved what image you will try to project—“nonviolent peace activists suffering unjust police harassment,” for example—and maintain it from the beginning of the process through the follow-up media and court campaigns. Hold discussions in advance, so everyone who may be affected by a police raid knows what to expect, how to conduct themselves, and what their role will be in your response. Make sure everyone is comfortable with the decisions made and understands each other’s needs.

Sometimes a police raid will come as a surprise. Other times, especially if they are planning a raid on a larger scale, such as at an infoshop, activist house, or convergence space during a mass mobilization, you may be able to see it coming. Stay aware: if they are escalating their surveillance of your building or your activities, this may culminate in a raid. This surveillance may take the form of infiltration by undercover agents, who may be easy to recognize as such—on account of poor acting, suspicious questions, or suddenly getting involved right before an action—or very difficult to detect.

If you are involved in any kind of activity that demands security, your collective should decide ahead of time how careful to be in working with others who desire to get involved in your group and in actions you plan. Do you need to have a vouching system to protect against loose-lipped liberals and undercover cops? Or do you want to work with large numbers of people to such an extent that it makes more sense to leave things wide open? Some collectives decide not to take on last-minute stragglers right before an action: police infiltrators usually show up late, because there isn’t enough funding to put them in earlier.

If you are on good terms with groups that are in dialogue with the authorities, they may be able to tip you off when a raid is nigh; likewise, locals familiar with the workings of the local police force might be able to provide useful insights. For a serious raid, the police will establish a staging area a couple blocks from the location, which may give away their plans at the last minute if nothing else has.

In preparing for a potential raid, be conscious of what you have on the premises and what can be found nearby in dumpsters and adjacent lots. Make sure nobody has any illegal drugs or paraphernalia, recognizably stolen items, or other material which authorities could use against you. Police officers will routinely confiscate such standard household items as paint thinner and PVC pipe and claim the possessors were using them to make bombs. Such ludicrous charges will not generally stand up in court, but they can enable the police to denounce your group to the public; they can also paralyze individuals, preventing them from participating in serious actions until their court cases are finished.

Knives, spray paint, gasoline, anarchist literature, bottles of urine, and other similarly dangerous articles will all be needless liabilities when the police show up, unless you’re actually planning to fight them off with the stuff. Be conscious of what can be seen even when your doors are shut and locked; the police can use items “in plain view” to look further, even without a warrant. In extreme cases, the courts have declared it permissible for the police to enter a home to investigate further after seeing something suspicious through a window. Be careful to follow the very letter of the law: police who can find nothing else to use against you may ticket you for parking more than ten inches from the curb, for example.

Have a phone tree in place, to be activated in the case of a raid: there should be a couple numbers you can call to reach people who can instantly call others, and so on, until a large number of people have been informed. It is important that there is always at least one person off-site who knows what to do if he or she is the only person not arrested.

Don’t leave phone lists or similar information accessible to the police; there’s no sense in doing their intelligence work for them. If those informed by the phone tree converge immediately upon the space being raided, this will force the police to restrain themselves, and show them and the community at large that this is an issue many take seriously; in a best case scenario, this can even transform the raid into a positive, community-building event. Have local media ready to come: don’t miss the chance to have the local alternative or pirate radio station report live from your raid, or to get sympathetic coverage in the alternative press. Plan in advance what spin you want to give the story, so the police play into your hands. Compose a press release ahead of time and have it ready to go out.

If you fear a police raid is possible or imminent, keep a video camera charged and equipped with a blank tape, ready for use in documenting police conduct. You can also hide secret cameras on the premises; these may prove especially important if the police break their own laws in the course of invading your space. Get every single badge number and license plate, and record every movement and action of each individual police officer; in court, it will be very much to your advantage if you can prove that, for example, a police officer who claims he remained outside during the raid was actually upstairs knocking over bookshelves and breaking things. Your camera people should be levelheaded; even if things are heating up, it may be more important in the long run for them to record events as they unfold, calmly and consistently, than to get involved.

Once you’ve got documentation, keep track of it. Don’t edit or adjust it in any way. Be able to prove that your footage has been in your “line of possession” from the time you recorded it to the time it appears in court; this means you should be able to document everywhere it has been, and show that it has been in the care of good, law-abiding citizens the whole time—and as few of these as possible. To this end, it can be wise to leave your material with someone’s conservative parents or responsible sister-in-law; this can also be a way to make sure it is not seized in a secondary raid. Keep an organized journal, with times and dates and signatures, detailing all your observations from the time you first begin to fear a raid might take place. After one occurs, compile written narratives, with signatures, from all witnesses and participants, while the events are still fresh in everyone’s minds.

If you’re in the middle of organizing an action or campaign from the space that may be raided, make sure it won’t be crippled by a raid. Keep important materials elsewhere, make sure that all the people in pivotal organizing positions are never in the space all at once, see to it that there are other spaces to which activities can be shifted. Establish a place to get back together after the raid or ways to reestablish contact with one another and make sure that everyone is accounted for.

When bringing suit against the city over a raid, work out the local chain of command and sue as high in the hierarchy as you can. Those who hold power will attempt to portray any misconduct as the anomalous incompetence of individual underlings; your job is to show that the raid was orchestrated from on high and that the people at the top of the pyramid are to blame, if not the system itself. Get the best lawyer you can—the American Civil Liberties Union is generally a better resource than the National Lawyers’ Guild when it comes to violations of 4th Amendment rights regarding search and seizure and 1st Amendment rights regarding freedom of speech. If you don’t own the space that was raided, make sure you have the cooperation of the landlords: emphasize that they too can get something out of the proceedings. Keep the media informed throughout the affair, and keep the pressure on.

Account

As we were organizing a convergence against a particularly ridiculous meeting of politicians, it became evident that our city’s Red Squad had its eyes on us. We continued our work, though we realized that, under the circumstances, we lacked the numbers to go forward with our original plans of turning the city into our playground. We narrowed our focus and message, deciding our best bet would be to embrace the image of pacifist peace activists: this would give us an advantage should the defenders of Power attempt a smear campaign against us. Having established this strategy, we decided that the weekend would go ahead as planned, with a festive street march and demonstrations outside the hotel where the politicians were meeting.
As the dates for the actions approached, we saw a steady increase in police traffic around our collective space, which was serving as a meeting and organizing point for the demonstrations. On multiple occasions, we experienced the unique pleasure of visits from undercover cops. Keeping tabs on liberal organizers we knew maintained ties with the police, we received additional clues that we were facing impending state repression, which was likely to take the form of a raid on our space.

We met as a collective and resolved to act preemptively in order to minimize any possible harm we would suffer and, if possible, humiliate and expose the police. We started by compiling a phone tree of our friends and supporters in the community, as well as a list of local media contacts. Drawing on the precedents established by the numerous police invasions of autonomous spaces that summer, we took a number of precautions, such as removing items that had justified earlier absurd charges against revolutionaries: for example, we removed all kitchen knives and Vitamin C pills, since cooking utensils and supplements had been considered weapons and drugs in other raids. We also cleaned the space and planted new flowers around the house, hoping this would make the police look even more ridiculous should they choose intrude on our space. We stockpiled photo and video cameras, tape recorders, note pads, and other recording devices, and spread them throughout the house, both openly and covertly. We made sure that at least one of the collective members was downstairs at all times, and that our door was always locked—though this was particularly difficult, with so many people coming in and out. People who could not risk arrest stayed at other locations.

Everyone who spent time in the space was briefed on the situation and developed an understanding of the collective’s rights. In a move that later proved to be of some importance, we painted the door with some “house rules,” including bans on weapons, animal products, and substances. This has since been used in both the media and in legal decisions as a further embarrassment to the police. We also prepared a press release, leaving only a few blank spaces for the details of the expected raid, and left it with an uninvolved family member in case the raid was accompanied by numerous arrests.

Busy as we were with organizing against the meetings, we were still able to keep our space open for concerts and other events. Two nights before the planned protests began, the police arrived during one of these shows, an apolitical folk performance. The raid caused quite a bit of alarm for the artists and visitors! At that time, some of us were leaving to work on the pirate ship puppets—described as “anarchist body armor” in police reports to the media—that we were planning to use for street theater. As we were loading the ships into a pickup truck, we noticed that police vehicles were assembling at every nearby intersection and decided to attempt to leave. As soon as we began driving, we were pulled over for the most minute of traffic violations. We called back to the space, where police were already knocking on the door. We set in motion our well-planned phone tree, calling our lawyers, leaving reports on answering machines, and informing scores of friends that we were in trouble. It turned out that the police had used supposed fire code violations to get into the house, because it is standard practice in our city for housing inspectors to be “protected” by police. Each cop and each inspector were followed everywhere by comrades from our ranks who documented everything. The police went through our book selection, our kitchen, our desks, our basement, our storage areas, even our bathroom, not to mention the personal belongings of those living upstairs. They searched our whole house and the squatted house next door. They towed our cars, on the ridiculous pretension that they were parked three inches too far from the curb! In the end, they didn’t use violence or arrests; they just hoped to scare us and reveal our supposedly violent machinations to the public.

The phone tree, however, paid off. The local media as well as a slam poetry group showed up immediately, along with about fifty of our friends. In conjunction with the drumming and the constant flash of still cameras, the slam poets created an atmosphere of festive defiance and creatively informed the media and curious passers-by about just how fucked up this situation was. While normally hostile to radicals, the local corporate media could not resist covering the obvious foolishness of the police, who wandered about the property en masse with bomb-sniffing dogs while obviously earnest and non-violent activists explained how the events of the evening were—can you believe it?—causing them to “lose faith in this society.”

Thanks to the thoroughness of our preparations, we were able to upstage law enforcement prior to the main event of the protests themselves; this coup gave us much-needed attention and credibility. Additionally, afterwards we were able to succeed in suing the city for tens of thousands of dollars. This enabled us to fund many new subversive projects, which the forces of order are even less equipped to deal with in the aftermath of their ill-thought-out raid.

ICE Agent Leads Police on 45-Minute Chase After Getting Busted in Marijuana Smuggling Sting

2011-10-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Jason Alistair Lowery, 34, is a deportation officer with U.S. Immigration and customs enforcement. He's also allegedly a weed smuggler who led authorities on a 45-minute chase -- in his government-owned vehicle -- after getting busted in a marijuana smuggling sting.

Arizona Department of Public Safety Officer Carrick Cook tells New Times that DPS has been monitoring Lowery for several weeks after a known smuggler tipped off authorities that he was working with a law enforcement official.

"Initially, we kind of dismissed [the smuggler's claims]," Cook says. "Independent sources found out later that the information was credible."

Cook says that after monitoring Lowery for several weeks, authorities stashed 23 bundles of weed in the desert in the Vekol Valley, about 45 minutes South of Phoenix. Officers watched as Lowery loaded 14 of the 23 bundles into his government-owned vehicle and took off.

Cook wouldn't say how Lowery knew the weed would be there, but says the information was disseminated through the proper channels.

When police attempted to pull him over, Lowery stopped briefly before taking off into the desert, Cook says.

The chase reached speeds of up to 110 miles per hour, and Lowery was seen throwing 10 of the 14 bails of marijuana out of the vehicle as he attempted to evade law enforcement.

The chase came to an end when Lowery flipped the vehicle he was driving, and surrendered to police.

Authorities believe Lowery was taking the weed to the home of 33-year-old Joshua Duane Powell, of Arizona City, who is currently out on bail for other felony charges. According to Cook, Powell already faces "decades in prison" for his previous crimes.

According to DPS documents first obtained by the Associated Press, Powell was previously arrested after a separate investigation last month turned up multiple bulletproof vests, weapons, stolen night-vision equipment, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and various drugs inside his home.

According to document, "since [Powell's] release only a few weeks ago, he has amassed a small arsenal of weapons and has proven to continue involvement in the illicit drug trade."

When police searched Powell's home yesterday, they found 14 rifles and guns in the trunk of his car, seven of which had been reported stolen.

Lowery was booked into Pima County jail on charges of smuggling and felony flight. Powell was also booked into jail on similar charges.

ICE spokesman Vinnie Picard issued a statement about Lowery's arrest, saying "ICE is cooperating with federal and state authorities in this matter. We hold our officers and agents to the highest levels of responsibility and are committed to supporting the agencies investigating this incident."

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/10/ice_agent_leads_police_on_45-m.php#more

El Mirage police officer accused in assault, disorderly conduct

2011-10-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

An El Mirage police officer was arrested early Saturday morning in Surprise in a suspected domestic-violence incident, according to a department official.

Surprise police arrest documents said Officer Susan Gallant, 44, was arrested on suspicion of assault and disorderly conduct at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

El Mirage Lt. Ronald Hergert said the arrest stems from two incidents between Gallant and her domestic partner. The partner, whose name was not provided by Surprise police, was also arrested, Hergert said.
Hergert said Gallant will be assigned desk duty when she returns to work Friday at the El Mirage Police Department for the duration of the criminal case.

"She won't be on the street in a normal enforcement role," he said.

Gallant, who has worked as an El Mirage officer for at least four years, also faces an internal investigation in Saturday's incident.

Hergert would not comment on the details of the case, saying that he had not received the police report and that any information he has is "hearsay at this point."

"As we would with any employee, we're going to take administrative action at an appropriate time if warranted," he said.

Hergert, who was serving as acting chief Tuesday while chief Steve Campbell is on vacation, conferred with City Manager Spencer Isom about placing Gallant on administrative leave after she was arrested. The situation did not warrant suspension, he said.

Surprise Municipal Court records show that in 2009 Gallant was ordered to take a defensive driving course after her unmarked car rear-ended another vehicle while she was on duty.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012el-mirage-police-officer-accused-assault-disorderly-conduct-brk.html

Report: Chandler police official was disorderly, disruptive

2011-10-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

Chandler Assistant Police Chief David Lind committed disorderly conduct and seriously disruptive behavior when he went into the stands at a Tempe high school and berated a volleyball teammate of his daughter's, a Tempe police report says.

On Sept. 29, as the Perry High School volleyball team was preparing to compete at Marcos De Niza High School, Lind used a "booming voice while standing two to three feet away" from the teammate and her coach for about three minutes, the report says.

The coach, Shasta Millhollin, and the student sobbed and cried. The coach, who has since accepted Lind's apology, has declined to assist in prosecution, but the girl and her mother desire prosecution, the report says.
The report has been submitted to another city attorney's office for review, since Lind formerly worked for Tempe, said Tempe Police Chief Tom Ryff. The prosecutor is empowered with filing charges.

In a statement to police, in which she also said she feared Lind would come closer to her as he screamed, the girl said Lind accused her of bullying his daughter and threatened her.

She quoted him as saying, "you better start telling the truth young lady! You three-way called people to gang up on my child, and when I find out all of this is true I'm going to Dan Serrano (Perry High School principal) and have you suspended because you bully my daughter! This is bull----!"

The girl said that she had contacted teammates earlier that day to discuss ways to "respect each other more" and that Lind's daughter felt attacked.

Lind also said threatening things to Millhollin, she said in the report. She said Lind told her, "I am going to go to the board and things are going to get ugly! I will give you the chance to take care of this but if you don't I will take action!"

She said when she got home Lind called her and he apologized, and she accepted.

"He was still very upset about his daughter's feelings being hurt and wanted the girls he believed to be at fault to apologize to his daughter for their actions," she told police.

At the same time, Millhollin said, Lind was willing to apologize to the girl and her parents for his behavior. It is unclear whether this took place.

The incident was filmed by high school surveillance equipment, the report says. It also says that Lind never identified himself as a police officer.

Lind supervisors at least half of Chandler's police force, including the public information office.

The Rev. Oscar Tillman has become involved since the girl who was yelled at is African American.

"This is a deputy police chief of a city that is growing like Chandler," Tillman said last week "He goes to the point of verbally attacking a teenager . . . He goes after a kid at school . . .

"How much respect can (they) teenagers have for law enforcement?" Tillman asked.

Lind, one of two assistant chiefs who report directly to Police Chief Sherry Kiyler, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for two weeks in 2010 after conducting an affair that included trysts in hotel rooms while on duty.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012chandler-assistant-police-chief-investigation1014.html

Bail cut for Arpaio staffers tied to drug ring

2011-10-12T19:28:00.000-07:00

Two of three Maricopa County sheriff's employees implicated in a multinational heroin smuggling ring have been released from custody after posting bail, and the highest-ranking member of the trio had his bail reduced to $25,000 this week after a judge determined the original $1 million cash bail was excessive.

The developments in the case, which accused the sheriff's employees of conspiring to smuggle heroin and launder money, came as prosecutors have offered plea deals to all 19 defendants and dismissed charges against one in the interest of justice.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said the reduced bond amounts and dismissed charges do not reflect on the quality of the investigation his deputies performed. But Arpaio said he was concerned about the release of some suspects who have ties to other countries.

Evidence that investigators presented to the grand jury after the months-long probe, which included the use of court-ordered wire taps, indicated that former Deputy Alfredo Navarrette and former sheriff's detention officer Marcella Hernandez discussed moving to a ranch in Mexico before their arrests.

Investigators said the ranch is owned by the smuggling ring's alleged leader, Francisco Arce-Torres, who is accused of having ties to the Sinaloan cartel and whom detectives believe fathered a child Hernandez gave birth to shortly after her arrest.

"I'm a little concerned about my people being released on $25,000 bond when intelligence shows they have this farm in (Mexico) and they're thinking about moving there," Arpaio said.

The efforts of attorneys to reduce bail amounts, get charges dismissed and have cases sent back to a grand jury are part of any vigorous defense. But the involvement of three members of the law-enforcement community being investigated by their own agency makes the case distinct.

The group mostly moved heroin, according to investigators, and officials suspect each of the arrested sheriff's employees played a crucial role in moving the drugs and hiding illicit profits. Authorities say the ring moved about $56,000 worth of heroin a week through the Valley.

Arce-Torres arranged for the heroin to be brought into the Valley after his brothers produced the drug on the family's ranch in Mexico, according to court documents.

Hernandez's brother, who was also among those arrested, is suspected of operating one of several stash houses, and investigators believe Hernandez coordinated the pickup and delivery of heroin from the drug houses.

Navarrette and Sylvia Najera, the other arrested detention officer, helped set up a shell corporation called West Utilities Group Inc., which was used earlier this year to launder nearly $50,000 in drug proceeds, according to court documents.

Najera was released after posting $12,000 bail this summer.

Hernandez's bond was reduced from $2 million to $25,000 and she was released shortly after 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

But it was Navarrette who was depicted as among the most egregious suspects to emerge in the investigation, in part because of his role in the sheriff's human-smuggling unit and the presence of two undocumented immigrants in Navarrette's Phoenix home when deputies raided it in May.

Navarrette's attorney painted a different picture in documents he filed requesting reduced bond for his client.
The undocumented immigrants in Navarrette's house were simply renting space from the divorced deputy, who needed the extra income to keep his home, according to his attorney.

And the lifestyle Navarrette lived before his arrest does not fit with that of a money-laundering smuggler, Navarrette's attorney, Herman Alacantar, told the court.

"Mr. Navarrette was not once during this investigation spending large amounts of money, driving of possessing fancy or expensive cars or otherwise living an expensive or extravagant lifestyle," Alcantar wrote. "On the contrary, Mr. Navarrette's utilities were regularly cut off for nonpayment; he was always behind on all his bills and often had to borrow money from other deputies and friends to make ends meet."

The filings included numerous letters from Navarrette's family and friends, who cited his longstanding ties to the Valley, where he was born and raised, his service in the military and work in the Sheriff's Office.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the case, but their filings point to some of the same factors - particularly Navarrette's work in law enforcement while allegedly involved in a criminal enterprise - as reason enough for the bond to remain at $1 million.

The filings also cited months of surveillance and intercepted phone calls that allegedly support prosecutors' claims that Navarrette was intimately involved in the smuggling ring.

"While the defendant has many letters in support of him, it is apparent that those who continue to support him do not grasp the depth of his behavior and actions," prosecutor Rebekah Browder wrote. "If the defendant was able to commit these crimes while wearing a badge, it can only be assumed that if he is released from jail, he will have free reign to break the laws again."

But Superior Court Judge Janet Barton ruled Tuesday that Navarrette's $1 million bond was "clearly excessive."

The decision left Arpaio steamed.

"You have a deputy sheriff who has worked on our human smuggling and given intelligence out, putting my deputies in danger, tipping them (smugglers) off and now this guy's getting back on the street with $25,000?" Arpaio asked. "I don't understand this, I really don't."

The sheriff's employees and other defendants are due back in court in early December.

Navarette remained in custody as of Wednesday.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/10/12/20111012arpaio-staffers-bond-reduced1012.html

Chandler assistant police chief under fire over outburst

2011-10-06T15:15:00.000-07:00

A Chandler assistant police chief's behavior at his daughter's high school volleyball game last week in Tempe has triggered three investigations, angered parents and prompted a call for justice from a longtime activist.
The Tempe Police Department is investigating what witnesses described as Assistant Chief Dave Lind's temper-fueled verbal attack Sept. 29 on a teammate of his daughter's Perry High School volleyball team.

Witnesses said that Lind went into the stands at Tempe's Marcos De Niza High School, where the Perry High School team was competing, pointed a finger at the teammate's face, yelled and used the word "bullshit."

Lind, who supervises at least half of Chandler's police force, including the public information office, was intervening on his daughter's behalf in an argument about a three-way phone conversation in which his daughter was joked about, witnesses said.

"This is a deputy police chief of a city that is growing like Chandler," said longtime community activist The Rev. Oscar Tillman, the local president of the NAACP. He said he became involved because the teammate is an African-American. "He (Lind) goes to the point of verbally attacking a teenager . . . He goes after a kid at school . . .

How much respect can (they) teenagers have for law enforcement?" Tillman asked.

Lind, one of two assistant chiefs who report directly to Police Chief Sherry Kiyler, was reprimanded and suspended without pay for two weeks in 2010 after conducting an affair that included trysts in hotel rooms while on duty.

Parents said the teammate of Lind's daughter and her coach burst into tears at the Tempe game, parents said. The girl's mother has since asked Perry High School to ban Lind from future games, which high school officials will determine after conducting an investigation, Tillman said.

The girl's mother also requested, but did not receive, a court order protecting her daughter from Lind, Tillman said.

The Chandler Police Department has opened an internal affairs investigation into Lind's behavior, said Chandler Police Sgt. Joe Favazzo. Both Perry High School and the Chandler department are awaiting the results of Tempe's report before earnestly investigating, officials said.

Tempe police continue interviewing witnesses to the events of Sept. 29, said spokesman Steve Carbajal.
Meanwhile, the Tempe Police Department is investigating a former Tempe lieutenant. Lind, who among other Tempe jobs was a public information officer, was hired as an assistant Chandler chief in December 2008.
Lind's annual salary is more than $146,000. He is also collecting a public-safety retirement pension.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2011/10/06/20111006chandler-assistant-police-chief-outburst.html

No charges for ex-Glendale officer accused of 'sexting'

2011-10-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

A former Glendale police officer accused of sending sexually explicit text messages to teenage girls and sexually abusing one of them will not be prosecuted.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office decided not to pursue a case against 25-year-old Christopher Balmaceda, who had worked off-duty at Mountain Ridge High School, despite a recommendation from police that he be charged with one count of sexual abuse and four counts of luring a minor for sexual exploitation.

"We determined there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction in this case," said Jerry Cobb, a spokesman for the County Attorney's Office.

He said prosecutors were concerned about the 17-year-old girl who said she was sexually abused. The teen said she aimed to report the officer's wrongdoing.

The teen told Glendale detectives that "her plan was to get enough information to tell someone what Christopher was doing," according to the police report.

Those statements made it difficult for prosecutors to prove a lack of consent to sexual abuse and explicit text messages, Cobb said.

The spokesman said prosecutors also believed they didn't have the evidence to charge the former officer with luring, as a cellphone provider couldn't provide the text of messages, only the number of messages between Balmaceda and students.

Sgt. Brent Coombs, a Glendale police spokesman, said detectives communicated with prosecutors early in the investigation and submitted what they believed to be a "very thorough investigation."

Glendale police launched an internal probe of Balmaceda in late January after a report that teens had received suggestive messages from Balmaceda.

Police found that Balmaceda, who worked at the school twice a month, had sent about 3,600 text messages to female students from September 2010 through January, according to an internal investigation.

Police began a criminal investigation after a 17-year-old said Balmaceda, a married father, had kissed and touched her in January after she met him at an abandoned grocery store while he was on duty.

Investigators confronted the officer.

"Balmaceda admitted to me that from September 2010 through January 2011 he sent numerous sexually explicit text messages to four female Mountain Ridge High School students for the purpose of gratifying a sexual desire," a Glendale sergeant wrote in an internal review.

According to the report, Balmaceda also admitted to the encounter with the 17-year-old. He submitted a resignation letter two days after the interview.

He did not speak to detectives investigating potential criminal violations. Federal law prevents prosecutors from discussing confessions or admissions during internal police investigations in court.

Balmaceda would not comment on the allegations or the latest decision.

Two former sex-crimes prosecutors raised questions about Maricopa County attorneys' decision not to charge the former officer.

The presence of multiple victims and Balmaceda's status as a police officer made this an important case to pursue, said Robin Sax, who spent 15 years as a sex-crimes prosecutor in Los Angeles.

"The touching plus the texts is way beyond what you would need for some charge," Sax said. "We hold people who take care of our children to a higher level."

Robert J. Campos, a Phoenix defense attorney who spent five years in Maricopa County's sex-crimes unit, said he was concerned by the officer's communications with at least four students.

Still, he acknowledged that prosecutors may have hesitated if the victim didn't seem credible.

"When you talk to somebody who's been a victim, you're either going to immediately believe them or you're going to be unsure," Campos said. "If at a gut level, I believed, I took it to trial and I always won those cases."

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2011/10/04/20111004glendale-no-charges-ex-glendale-police-officer-accused-sexting-abuse.html

Border Patrol agent arrested on suspicion of criminal speeding

2011-09-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

A suspended U.S. Border Patrol agent was arrested on suspicion of criminal speeding and found with a synthetic marijuana and prescription drugs in his car on Thursday, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

Michael Atondo, 34, has been on indefinite suspension after he was accused of smuggling marijuana in his Border Patrol truck in April, according to the sheriff's office.

On Thursday, Atondo was pulled over on Arizona 85 by a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy. Atondo identified himself as a Border Patrol agent and informed them he was driving back to work after spending a few days with friends in Glendale.

Deputies searched Atondo's vehicle, finding oxycodone, according to the sheriff's office. Atondo didn't have a prescription for the drug. Deputies also discovered a synthetic marijuana substance called "Jazz Kush."

Atondo was booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail on suspicion of criminal speeding and narcotic drug possession.

Atondo remains an employee with the Border Patrol but was put on suspension in connection with his arrest in April.

In that case, he was found near the border with 745 pounds of marijuana in his Border Patrol truck.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/09/30/20110930maricopa-border-agent-speeding-abrk.html

Surprise police officer demoted after harassment inquiries

2011-09-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Surprise police officials have demoted a high-ranking officer to patrol after two investigations into harassment accusations.

Officials said Lt. Craig Scartozzi, who has served as the department's spokesman and one of its youth outreach volunteers, "engaged in conduct that was pervasive and unwelcome" against a subordinate police officer, according to documents The Republic obtained under Arizona's public-records law. The specific incidents leading to the investigation were not provided.

The initial investigation focused on conduct by Scartozzi between August and October last year and led to a second investigation into other allegations of harassment.

A departmental disciplinary notice said between February and June of 2010, Scartozzi "used sexually based humor" and simulated sex acts, including "with a female officer of lower rank, in front of subordinate officers." The report did not make it clear if the woman was in the room at the time of the conduct.
The demotion, which included a substantial pay cut, took effect Aug. 29.

Scartozzi was promoted to lieutenant in 2006. He served as a sergeant in both the patrol and investigations divisions, was on the department's tactical team and the state gang task force known as GIITEM, for Gang and Immigration Intelligence Team Enforcement Mission.

Scartozzi, a former Marine who's been with the department since 1997, has a long history of volunteerism and is known for his role in the agency's youth outreach efforts. He was one of a handful of city volunteers in 2010 who started organizing events for teens, including a back-to-school mixer, chaperoned parties and a baseball clinic.

He has also volunteered on the department's honor guard, which serves at officer funerals and special events such as parades and visits from government dignitaries.

In 1998, he received a medal of merit from the Surprise Fire Department for his efforts to save an infant who was accidentally smothered in bed. The baby died later at a hospital.

Department spokesman, Sgt. Mark Ortega, said Scartozzi is known for performing exceptionally as an officer and exceeding the expectations of his superiors.

Scartozzi declined to comment on the investigation when contacted by The Republic on Friday but was optimistic about the future.

He expressed pride in his accomplishments as an officer and said he planned to put the past behind him and carry on in Surprise.

"I took an oath to protect those citizens that I serve and I'll continue to do that," he said.

Ortega said the department recently completed training officers on its harassment policy, but the training was not in response to the investigations.

Scartozzi was also handed a one-day suspension and letter of reprimand in 1998 after officials said he falsified another officer's report by entering a vulgar expression. The investigation determined that Scartozzi, who was a police officer then, violated standards of conduct and the department's policy on falsifying reports, documents say. Scartozzi entered the remark after the report's author left his desk to respond to an emergency, documents say.

He told investigators he meant the act as a joke and felt badly about the incident. Another officer was also investigated for allegations he participated by adding his own inappropriate statements.

The author of the report noticed the additions and deleted most of them but missed Scartozzi's comment, the investigation showed. The report was forwarded to the City Attorney's Office where the addition was discovered.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/westvalley/articles/2011/09/20/20110920surprise-police-officer-demoted.html

Peoria man sues Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, cites abuse by deputies

2011-09-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

A Peoria contractor claims in a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office that deputies beat and shot him with a stun gun for no reason as he stood outside a concession stand at Phoenix International Raceway last year.

Michael T. Wyman, 50, maintains in his lawsuit that he greeted an old friend with a bear hug near the track's Speed Cantina during a NASCAR race last November when, without warning, a deputy put him in a choke hold. The deputy threw him to the ground, Wyman alleges, and another deputy began shooting Wyman in the leg with a stun gun.

Wyman was charged with resisting arrest, aggravated assault and disorderly conduct for his role in the Nov. 13 incident, but a judge dismissed the charges in March at the request of prosecutors.

Wyman filed a notice of claim against the county in May, offering to settle the issue for $2 million. County officials did not respond, according to Wyman's attorney, so Wyman earlier this month filed a civil suit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the deputies involved in the incident.

"My deputies have a tough job," Arpaio said. "At this point, these are just allegations. I will await the true outcome of this lawsuit before I make any judgments."

Wyman says he made his claim in part because he suffered injuries that left him unable to do the work required for his company, Ricochet Excavating. The company survived the recent recession, but its future is threatened because of Wyman's run-in with deputies, said Daniel Treon, Wyman's attorney.

According to the lawsuit, Wyman saw his friend Ernie Griego near the Speed Cantina about 9 p.m. during a NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and the two greeted each other with "a high five and bear hugs."
Sheriff's deputies saw the exchange differently.

A police report on the incident indicates that a deputy was "alerted to a group of white males that appeared to be intoxicated and were grabbing and pushing one another. The subjects were pushing each other into people that were not part of their group," a deputy wrote.

Deputies were trying to get the group to move, according to the report, when Wyman turned to face Deputy Preston Boyer "and swung his arms at Deputy Boyer striking him on the right side of the face," according to a deputy's report.

When Boyer was struck, another deputy shot Wyman in the back with the stun gun, according to the police report.

Wyman's attorney said the sheriff's report offers only the deputies' perspective. He said the Sheriff's Office could not produce witnesses to verify the events laid out in the police report.

"We think that was an exaggerated statement full of unsubstantiated statements by law enforcement to justify what really, by all accounts, was a bizarre, uniformed attack on Mr. Wyman," Treon said. He said a handful of witnesses acquainted with Wyman, including a firefighter and a 911 operator, could verify Wyman's claims.

Wyman said his first encounter with a deputy came when Boyer came up from behind and began to choke him.

"Surprised, disoriented and unable to see his unidentified attacker, Michael grabbed onto his assailant's arm to try to loosen the choke hold so he could breathe," the lawsuit claims. "Another unknown MCSO deputy shoved Jan (Wyman's wife) aside and tasered Michael in the back."

Wyman's lawsuit and the sheriff's report both indicate that deputies shot Wyman twice with the stun gun, but Wyman's lawsuit claims the deputies went on to stomp on his arms and kick him before handcuffing him. The lawsuit also claims that sheriff's deputies continued to shock Wyman after he was handcuffed and that deputies threatened to stun-gun a Phoenix firefighter who was a friend of Wyman's when he tried to tell the deputies to stop.

Wyman's son, Wade, tried to talk to the deputies during the altercation but was shocked with a stun gun, kneed and kicked by deputies, the lawsuit alleges.

Michael and Wade Wyman both were taken into custody, but Wade was never cited, and a deputy did not write up a report on Wade's involvement, "a clear violation of policy," according to Treon.

Michael Wyman was taken to Fourth Avenue Jail, but officers told deputies to take Wyman to Maricopa Medical Center for treatment of his injuries, according to the complaint.

Wyman continues to experience nerve damage from the stun-gun shock and has undergone surgeries, including a skin graft, to repair damage from the weapon and broken bones from a deputy stomping on Wyman's foot, Treon said. Those injuries have made it difficult for the contractor to perform his work, he said.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/09/16/20110916peoria-man-sues-mcso-claims-abuse-deputies.html

Family sues Phoenix over unarmed man's killing by police

2011-09-08T14:10:00.001-07:00

PHOENIX - The mother of a 29-year-old Phoenix man who wasunarmed when he was fatally shot is suing the city and the policeofficer who killed him.

The lawsuit against the city of Phoenix and Officer RichardChrisman was filed on Aug. 31 in Maricopa County Superior Court. Itseeks unspecified damages but KNXV reported that Elvira Fernandezoriginally sought $29 million in a notice of claim.

Chrisman has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degreemurder, aggravated assault and animal cruelty. His trial set tobegin in November.

On Oct. 5 last year, court records say that Chrisman pulled hispistol, put it against 29-year-old Danny Frank Rodriguez's head andtold him he didn't need a warrant when Rodriguez ordered him out ofhis house.

Chrisman then shocked Rodriguez with a stun gun, fatally shothis pit bull and then fatally shot Rodriguez.

http://ktar.com/category/local-news-articles/20110906/Family-sues-Phoenix-over-unarmed-man%27s-killing/

Former Tempe Cop Elliot Campbell Pleads Guilty to Stealing Evidence -- Including a Refrigerator

2011-09-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

A former Tempe cop accused of stealing evidence from the agency's evidence room -- including a refrigerator -- has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

Initially, former Tempe Officer Elliot Campbell was booked on two counts of theft of a credit card, 10 counts of tampering with evidence, and one count each of forgery, burglary, and theft. He pleaded guilty this morning to attempt to commit theft of credit card obtained by fraudulent means, and tampering with physical evidence.

Campbell, an 11-year veteran, was arrested in May after an investigation revealed he looted the department's evidence room and used the items he stole -- including several gift cards to various retail stores -- for a little home improvement.

The Arizona Registrar of Contractors Office began investigating Campbell in April regarding his performing contract work without a contractor's license.

The investigation revealed that Campbell was driving on a suspended license. He was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, which ultimately found he'd also been stealing evidence.

During the course of their investigation, authorities searched Campbell's squad car and found envelopes checked out of the department's evidence room in March 2008. Additionally, detectives found that Campbell also had checked out a refrigerator, a clothes washer, a watch, and some tools from the evidence room. He told employees in the evidence room he was planning to return the items to their owners, which is why he was allowed to take them.

It was later determined that the gift cards Campbell had checked out of the evidence room were used at Costco and Target stores near the officer's home. A search of his house turned up the watch and the refrigerator. The washing machine, Campbell later told police, was given to a friend.

Bill Richardson is a former Mesa detective who is often critical of the Tempe Police Department. He says Campbell never should have been permitted to remove the items from the evidence room in the first place.

In a letter to Tempe officials, Richardson wrote the following:

In all my years of experience and being involved in hundreds and hundreds of felony criminal cases I have never ever taken evidence out of the property/evidence division and personally returned it to a victim. I have never heard of such a thing. It is the duty of the property/evidence custodian to dispose of evidence and seized property not an officer involved in the case.
That said, if there are lose procedures in the property/evidence division of the Tempe PD there maybe other problems relating to misappropriated property and evidence. Phoenix just uncovered a case where a detective was purportedly taking drug evidence to court when he was using the drugs himself. Lax rules, lax supervision lead to police corruption.
When you discover one dirty cop you have to figure there are others who are exploiting the system.

Following his arrest, Campbell resigned from the department. His sentencing is scheduled for October 21.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/09/former_tempe_cop_elliot_campbe.php

Moreno's Mexican Grill Target of Joe Arpaio's Latest Employer Sanctions Raid Which Targeted Employees

2011-09-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Maricopa County is now safe from six illegal immigrants who were allegedly using stolen identities to work at a Mexican restaurant in Chandler.

That's right, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office conducted its latest illegal immigrant roundup at Moreno's Mexican grill in Chandler this morning. It netted a total of six arrests.

The MCSO says it received information that 14 illegal immigrants were using fake IDs in order to work at the restaurant. Only six were arrested today -- which is a vast improvement from the last time the sheriff went gangbusters on a Valley business in search of illegal immigrants.

Last week, Arpaio's boys in beige raided a Days Inn hotel in downtown Phoenix. The result: one arrest.

Per usual, Sheriff Joe Arpaio is trying to church-up the immigrant roundup, calling the raid an "employer sanctions operation." Also per usual, no employers were arrested -- just employees.

When asked if any employers were arrested, MCSO Officer Chris Hegstrom tells New Times "at this time, I can tell you we arrested six employees for using false identification."

Again, precisely zero employers were arrested during the sheriff's "employer sanctions operation" this morning -- but that's because the raid had nothing to do with sanctions for people who hire illegal immigrants; it was just your run-of-the-mill MCSO immigrant roundup under the guise of an "employer sanctions operation."

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/09/morenos_mexican_grill_target_o.php

Phoenix officer held in prostitution case

2011-09-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

A Phoenix police officer was arrested in El Paso last week on suspicion of soliciting prostitution, officials said.
Sheldon Czegledi, 47, identified by the Phoenix Police Department as a Central City Precinct patrol officer, was arrested Friday night, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Christina Acosta said.

Officials said Czegledi was arrested as part of a sting by sheriff's detectives in which a female deputy was working as "a decoy female prostitute."

In a Sheriff's Office report on the incident, Czegledi was alleged to have driven up to the female deputy standing on the street in front of a hotel parking lot and solicited her for "sexual intercourse for a fee of $45."

The report says Czegledi then gave the decoy officer "$5 for a deposit and stated he would return."
Shortly thereafter, deputies stopped Czegledi's car and he was arrested.

Czegledi was booked into a Sheriff's Office jail.

The report said the conversation between Czegledi and the female deputy was recorded.

Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Steve Martos said that once the Phoenix department receives an official report from El Paso, "We expect to conduct an administrative investigation into the matter."

Martos would not speculate on what sort of professional penalty an officer arrested and convicted of soliciting prostitution might receive but said it was not automatically a firing offense.

Martos said Czegledi was a 14-year veteran of the Phoenix force.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/08/30/20110830phoenix-officer-held-prostitution-case.html

Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon's Son, Police Officer Jeff Gordon, Receives Four-Day Suspension for Sexual Acts Performed On-Duty, in Uniform

2011-08-28T07:08:00.000-07:00

Phoenix Police Officer Jeff Gordon, son of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, received a four-day suspension after an internal affairs investigation revealed the junior Gordon was giving and getting oral sex and engaging in other sexual acts on several occasions in 2007 and 2010, while on duty.

Gordon admitted to some incidents, but there are other allegations that remain unresolved, according to police reports.

Among them are that on December 1, 2010, he had non-consensual sexual contact with a city employee. The allegation is that he slipped his hands under the blouse of a Phoenix employee and actually touched her breasts as he was giving her a massage -- while he was on-duty, and also sent her two pornographic video texts.

Gordon told investigators that he and the female employee were talking about how stressed out she was, and he started giving her a massage. He admitted that his hands moved from her neck and shoulders to her "upper chest" around her "clavicles" because "he believes it feels good when done to him and would serve as a good de-stressor."

He denied grabbing her breasts, but he did tell detectives twice that he "possibly" might have touched the tops of her breasts while he was massaging her.

The female employee told a different version:

"And all of a sudden (Officer Gordon) just went down with his hands, uh, under my blouse and into the bra. And I said, 'Hey, hey, hey.' I said, 'Watch it there.'"

She told detectives that he immediately withdrew his hands and asked her, 'What am I watching?' as he pulled the neckline of her shirt away from her chest as if he was looking down her shirt.

After the incident, he called her and asked her if they were okay, and the woman told cops that he asked if she was going to report him and "mentioned not saying anything to his wife."

Jeff Gordon got married in September 2010, three months before the massaging incident.

Prior to that incident, in January 2010, Gordon had sent the employee two pornographic video texts. When he was questioned, he said that if he did send them, it was an accident.

He told investigators that "he may have intended to send the texts to a friend immediately above or below" the woman's contact information in his cell phone.

While cops were investigating the incident with the city employee, they came across information that indicated Gordon was also engaging in sexual activity in 2007 or 2008 with women who worked at an apartment complex on his beat.

He French-kissed one employee during that time in the rental office at the apartment complex while both were on-duty.

Gordon admitted to kissing her while he was on the job and in uniform, but said it only happen twice.

And, in what appears to be a third incident, Gordon was performing oral sex on another woman inside one of the apartment complex models, also while he was on-duty.

She also performed oral sex on Gordon, and even displayed a picture he sent her of his penis on her office computer at the apartment complex.

While that employee denied doing anything more than hugging Gordon, he admitted to investigators that the two "fooled around."

"He described the encounter as oral sex that he and [the woman] performed on each other while on-duty in a vacant apartment. Gordon said he touched her breasts, and made direct contact, by hand, with each others genitalia," according to the investigative report.

Gordon said he did send her a picture of his penis, but said he sent it to her personal e-mail account. He also said he took -- and sent -- the picture while he was off-duty. He couldn't remember if sending the photo of his business was his idea or the apartment employee's idea.

In another incident, while he was on-duty, he and the second apartment complex employee were French-kissing and touching each others dirty bits inside a complex office.

Gordon met these women when he responded to a call for service at the apartment complex.

Another allegation that remains unresolved is that Gordon used the police department's computer database on two occassions in 2007 to get information about one of the women he was sexing while at work.

He says he did access her personal information, but only because she asked him to.

Gordon, who has been with the Phoenix Police Department for six years and is assigned to the Estrella Mountain Precinct, will serve his suspension from September 27 to September 30. He has 14 days to appeal his discipline.

Gordon was placed on paid administrative leave in January after allegations against him surfaced.

Phoenix police officials started investigating the junior Gordon in late December or early January. The investigation was delayed after Jeff Gordon -- who was installing hardwood floors at his home while on leave in April -- accidentally severed some of his fingers with a saw.

Sergeant Tommy Thompson, a police spokesman, said that Gordon's discipline was determined by a seven-member panel that includes members of the public, police officers, police commanders and an assistant police chief.

Read the full Internal Investigation
Read the summarized Notice of Finding

Phoenix police apply for grant to buy on-officer video cameras

2011-08-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

While the social and economic aid programs are defunded or shut down one by one, the Phoenix PD drop half a mil on control technology

Phoenix police officials have applied for a $500,000 grant that would allow them to buy on-officer video cameras for as many as 50 officers.

Officials expect to hear by early September whether they will receive the money through a partnership with Arizona State University and the U.S. Department of Justice called the Smart Policing Initiative grant.

Earlier this year, Phoenix officers tested the system, in which small video cameras are attached to an officer's uniform. The pilot program was conducted for free, with 18 officers split between the Cactus Park and South Mountain precincts.

"Talk about increasing transparency," Phoenix police Lt. Mike Kurtenbach said. "You don't get much more transparent than video."

The three-month trial that ended in June resulted in 860 hours of video. From that, footage is being used as court evidence in 62 cases, Kurtenbach said. Those cases are still working their way through the system. Attorneys have told Kurtenbach that having video footage is a powerful piece of evidence, he said.

The camera is worn like a Bluetooth device, around the head and over the ear. The officer controls when it is turned on and off through a remote control on his or her chest. A video monitor is attached to the belt.

"A unique feature is that once activated, an officer can't delete or edit the footage," Kurtenbach said. "So we have it all."

Arizona law requires that only one person be aware that they are being recorded, but officers answered questions when asked if they were recording.

"Some citizens keyed in on it right away and asked if the officer was wearing a camera," Kurtenbach said.

There were instances when the cameras were turned off: for example, during interviews with children or during bathroom breaks.

Phoenix police tested Scottsdale-based Taser International's Axon cameras, but there are other companies who sell similar versions.

The grant doesn't specify what brand of cameras would be purchased, but an Axon camera costs about $1,700, plus an annual $1,200 each to store the footage. The federal Smart Policing grant requires police agencies to enlist a research partner - in Phoenix's case, it's ASU - to collect and analyze the data and measure the effectiveness of their efforts.

The on-officer video-camera pilot program was one of 34 Phoenix-wide recommendations developed by a city task force in January to improve relations between the Police Department and community. Kurtenbach was a member of the task force.

The City Manager's Community Engagement and Outreach Task Force was established in April 2010 after several police incidents angered residents, including a March 2010 incident in which City Councilman Michael Johnson, who is African-American, was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed by a White officer.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/ahwatukee/articles/2011/08/07/20110807phoenix-police-video-cameras.html

Man shot by Mesa police was unarmed

2011-08-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

A 38-year-old man who was shot by Mesa police Thursday had threatened to kill them, but was not armed when he was shot.

Police originally said Thursday that Phillip A. Trimble was shot by three officers when he dropped a cellphone and pointed a gun at them.

But after further investigation, homicide detectives discovered Trimble had only simulated a weapon, acting as if he was grabbing a handgun tucked in his waistband before officers opened fire.

"It appears that he just simulated the weapon with his hand," said Detective Steve Berry, a police spokesman.

"He made the statement, 'I've got a .357 magnum, I'm going to shoot you guys," Berry said. "That why we had such a heightened response, because he made threats at officers."

Berry said officers discovered Trimble was not armed when the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office arrived on the scene and moved the body.

The shooting occurred at 2:36 p.m. Thursday after police had convinced Trimble to step outside his home in the 9000 block of East Glade Avenue, near Southern Avenue and Ellworth Road.

Berry said Trimble had appeared unstable during a series of phone calls he made to police, starting at 1:13 p.m. He initially reported a robbery.

Berry said police found evidence that Trimble had been drinking prior to the shooting.

Officers wanted to help Trimble and only shot him when they perceived a threat to their own lives, he said.

"The ultimate goal is to help, not to hurt," Berry said. Police will review the case to see if there were other tactics that could have been used.

He said officers were too far away from Trimble to have used a Taser to subdue him.

Court records show Trimble had no prior history of violent acts. He had been sentenced a year ago in Maricopa County Superior Court to four months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, but the sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation for two years.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/mesa/articles/2011/08/19/20110819mesa-police-shoot-unarmed-man.html

Surprise police sergeant who was under investigation resigns

2011-08-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

A former assistant police chief in Surprise who was undergoing a department investigation abruptly resigned Monday.

Police Chief Mike Frazier would not say why Scott Connelly was being investigated.

Connelly, who was contacted by The Republic on Tuesday, would say only that his resignation was for "personal reasons." He declined to comment on the internal investigation.

"You'll need to check with them on it," he said. "I'm not sure what it is they're going to release."

Frazier said he was considering firing Connelly before he decided to resign.

"It was in my hands," he said. "That was an option on the table. Before we got to that point, he resigned."

Frazier would not say what time period the investigation covers.

He said he couldn't say when the case will be resolved, but he would release details at that time.

"I don't want to cross any lines and say things I shouldn't, but I think it's going to get hung up for a little while."

Connelly was demoted to sergeant in January at his request, according to department officials at the time.

The Republic requested Connelly's personnel records after he was demoted.

City Attorney Michael Bailey denied the request, saying Arizona law limits the public's access to official records "when the documents are made confidential by statute, involves the privacy interests of persons, and disclosure would be detrimental to the best interest of the state."

The Republic filed another request in August. The request is pending.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/surprise/articles/2011/08/16/20110816surprise-police-sergeant-under-investigation-resigns-brk.html

Judge tosses case against 4 Phoenix police officers

2011-08-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Karen O'Connor ruled this week that the due-process rights of four Phoenix police officers may have been violated by a biased grand-jury presentation that resulted in their indictments in a case involving off-duty work assignments.

In documents released Friday, O'Connor explained why she tossed out the case against the four officers.

The indictments obtained by the Arizona Attorney General's Office stemmed from an investigation by the Phoenix Police Department of allegations that some officers did not work off-duty hours they claimed to have worked and for which they were paid. Charges included theft and fraud.

The officers were accused of "submitting hours prior to the scheduled shift and then only working a portion of the hours," according to investigative records.

One officer left the force, but the other three were placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of their case.

In tossing the case, the judge said in a court document released Friday: "The defendants are entitled to due process. Due process requires a fair and impartial grand-jury presentation. This was not done here."

The document lists several missteps the prosecution made in its presentation to the grand jury, including prosecutors' failure to reveal that there is no Police Department policy or requirement for off-duty service agreements to be in writing.

Also, the court document says, the department has no policy requiring the defendants to document their hours on the days they actually worked, and there is no policy requiring the start and stop time to begin and end on the work site.

"The judge has granted the defendants' motion to vacate all future court dates," said Phoenix attorney Craig Mehrens, who represents one officer. "There are no pending court dates. Now it remains for Arizona Attorney General's Office to return the case to the grand jury if they so desire, or drop it."

Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said Friday that his staff had not yet digested O'Connor's ruling, but he expected that a decision would be made by Tuesday on whether to take the case back to the grand jury or to drop it.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/07/30/20110730phoenix-police-case-tossed.html

Mobile biometrics to hit US streets: Despite fuzzy legality, US law enforcement will soon be able to perform mobile iris scans and fingerprinting.

2011-08-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

We're fast approaching a time when law enforcement will no longer need to ask you for your identification - your physical self, and the biometric data therein, are all that will be required to identify you.

A gadget attached to a mobile phone can photograph and plot key points and features on your face (breaking the numbers down into biometric data), scan your iris and take your fingerprints on the spot.

This gizmo doesn't exist in a futuristic world - it's already been prototyped and tested. By autumn, the Mobile Offender Recognition and Information System (MORIS), which will allow 40 law enforcement agencies across the US to carry out such biometric diagnostics, will be rolled out. So far, the 1,000 units on order - at $3,000 and 12.5 oz per device - will be going to sheriff and police departments.

Proponents of the technology figure the deployment is a plus - having biometric data available almost instantly might prevent an officer from mistakenly identifying someone (via, say, a driver's license, which could be forged) and unnecessarily hauling them in for processing.

Scans taken on the road are checked against a database of stored scans from those who have in the past been or are currently incarcerated. Essentially, the idea is to see if a suspect has a prior record.

It's accurate. It'll keep us safe. It'll help law enforcement do its job.

But given that two of the three functions of the MORIS could legally be considered to be the sort of "search and seizure" covered by the US Constitution's Fourth Amendment (meaning that a person could, in theory, decline to have their iris scanned or fingerprints taken), law enforcement's ability to use them as intended seems questionable.

"The collection of personal biometric data has many privacy and civil liberties concerns attached to it, including scalability, reliability, accuracy, and security of the data collected," said Amie Stepanovich, national security counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a Washington DC-based public interest group focused on privacy and civil liberty issues.

A key concern, said Stepanovich, is that this technology was essentially developed for a military environment and not for domestic use.

"The potential of this technology for use to track and monitor innocent individuals' personal information cannot be overshadowed. To prevent misuse, warrant requirements must be strictly enforced."

Looming legal questions

Does this gadgetry provide Americans with greater protection or does it allow the state - or unscrupulous law enforcement officials - to take advantage of loopholes left by laws and a Constitution drafted in a more technologically simple age?

While Sean Mullin, the president of the Massachusetts-based BI2, the maker of the MORIS device, said that the constitutional issues surrounding such mobile search devices "have already been addressed" by the courts. He told Al Jazeera that he did not anticipate any problems with the technology, though he did submit that policy issues connected with the use of the device would have to be determined by lawmakers.

"This technology, though remarkable, does not change 200 years of constitutional law in the United States," said Mullin.

Legally speaking, there are grey areas when it comes to if and how road-side iris scans and fingerprinting can be carried out by law enforcement.

The Fourth Amendment in the US Constitution offers protection against "unreasonable"searches - this typically includes fingerprints.

But where does an iris scan fit in?

"An iris scan is almost certainly a 'search' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. The closest analogy is of course a fingerprint," said Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School.

Tribe said that even the ways in which an iris scan could be distinguished from fingerprints - it is newer technology that does not require physical contact with the suspect - weren't constitutionally relevant, as using an iris scan would still be used to "provide accurate non-public information about the person's true identity" while obtaining "information that is not as accurately obtainable by mere observation of what an individual chooses to expose to the world at large".

EPIC's Stepanovich also says that certain constitutional protections are attached to the process of being taken into police custody, and that law enforcement ought not be able to bypass those protections by carrying out searches outside of the police station.

"Law enforcement officials must be clear with an individual about what they are consenting to - by performing these searches, which have historically been executed only at a police station, outside of police custody, many people may not be made aware of the scope of the search or their right to refuse. Well-accepted constitutional safeguards must be preserved," she said - adding that while a person can waive his or her Fourth Amendment rights, "it may be unclear to the individual what he or she is consenting to".

Expanded use

Mullin said that while, so far only sheriff and police departments have placed orders with BI2, there "has been a great deal of interest from the federal government, including the Department of Homeland Security".

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for an interview or for information on whether it had ordered any of the mobile biometric units, although Animetrics, the company selling facial recognition software (which can be used on the mobile device) promotes its products as being highly useful not only for police departments, but for the DHS - as well private security firms.

Paul Schuepp, president the New Hampshire-based Animetrics, readily acknowledges that private security firms, the US defence department and various local law enforcement agencies have purchased the facial recognition software, but remained tight-lipped when questioned specifically on whether the DHS or contractors such as Xe (formerly known as Blackwater) have ordered any of the handheld devices.

"That's a difficult one to answer … those are the ones that I can't even talk about - there's high interest from intelligence agencies, which is all of the above," said Schuepp.

The company has a number of facial recognition products on the market - everything from a free phone app that allows people to see which celebrity they resemble the most (Schuepp says his own facial biometrics resemble those of Kevin Costner and George Clooney) to software currently being tested in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Schuepp says he hopes his company will score lucrative contracts.

Massachusetts Plymouth County Sheriff's Department participated in BI2's promotional video [Youtube]

As with the the iris scan, Animetrics' mobile applications would not store the biometric data of a person who is not already logged in some sort of penal system database.

While Mullin said private companies would not have access to the iris database, it's worth noting facial recognition is employed by private companies, who, Schuepp said, might want to keep a "white list" of those who ought to have access to their facilities and "black list" of those they'd like to keep out.

When it comes to his own moral position as a developer, putting technology that could be misused into the hands of the government and private sectors alike, Schuepp said he had faith in the system.

"I'm counting on our government being honest, whether it's law enforcement or the military, trying to find people who threaten our lives," he said.

Mullin, too, takes a pretty easy moral position on his company's product.

He said the only significant difference between the MORIS and what already exists is its "miniaturisation".

Still, Mullin acknowledged that there's nothing to stop an individual officer from misusing the device - coercing a suspect into submitting to a scan, for example - but said the device itself can only be used by authorised personnel, with five layers of verification and security to prevent "just anyone" from being able to access the iris database.

Indeed, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department is among the agencies that has ordered the handheld devices. Given that Arizona last year passed the most stringent immigration law in the country - one President Barack Obama said "threatened to undermine basic notions of fairness" - it seems worth examining how these devices might be used in different jurisdictions.

The Pinal County Sheriff's department did not respond to numerous requests for an interview on its guidelines for using the device.

Constitutional watchdogs, as well as civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, have long had issues with the use of biometric data, even when collected at international borders, fearing that the data could be misused.

"There is a greater risk of abuse with greater technological functionality, including unconstitutional targeting of persons in specific religious clothing or attending controversial events, or instances where the technology is used to [further] the personal ends of a law enforcement officer," said Stepanovich.

"Wide spread data collection often turns up a few cases of people who may or may not be guilty of criminal activity, but if that is done at the cost of frequent surveillance of the general public then it is not in line with constitutional principles."

Building a biometric arsenal

We are living in the surveillance age. Google Street View vans roam our streets, mobile phone companies track our movements and most are even being watched by our social network, with Facebook allowing third parties to use facial recognition software to tag users without their consent.

This "Tag Suggestion" feature has attracted some negative attention, and at the behest of the Connecticut office of the attorney general, the social networking site earlier this month agreedto run adverts on its pages, informing users on how to opt-out of the tagging feature.

The uproar surrounding Facebook's facial recognition feature might be what has prompted Google to hold back on its facial recognition tool, although the company did not respond to a request for an interview.

But a type of biometric census has been in wide use by US and NATO forces, which have been using registering to millions of Afghans and Iraqis in their own countries for some time. It's not only the criminals who are processed and entered in these databases - it's entire populations, although the focus seems to be on males of "fighting age".

The New York Times recently reported that one in every 20 residents of Afghanistan has been registered in the massive biometric database. In Iraq, one every 14 have been entered.

Within the US, the database of iris scans and facial data is expanding too.

The military has used different versions of iris and facial scanners in Afghanistan and Iraq for years [Reuters]

"In the fourth quarter of 2010 the system performed 3.2 billion – that's billion,with a 'b' - successful cross matches with one false accept [a false positive match]," said Mullin, of the iris database which is already employed in 47 states (the exceptions being Alaska, Hawaii and Delaware), although not in every jurisdiction in each state.

"The size of the database is growing very rapidly," said Mullin, who also said that the iris scanners are incredibly accurate and have a minute rate of "false accepts" - mistakenly matching an iris scan with one already in the database.

But not everyone is convinced of the accuracy of biometrics - a wide field that includes everything from voice and gait recognition to iris scans - as a whole.

A 2010 study done by the National Academy of Sciences found that technologies behind biometric data gathering are "inherently fallible". "The scientific basis of biometrics - from understanding the distributions of biometric traits within given populations to how humans interact with biometric systems - needs strengthening particularly as biometric technologies and systems are deployed in systems of national importance."

The study also highlighted that a subject might feel coerced into submitting to a scan due to "the possibility of negative consequences for nonparticipation", while instinctively wanting avoid a scan fearing "mission creep" - meaning that their data could be used for something other than the stated purpose.

Indeed, the notion of implied consent is where it gets sticky.

Tribe said that even within the context of what is considered a lawful stop and frisk that probable cause and a search warrant might still be required in order to compel someone to submit to an iris scan.

Scan first, apologise later?

The US isn't unique in it's use of on-the-go fingerprinting - UK police are also using mobile fingerprinting application, despite objections from civil and immigrations rights groups.

Still, use of such data continues to grow in the US.

Massachusetts, for example, was already using facial recognition software, and according to James Walsh, the executive director of the Massachusetts Sheriff's Department, the state is looking to expand its database with a recent $250,000 grant from the US justice department.

Walsh was quick to point out that the grant did not include any MORIS units and that individual sheriff's departments in Massachusetts may have, independently, ordered some of the devices - but said he could not be sure.

They have.

John Birtwell, the director of public information and technology at the Plymouth County Sheriff's Department told Al Jazeera that the county will get "more than a handful … at least three" of the devices.

But that's just about all the certainty Birtwell had to offer on the topic, as he seemed unclear as to whether officers would inform suspects of their Fourth Amendment rights to refuse to undergo impromptu fingerprinting and iris scanning.

He also seemed unsure as to what the protocol would be in the even that a suspect declined to be processed in such a manner.

"I'm dancing on the head of a pin here because I'm not a constitutional scholar," said Birtwell.

"The first or second time these devices are used, there would be some sort of appropriate constitutional test to make those bright lines [guidelines for field use] clear," said Birtwell, who said officers would be issued guidelines on when and how they could legally use the devices. He just wasn't sure when that would be - or what those guidelines would look like.

"All of these questions involve constitutional issues and protections and they should be addressed … nobody wants to make a bad arrest, nobody wants to violate anybody's rights."

Follow D. Parvaz on Twitter: @DParvaz

The Fourth Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fourth Amendment, while prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures, does not define what a "reasonable" search might be.

The Supreme Court, however, has ruled that warrants are not required for all searches, depending on the level of probable cause and the expectation of privacy - by the target of the search as well as by society - in what is being searched.

As Laurence Tribe, professor of constitutional law at Harvard, puts it: "The law determining what makes a search 'reasonable' or 'unreasonable' is enormously complex." It's difficult to determine if "the application of the relevant principles might be affected by any of the specific characteristics of this particular kind of search and by whether it is administered in a way that gives the person being subjected to it clear notice that the person's iris is being scanned by an identity-detecting device".

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/07/20117258145965608.html?utm_content=automateplus&utm_campaign=Trial5&utm_source=SocialFlow&utm_medium=MasterAccount&utm_term=tweets

DPS officer accused of inappropriately touching woman at bar

2011-08-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

An off-duty officer from the Arizona Department of Public Safety is accused of inappropriately touching a woman at a Flagstaff bar, authorities said.

A 30-year-old woman at the Greenroom Bar says she confronted a man after she was touched inappropriately on Saturday. She told bar employees, who then called police, according to the Flagstaff Police Department.

The man, 32-year-old Robb Gray Evans, identified himself to police as a DPS officer. He was charged with sex abuse and booked into the Coconino County Jail on $50,000 bond.

Evans, who has been a DPS patrolman for 11 years, is on paid administrative leave pending the Flagstaff police investigation, according to Capt. Stephen Harrison, a DPS spokesman.

DPS plans to have its own investigation, he added,

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/01/20110801arizona-flagstaff-dps-officer-arrested-sexual-assault-abrk.html

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Faces New Lawsuits Over Last Year's Arrest of Demonstrators at Jail; One Protester Claims He was Beaten by Guards

2011-08-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is being sued again -- this time by four immigration activists arrested last summer during a protest at the 4th Avenue Jail.

Two of the plaintiffs are lawyers who acted as legal observers during the protest; one demonstrator claims he was beaten by guards.

Their allegations stem from a July 29, 2010 demonstration near the "sally port" driveway entrance to the jail, where some activists chained themselves together to protest the state's hotly contested anti-illegal-immigrant law, SB1070, and the state's "climate of hate." Dozens of protesters were arrested by Phoenix police and sheriff's deputies, including local activists Salvador Reza and Alfredo Gutierrez.

Two of the lawsuits were filed in federal court and two in Superior Court.

Gustavo Ramirez, a California resident, claims he wasn't blocking the sally port entrance before being arrested and thrown headfirst on the concrete of an "isolated" part of the jail's garage. As one deputy pressed his head to the ground, according to Ramirez's lawsuit, others "made sport out of kicking him in the back, legs, abdomen and other parts of his body, including his hands."

Image: Stephen Lemons

The scene was tense on July 29, 2010, as police and anti-SB1070 protesters squared off near the 4th Avenue Jail.

Ramirez describes how he was traumatized and bruised by the alleged beating and 20 hours of incarceration, but it's unclear if he required medical treatment.

Audrey Williams, 57, of Santa Barbara, California, claims in her lawsuit that she was among those protesting SB 1070 at the jail when she was arrested. She says she was detained for 26 hours and denied the medication she uses to control the pain from her fibromyalgia and arthritis, resulting in extreme discomfort and humiliation.

The lawyers, Sunita Patel and Roxanna Orrell, claim they were supporting the protesters as clearly identified legal observers, but weren't themselves protesting.

Patel, an immigration activist and staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, states in her federal complaint she'd been photographing and videotaping the protesters on the sally port entrance before her arrest.

She admits that she walked onto the driveway after jail staff warned that anyone doing so would be arrested, describing how she'd just intended to the names of protesters she felt were about to be hauled off. Though she'd moved back onto the sidewalk, deputies singled her out and arrested her, she states.

During her 15 hours in jail, Patel claims, deputies grilled her about her place of birth. She refused to answer their question, at first. A judge later ordered her to be released on her own recognizance, but jail staff told her she couldn't leave until they determined her immigration status, "at which she point she relented and responded to their questions," the lawsuit says.

In the fourth lawsuit, Roxanna Orrell notes that she's a licensed attorney in Texas and Minnesota, and says she was working as legal observer on July 29, 2010, photographing the demonstrators. Orrell states that she was careful to obey all of the orders given by deputies at the scene, but was arrested anyway as she stood on a public sidewalk near the jail's entrance. Besides abusing her civil rights with the arrest, the jail staff kept her detained too long and kept losing her paperwork, she claims.

All of the criminal charges levied against the four protesters, including failure to obey a police officer and obstructing a governmental operation, were later dismissed in court.

They're seeking punitive damages and other remedies for their troubles.

Taxpayers ought to hope the county's kept its insurance premiums paid.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/08/sheriff_joe_arpaio_faces_new_l.php#more

Ex-Glendale sergeant pleads no contest to assault charge

2011-08-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

A former Glendale police sergeant has pleaded no contest to domestic-violence assault.

Brent Thomas, 43, was arrested in April after he allegedly assaulted his live-in girlfriend in Oregon and fled.

Lincoln City police found dozens of loaded firearms in Thomas' home, which were not there when they returned to search the house.

Thomas was barred from possessing weapons because of an order of protection filed by his estranged wife in Arizona.

Thomas, a 14-year Glendale officer, resigned from the Police Department last November amid an investigation sparked by an anonymous report he had abused his wife.

The couple were in the midst of a divorce when the allegations surfaced. Thomas' wife said he had abused her for years and shared pictures of her injuries.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office decided in February that it would not file charges against Thomas.

Thomas, a former Glendale SWAT officer, later moved to Oregon.

On April 10, police responded to Thomas' new home to find his 27-year-old girlfriend's face covered in blood and her eyes swollen, according to Lincoln County Circuit Court records.

Thomas was held without bond in the county jail on suspicion of three counts of felony assault and misdemeanor counts of domestic-violence assault, menacing, strangulation and harassment. He also faced 71 misdemeanor counts of continuing to possess weapons.

Last Tuesday, Thomas agreed to enter a no-contest plea for misdemeanor assault as part of an agreement with prosecutors. All other charges were dropped and Thomas has since been released from jail.

Court records show the former officer was ordered to complete a batterer's intervention program, undergo an alcohol evaluation and to return his firearms to his estranged wife in Arizona.

He will also be required to return police uniform patches seized during the investigation to the Glendale Police Department and to pay more than $11,000 in fines, according to records.

Last month, Thomas agreed to permanently surrender his certification to serve as an Arizona police officer.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/08/01/20110801glendale-sergeant-pleads-no-contest-assault-brk.html

Hackers expose racism's underbelly: Driving while black, brown or red in Arizona

2011-07-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Driving, and living, while Black, Brown or Red in Arizona
Article and photo by Brenda Norrell
Copyright Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/
Photos: Arizona border victims by Brenda Norrell

TUCSON -- When the ACLU released the report, "Driving while Black or Brown," exposing racial profiling by Arizona police, it came as no surprise to Native Americans who live in the state. When hackers exposed the racist e-mails of Arizona police officers last week, it came as no surprise to the Native Americans who are victims of excessive force by Arizona police in bordertowns.

When hackers exposed the fact that off-duty US Marine contract killers are patrolling the Arizona border with assault weapons, stalking migrants, it came as no surprise to human rights organizations in southern Arizona. When hackers exposed the fact that a school cop was reporting the diversity class at a Tucson high school to the Arizona Attorney General, that probably came as a surprise to many students and staff at Santa Rita High School. The district is engaged in an ongoing battle with the State of Arizona to save its ethnic studies programs.

What was a surprise when hackers spilled data from Arizona police files? The surprise was that they got caught. Arizona police, private security officers and white supremacists have carried out their abuse and crimes with impunity in the State of Arizona. The Governor, Arizona State Legislature and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have fueled the xenophobic attitude towards migrants and all people of color. This trio has attempted to create rule by white supremacists in a state populated by 21 American Indian Nations and diverse peoples and cultures.

"The good old boy" system crashed with the servers of the Fraternal Order of Police websites last week.

While the mainstream media fuels the racism, aiding private prison profiteers to fill their prisons with people of color, the media also paints Sheriff Arpaio as a colorful character, rather than examining the poisonous climate of hate he has injected into the region.

What was in those police e-mails hacked last week? There were racist chain letters forwarded by police about immigrants. There were insulting chain letters about President Obama. There was an e-mail praising torture from the police chief of Springerville, located near the Navajo Nation, Zuni Pueblo and White Mountain Apache Indian Nations.

The data exposed a registered sex offender who is a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, and a stalker who was a potential candidate for police chief in Tucson in 2009. It also exposed that a Navajo police officer from Teec Nos Pos discovered Arizona state police were filing charges in state court, rather than tribal court, for crimes on Indian land. The Navajo officer was then targeted by his superior and discriminated against.

Although a group of the worst e-mails have been published, one e-mail was too vulgar to publish. The e-mail was sent to a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, who is a former employee of the private prison profiteer Corrections Corporations of America. The e-mail was vulgar sarcasm about what was actually down to the body of Osama bin Laden. It was sent by a person working at a lighting company in southern California. The same FPO member had an outgoing e-mail with too much profanity to publish.

The data exposed the fact that Arizona police are well aware of the white supremacists and hate groups in Arizona. There are few eyes to witness the murders and rapes in the Sonoran Desert. The victims who are people of color in Arizona are a low priority for Arizona prosecutors. When US Border Patrol agents have been charged with the murder of migrants in federal court in Tucson, they were not convicted.

The hacked e-mails show that Arizona police are well aware that their own data was used when the ACLU prepared the report, "Driving while Black or Brown." The report showed that Native Americans stopped by Arizona police are 3.25 times more likely to be searched than whites. The report says that these targeted searches were uncalled for, since whites are far more likely to be carrying contraband than Native Americans.

Here's a recap of stories from the e-mails and reports exposed by hackers during June, who sail under the names of Antisec, Anonymous and Lulzsec.

Hackers slam Arizona police a third time
Hackers slammed the Arizona Department of Police for a third time on Thursday night, exposing police e-mails with more racism directed at Arabs, anti-immigrant chain e-mails, and crude jokes about President Obama. The release, Chinga La Migra Comminque III, "Fraternal Ownage of Police," targets Arizona's Fraternal Order of Police. The Antisec movement said they are defacing and taking down their websites, on behalf of the rights of immigrants and working people. Read the worst e-mails:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hackers-slam-arizona-police-for-third.html

Tucson: Hackers reveal data targeting ethnic studies
TUCSON -- Hackers have once again slammed Arizona police, exposing racism and corruption.
In the second release of data on Wednesday, June 29, in the Chinga La Migra Dos files, Tucson schools public safety officer Robert 'Bob' Barry of Tucson, sent a letter to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne urging an investigation of studies at Santa Rita High School in May.
Barry tells the Attorney General that students at Santa Rita High are being "indoctrinated" because they are being told about the genocide of Native Americans. Barry calls a diversity speech "hate speech."

Read more:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/tucson-hackers-reveal-data-targeting.html

Hacked data reveals US Marines as contract killers, hunting migrants on the border
The hunting and murder of migrants by US Marines along the Arizona border was among the first facts revealed, after LulzSec hacked the Arizona Department of Public Safety on Thursday. The data exposes the fact that Arizona law enforcement officers were aware that migrants were being hunted by off-duty Marines patrolling the border with assault weapons. The information was in a report for the month of October, 2008, by Arizona's HIDTA (High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area) Investigative Support Center.

"In other incidents reported in October, U.S. Border Patrol agents encountered two subjects who claimed to be members of the Border Watch Group the Blue Lights based on the Caballo Loco Ranch. The subjects, armed with pistols and at least one M4 rifle, were dressed in full desert camouflage uniforms, similar to those of the United States military. They stated they were not members of the Minutemen, but paid contract employees who ‘get the job done’ and ‘were not just volunteers.’ They possessed valid United States Marine Corps identification cards."

Read more about this ranch near Sasabe, Arizona, south of Three Points, and alongside the Tohono O'odham Nation. The Caballo Loco is where Minutemen, Patriots, off-duty Marines and other white supremacists camp and stalk migrants:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/06/hacked-data-reveals-us-marines-contract.html

Also see:
ACLU Arizona Racial Profiling "Driving while Black or Brown"
http://www.scribd.com/doc/59087728/Arizona-Racial-Profiling-Report-Driving-Black-or-Brown
Columbus, Ohio Police Target Native American Long Walkers, on Friday, July 3, 2011, and in 2008:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/07/columbus-ohio-police-target-native.html

About the photos
At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, the organization "No More Deaths," remembered "Descondido" and thousands of other migrants who have died along the border of the United States and Mexico. Descondido was found hanged near the village of Cowlic in 2005 and is among the migrants meeting with violent death after crossing the border.

At El Tiradito Shrine in Tucson, volunteers with "No More Deaths," remembered migrants who have died along the border during a prayer vigil at a shrine in Tucson. When each migrants' name was read, those present said, "Presente" (Present) to show that they had not been forgotten. Thousands of names of migrants, who died from dehydration, assaults and other causes, were placed at the shrine.

Shrine outside federal courthouse in Tucson for Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, 22, from Morelia, Mexico, murdered by US Border Patrol agent. Agent was found not guilty.

Angie Ramon, Tohono O'odham, mother of Bennett Patricio, Jr, 18, stands where her son was run over and killed by the US Border Patrol on Tohono O'odham land. Ramon sued the officers in federal court, alleging her son was murdered by officers when he walked up on Border Patrol agents transferring a load of drugs in the remote desert at 3 am. Ramon carried the case to the Ninth Circuit and found no justice.
================================================================
Brenda Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 29 years, living on the Navajo Nation for 18 years and in Tucson for a decade.
Copyright Censored News. To request permission to repost, please contact the publisher Brenda Norrell, brendanorrell@gmail.com

Phoenix Cop Jeff Gordon, Son of Mayor Phil Gordon, Faces Discipline for "Inappropriate Contact" While On Duty; Details Pending

2011-07-13T19:19:00.000-07:00

The Phoenix Police Department's Professional Standards Bureau has completed an internal investigation into allegations that Phoenix Police Officer Jeff Gordon engaged in "inappropriate contact" while on duty.

But the reports detailing what got Gordon, who is the son of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon, in trouble won't be available until early next week, a police spokesman tells New Times.

Police have not released details of who Gordon engaged in inappropriate contact with, or what discipline the cop faces.

The mayor's son, a six-year veteran of the PPD, was placed on paid administrative leave after allegations of "inappropriate contact" (read sexual activity) with someone while he was on duty.

Back in January, Mayor Gordon released this statement:

"As Mayor, I cannot comment on a pending Police Department personnel matter. I can comment as Jeff's father. I love my son very much. I've always been proud of his unblemished record and his 6 years service to our community. I have and will continue to support him through these allegations, as any dad would do for his son."

Phoenix police officials started investigating the junior Gordon in late December or early January. The investigation was delayed after Jeff Gordon -- who was installing hardwood floors at his home while on leave -- accidentally severed some of his fingers.

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2011/07/jeff_gordon_a_phoenix_police_o.php