| By Edythe Jensen |
| |
| August 10, 2000 Web posted at: 12:51 PM EDT (1651 GMT) |
CASA GRANDE, Arizona (The Arizona Republic Online) -- A racially charged prank by two Casa Grande police officers has exposed a history of bizarre practical jokes, police misconduct and racial tensions in this rural community south of Phoenix.
Two Casa Grande officers who were punished for impersonating blacks and hispanics while making prank calls to their own department were told Wednesday night by the city personnel board that they would learn before the end of the month whether the disciplinary action taken against them would be upheld.
Galen Flynn and Chris Western's 10-day suspensions and pay reductions were unfair, attorney Armand Salese said, because the department has for years condoned officer-initiated crank calls, racial slurs and even illegal conduct - some of it aimed against racial minorities.
"Not all cases of police misconduct in Casa Grande are racists; some are just bad," Salese noted.
He then cited reports of police brutality against a restrained suspect, allegations that an officer solicited sex from a homeless person, an officer's felony misuse of confidential police records to investigate his daughter's boyfriend, and a prank during which an officer set off a firecracker to make another policeman believe a gun had been fired.
Police Chief Robert Huddleston said the incidents cited by Salese happened over a 20-year-period. The officer was disciplined for records misuse, the sex allegation was deemed unfounded and the other two accusations were not reported to supervisors, he said.
The personnel hearing at Casa Grande City Hall was opened to the public Tuesday and Wednesday at the two officers' request and attracted more than 100 spectators, some of whom said recordings of the prank brought to light years of police harassment of minority residents.
"The tapes make me sick to my stomach," Casa Grande native Rose Gibson said. "But black people here have known this has been going on for a long time; it's really coming out now."
In one tape, Flynn and Western summon officers to a home by pretending to be one of the occupants and speaking in an exaggerated black dialect. Huddleston said the two officers were punished for endangering residents and other police officers with a false call.
Salese called the pair's prank "a stupid-human trick" in an atmosphere where that kind of behavior was encouraged. He played a tape of another Casa Grande officer mimicking a black man as he called for a female officer to help him change a child's diaper.
The officer who made that call to his own department is Rudy Reyes, son of Pinal County Sheriff Frank Reyes. Salese said the tape has been played for years at police briefings and parties for laughs, leading officers to believe it was acceptable to ridicule minorities in fake calls to the department.
Huddleston said he first heard it two years ago and laughed at it; no disciplinary action was taken against Reyes.
"I'm not proud to talk about any of this," Huddleston said of the Reyes incident. He said Reyes went out of his way not to give an address, and his call did not endanger residents or other officers - a key difference between Reyes' action and that of Flynn and Western.
The chief said Reyes' tape is not an example of police racism because the comments were not made in public and were not directed at minority residents.
"Cultural sensitivity is a big issue, and I would be foolish to say it's not an issue in this department. It's probably something we need to improve," Huddleston said.
By appealing their punishment in public, Flynn and Western are trying "to embarrass the department, the city and our officers in order to get concessions," he said.
"That's unfair," Huddleston added.
Huddleston said he is now working on changes in departmental conduct guidelines.
Salese said an undercurrent of racism in the department needs to be addressed.
"Some supervisors have permitted a racist attitude in the department, and that sends a negative message about blacks in the community," he said.
Salese is hopeful that Flynn and Western's appeal will bring change to department practices.
Casa Grande employs 55 sworn police officers; two are black, Huddleston said.
Called to support the two officers' contention that other misconduct goes unpunished, Casa Grande Police Sgt. Dennis Mercer said that it was a common practice among Casa Grande officers to make prank phone calls, and that supervisors knew about them.
Under questioning by City Attorney Kay Bigelow, Mercer acknowledged that he had been the subject of police brutality complaints and that some were determined to be founded.
Bigelow also brought out the fact that Western and Flynn had a history of disciplinary problems. Both had been reprimanded for leaving a narcotics training class in Scottsdale early and going to a topless bar. Flynn was disciplined for leaving a department machine gun in his open garage, from which it was stolen.
Western was reprimanded for pursuing a suspect in a high-speed car chase through a residential neighborhood.
Records also show the pair are the only two officers in department history to receive medals of valor. The two ran into a burning building to save a resident.
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