Dave Wallace
                             

06/05/06  But then, of course, they are not.

Let me begin with a disclaimer that I am a big fan of Chief Dave Kunkle.  We are lucky to have him, and he is dealing with a mess in the DPD that he did not create.  That said, I do not agree with all of his personnel decisions last Friday.

I cannot believe we fired a 15-year veteran DPD sergeant over a stupid e-mail.				06/05/06 JC:     It looks like Kunkle is sending a message that he is willing to can a 20+ year vet and all others best be on high alert.  If 25 officers are needed for example, it is better to have 20 really good officers than 25 in which 5 are likely to have "issues".  That would help curb possible lawsuits in which TAXPAYERS have to foot the bill, or maybe an innocent person not getting screwed over by one of those 5.     I'd have to believe the good cops would love to NOT have those extra 5 on the force if those 5 were causing bad will with the peoplem, as it makes the job harder for the good officers.  It's tough enough out on the streets.     At the root, the problem isn't a lack of officers; it's the people allowing the Legislature to make laws that have violent criminals back out on the street.  Whatever the "known" rate of recidivism, double it for reality sake.
	Sgt. Ramon Gonzalez probably deserved to be suspended a week or even a month without pay, but not fired.
	Sgt. Gonzalez may have deserved to be demoted back to Sr. Corporal, but not fired.
	Sgt. Gonzalez definitely should have been transferred out of Central Division, but not fired.

The Sgt. Richard Garcia/Officer Zenoc Castro firings are worrisome.  I cannot believe that we fired a 23-year DPD sergeant for saying something negative about a reporter and for not reporting a verbal threat by one of his officers (that was not followed through) to expose the reporter's family tragedy.  Sgt. Richard Garcia deserved discipline or even demotion and certainly transfer for allowing his squad to goof off, but not for negative comments. 

For the life of me, I cannot understand why Sgt. Garcia should be fired for not reporting an empty threat.  How can a sergeant have any sort of relationship with his squad if they cannot talk to him? 

We don't have officers waiting to replace these people.

Chief's message: no bad cops; Kunkle fires 5 Dallas police officers accused in rash of retaliations Friday, June 2, 2006 By TANYA EISERER / The Dallas Morning News

In an unprecedented housecleaning aimed at changing the culture of the Dallas Police Department, Police Chief David Kunkle fired two sergeants and three police officers accused of misconduct.    The incidents that led to the firings: sending taunting e-mails to a neighborhood activist; retaliating against a tow truck driver who had towed an officer's car; and threatening to embarrass a local TV reporter who had aired a story critical of the Police Department.    Chief Kunkle said he moved swiftly because he was confronted with three separate incidents of officers retaliating against others within a short period. He said he chose to fire them on the same day because he wanted to send an uncompromising message to his force of nearly 3,000 police officers: Such behavior will not be tolerated.    "These involved people using the power of their positions to do things inappropriately," said Chief Kunkle, who had ordered that the investigations into the incidents be expedited. "All are indicative of a pattern."    Bob Gorsky, an attorney representing four of the fired officers, said his clients were victims of hurried investigations.    "By rushing these investigations to a premature conclusion and by ignoring the department's normal disciplinary procedures ? as well as state law ? Chief Kunkle has grossly exceeded the bounds of reasonable discipline," he said. ... The shake-up, already being called "Bloody Friday" by rank-and-file officers, may represent the most officers fired for misconduct in a single day. And Chief Kunkle said he planned to consider six more disciplinary cases next week, all of which could result in terminations. ... All five of the officers fired on Friday are Hispanic. Disciplinary action was being considered Friday against a sixth officer, who is Anglo, but Chief Kunkle postponed making a decision after talking to him.    He said that he fired the five officers because of their actions, not their race.    Senior Cpl. George Aranda, president of the Latino Peace Officers Association, did not challenge the action taken against the five officers fired Friday, but questioned why action had not been taken against the sixth. ... Senior Cpl. Glenn White, head of the Dallas Police Association, said media coverage may have influenced Chief Kunkle's decision to take such dramatic action.    The chief "took the actions he took because he thought the public had lost confidence in the department," he said. ... Here are the officers who were fired Friday after internal affairs investigators sustained allegations against them: ? Officers Michael Contreras and Edward Saenz are accused of improperly retaliating against a tow truck driver who recently had towed Officer Contreras' car.   Officer Contreras and his partner, Officer Saenz, went looking for the tow truck driver, stopping him for traffic violations and an outstanding warrant, investigators have said. The officers took the driver to a city jail facility to book him but released him after learning the driver's mother works as a civilian in Chief Kunkle's office. ... ? Sgt. Ramon Gonzalez, a central patrol sergeant, is accused of acting in a retaliatory manner by sending a taunting e-mail to Lower Greenville neighborhood activist Avi Adelman after Mr. Adelman was ticketed for abuse of 911. ... "Our sergeants have a special responsibility to ensure our officers stay out of trouble, and that's particularly critical in areas like Lower Greenville where there's such a conflict," Chief Kunkle said.... ? Officer Zenoc Castro made statements in May in front of other Love Field unit officers threatening to embarrass a local TV reporter whose undercover camera videotaped officers on the overnight shift spending several hours hanging out at a private jet company.    "The comments were inappropriate, particularly inappropriate, because in a free, democratic society, no group has greater power than the police," Chief Kunkle said. ... ? Sgt. Richard Garcia was taken to task for failing to report Officer Castro's statements to higher-ups, and has also been accused of making "profane and inappropriate comments about the reporter separate from the detail room," Chief Kunkle said. ... Chief Kunkle said he was still considering the case of Sgt. Bob Crider, a former Love Field supervisor.    Sgt. Crider was not present when Officer Castro made the statements but was notified by someone who heard them, Chief Kunkle said. Police officials said that Sgt. Crider told the reporter about the comments but is in trouble because he did not report them to senior officers.    Sgt. Crider filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit in February, alleging that he was transferred to the Dallas County jail unit after speaking up about security flaws and overtime abuse at the airport. ... All of the officers who were terminated Friday have access to an appeals process. It is not uncommon for officers to be reinstated after making an appeal. ...

Last Friday, I was part of a round table of community leaders, city zoning officials, DPD representatives and State Rep. Rafael Anchia.  Despite the 2005 massage parlor bill, new massage parlors keep opening up in NW Dallas, right where the DPD and FBI shut down an Asian prostitution ring.  DPD's Vice Division are on the job, but their biggest handicap in enforcing the massage parlor bill and other city ordinances is LACK OF MANPOWER.  They have great procedures, but have a LACK OF MANPOWER to follow the procedures.

Chief Kunkle could have sent a strong message with serious suspensions without pay, transfers and demotions, where appropriate.  Terminations were too extreme for most of the officers, when we are so short of manpower that police officers don't go to traffic accidents unless someone is injured. 

Unless you are involved in lots of fender benders, you don't know all the questions to ask, or the information to gather after an accident -- as I learned a couple of weeks ago when an uninsured driver sideswiped my Trailblazer.  The driver showed me a photocopy of his proof of insurance.  Unfortunately for me, he stopped paying the premium in March, the policy was cancelled in April and he hit my truck in May. 

When I was trying to file a claim with his "former" insurance carrier (before I learned he wasn't insured), the phone person asked if I got "the VIN number".  Well, No!  Then she asked if I "verified he was the owner of the truck".  When I asked exactly how I was supposed to have done that, she threatened to hang up on me if I didn't improve my attitude.  Things went downhill from there.  My insurance company claims person (under my uninsured coverage) wanted a "Blue Form" from the officer on the scene (she's in Austin).  Since no officer came to the scene of my Trailblazer's desecration, I had to call DPS for the Blue Form, and they were closed that day because their air conditioner was out and would be closed for 2 or 3 days.  Their phone guy didn't know whether the Blue Form was on-line, didn't think it was -- but it was.  Anyway, you get my drift. 

In Dallas, police officers only come to accidents when there is an injury because we have a LACK OF MANPOWER.  We don't have the DPD manpower to do the basic police job we grew up expecting.  We are just now getting back to having officers come out and investigate burglaries in our homes. 

We don't have enough DPD manpower.

I'm particularly incensed over Sgt. Ramon Gonzalez being fired for sending that stupid e-mail to Quick Buck Avi Adelman.  There was nothing threatening in that e-mail; it was just stupid.  The sergeant should have been reprimanded and suspended for a couple of days, even transferred -- but not demoted, much less fired.  Here's what Adelman gleefully circulated after he heard about Sgt. Gonzalez being fired:

"Obscene"??  The e-mail says:

I've seen the "expletive" on bumper stickers.  I'm sorry, but there's nothing in that e-mail that grounds for serious punishment, much less termination.  It may be no big deal to get fired or be withou a job for Adelman, but St. Gonzales was a 15-year DPD veteran.  Sgt. Gonzalez may have had a terminally stupid moment, but he does not deserve termination.

Officer Zenoc Castro probably needs to find another line of work.  What he threatened to do was was way over the top.  He was the one neglecting his responsibilities as a DPD officer assigned to Love Field security.  Inevitably, some reporter was going to learn about his squad goofing off.  It would have been better for someone in the DPD to have noticed the Love Field problem before the media had to expose it, but we don't have the manpower to fight the bad guys, much less police the police.

The District Attorney refused to prosecute the officers who busted the tow truck driver.  Their original motive may have been wrong, but the guy made an illegal turn and had an outstanding warrant.  What were they supposed to do?  Again, some discipline may be in order for both officers, but not termination.

Chief Kunkle has been between a rock and hard spot during all of this, particularly in our politically correct world of Dallas.  These Hispanic DPD officers learned some of their bad habits and poor thinking under Terrible Bolton.  Apparently, they did not learn common sense from their parents. 

Why couldn't all these screw ups be grounds for harsh discipline, short of termination?  That would have sent a message to the rank and file. 

Chief Kunkle should have considered the old truth -- let the punishment fit the crime.

I hope most of the officers (except for Zenoc Castro) are reinstated in their individual appeals.  If any of them ever do something so stupid again, they should then be terminated. 

If that happens, we will hopefully have been able to hire enough new officers to offset our current attrition rate.  Right now, we can't hire fast enough to replace the experienced DPD officers leaving the department.

All things being equal, we would have a surplus of police officers and be in a position to have wholesale firings for stupidity, but, then, of course, they are not.

sb