We’ve had a lot of folks contact us privately in regards to speaking out against ASUPD, even in an anonymous setting. We understand the apprehension in putting yourselves out there, even if it IS anonymously…but here is some food for thought:
Are you wondering if you should speak out, complain, or have you decided not to? As an officer you swore an oath before God to serve and protect the citizens of the State of Arizona, be them students, faculty, staff, the public, or your brothers/sisters in blue. How are you serving them by allowing the people responsible for their lack of safety a free pass by continuing in your silence despite what you know (what we ALL collectively discuss with our friends/coworkers)…namely things the public could never know about how dysfunctional the ASU Police department is?
If you are silent then you are part of the problem. You share the negligence, and you share in the responsibility if something bad happens through your inaction. You stood by, passing the buck, knowing of wrongs that led to a tragedy and did nothing. Do you want that on your conscience? By talking about these issues we are trying to change the department so that it can finally start fulfilling its mission instead of cutting all corners. You fight for truth and resolution or you quit and turn the cheek joining company with self-promoting deceivers; there’s no fence, none at all.
I’ll blog it all day long, but frankly imagine this from the students perspective. Not only do I have to worry about the University screwing with me. I have to consider that it takes weeks for them to fix purely accidental cock-ups. How long will it take to get an intentional one fixed? Plus, when the issue is related to cops who clearly have no problem violating civil rights, criminal law, internal and university policy what is the chance of a little harassment. When I see ASU PD, I would have to worry if that officer is one of the good ones, or part of the problem. With all that is going on, do you honestly believe some of these clowns are above hassling a student to deter me from taking an active role? I don’t fear law enforcement, I have worked with and around them for years. But based on these reports, I have a hard time trusting anyone wearing the ASU PD badge, and that is a shame. Is that wrong of me?
We can’t tell you how to feel about the situation, and we understand your apprehension (based on reading this blog) about ASUPD. However, it is important to note that the majority of the line-level officers aren’t the problem. The guys you see on the street and would most likely interact with aren’t the problem; but like EVERY police department, there are some bad cops.
The primary issues at ASUPD stem from Sergeant level and above, and you would most likely not see them on the street. Supervisors/Command staff have the ability to rectify minor issues at the officer level, but choose not to for whatever reason.
Additionally, as a student/staff member, the university would bend over backwards for you if you made a complaint, which includes paying you hush money to go away. If an officer had the exact same complaint about one of their supervisors…more likely than not the officer would be labeled as the problem and blamed for causing the problem.
We’re not trying to appease you, just trying to clarify some points here. The amount of departmental participation should also help illustrate that the people who are holding the department together (OFFICERS/PAS/DISPATCH) want change in the department.
The ground floor people are good. There are a few bad apples that we are shocked haven’t been sued or got the department sued, but by and large you will get good, honest policing from our people.
The biggest problem is there are not enough of us and literally fewer every month. With a school population of 76,000 it is a recipe for disaster and we have been dodging the bullet for some time.
We police like a fire department, the majority of our time is spent going to calls, not proactively looking for criminals. That is why they come here unhindered and steal from the students day and night nonstop. Hopefully the public will get upset, the news involved, but unfortunately they only wake up and take notice after the fact of a big event.
Aotimes4, if it comes to bad guys coming we will have your back, the campuses are unsafe due to mismanagement and extremely thin staffing. The officers violating civil rights do so to people they know won’t complain and don’t know their rights.
If you want to help out this cause contact local media outlets, when it comes to the firearms issue contact the NRA and tell them about the issues affecting a legal citizen’s right to carry. There are other pro-gun organizations that take this seriously.
You shouldn’t have your safety jeopardized because people chose less officers for padded salaries. The criminals always exercise the right they don’t have.
The Bully’s Wager. Shut up and bow down or fight. I don’t suffer a bully, I don’t quit and I don’t roll over.
Nothing can be more true than, “If you are silent then you are part of the problem. You share the negligence, and you share in the responsibility if something bad happens through your inaction. You stood by, passing the buck, knowing of wrongs that led to a tragedy and did nothing.”
Silence is another way to say you concur willfully or not, but concur nonetheless.
I agree with you, sitting on your hands while bad people do bad things is compliance plain and simple. Command has been attempting to explain away and counter the blog since the beginning with no success in sight. They can down play it all they want, it’s somewhat amusing to see. I know people at every campus and they check in and talk about what’s here on a regular basis. People are honest on here, the majority of ASUPD employees know it, and when command downplays it they only diminish their credibility. The blog is the giant elephant in the room they are pretending isn’t there.
The voice of the blog is solid and the contributions are good, some go off tilt, some are really angry, but most stay on topic and are damning to the command staff. The skeletons in the closet are out and it isn’t pretty. The blog is exposing a great deal of what they have been hiding, ignoring, or dismissing for years and that’s great!
The numbers of posters on here needs to grow closer to how many are upset with how things are in reality. It was said before; command is downplaying to their bosses how many employees represent the sentiment on the blog. If you care about what you know is right you won’t let that happen.
I understand a lot of our people are intimidated by the department, hesitant to write, thinking there is some way they can find you out. That has proven bogus because if they could have they would have a long time ago. Besides, I looked into Network 23, skeptical myself, it doesn’t save any IP addresses, so there is no trace. It was designed for this sort of thing. Make an email that has no personal identifiers and you will be fine.
If you speak out at work they will target you. If you write on here from ASU computers you can be tracked. If you talk about your role with others that can be tracked. Say what you have to say on here when you’re 10-7 and keep your mouth shut when you’re 10-8. There is good reason why command is furious over this online dialogue. They can’t stop it. They can’t keep it down. They can’t control it. The appearance they sought to project is somewhat different than the truth, they have done nothing to fix it, and it is about time people exposed it. There are credible reasons so many people get fed up and leave.
You all, the blog, other posters are doing a knockout job. Hopefully the rumor about the chief being gone in months is real; he’s stopping the change that needs to happen. Maybe a new chief will clean up this house of ill repute and makes it what it could be. The truth is many officers don’t want to wait and see, they are choosing to leave anywhere they can and that’s unfortunate for the thousands of people that need them here.
Count me in. I call it how it is. If I’m going to work here I want to see these issues addressed. I want to be proud of the patch I wear on my sleeve. I don’t want it to continue to be an embroidered faux police mall cop security spoof that other agencies make fun of.
DPS was laughing at us for failing to find a Breaking Bad dangerous drug factory operating in plain view of the department. We should be making these busts, drug thugs should fear us and they would if things were run the right way.
I don’t want to do a death notification to parents who sent their kids here expecting a safe school and getting hood rat problems gone unchecked. We have good people, but we have a need for so many more. What is the hold up?
It’s the same old thing. Most people are scared, get intimidated, assimilate, don’t care for others, back down, are looking out for themselves, and talk a big talk. The blog will never fully represent all the upset ASUPD employees for these reasons. There are plenty of readers, spectators, and it has had an impact no matter how some people try to dismiss it.
It’s like anything else. When you see what’s happening to other employees, you know what’s going on, you know wrong from right, would you look away?
If you were coming out of a store seeing two thugs rob a woman would you go kick ass like or run like a pussy? If you answered this question with call the police or yell from a distance you are still a pussy.
Flight or fight is pretty much the same there as it is here. You can’t call yourself a warrior when punk thugs are victimizing unchecked by you. The head of an anonymous complaint hotline told an employee he had no respect for people who post anonymously.
That’s funny, clearly he has no respect for named people who tell him what’s going on either, so what’s the point of giving them a target? Our point isn’t personal gripes, it’s fixing this police department because it is in shambles, losing experienced people year after year, and unable to police for 76,000 and growing people who depend on it.
We are asking the administration of this university to expect more from their police department leadership than their willingness to collect a big check and do nothing worthwhile to earn it.
There are plenty of folks (myself included) who would have made several attempts to help change and have been slapped down. Eventually every employee learns that command doesn’t want change and will attack those who try to rock the boat. Things won’t change until a large scale well publicised incident that they can’t downplay occurs or the chief leaves and is replaced with someone who will actually effect change. Is there any truth the the chief leaving sometime soon?
The more support behind an enterprise the greater it’s chances for success. The blog certainly has widespread department support, but it would help if that support was more visible and got on here. It’s quite obvious command has no magic bullet, no ability to stop this the way they tried to hamper the indeed posts. In the end it’s about principals, if you have some use them, if not become a part of our senior management.
The truth is numbers often have a direct impact on the success of a mission, a movement, so participation is important. If people want to echo the blog in private, in secret, and be afraid that’s their prerogative.
The uninterrupted dialogue here on this blog is truly having an impact on third floor operations and outside the department. Hopefully the results will be a much improved work environment at ASUPD with employees who want to stay, a much safer university, and ultimately lives saved by proactive measures.
I haven’t seen department teamwork like this for a long time. This is good work, hopefully our workplace and the safety of those that depend on us will improve. It only has one direction to go from where it’s at.
Strength in numbers. Everyone knows who their brothers are, who they can count on. Nearly the whole department complains in private about the issues being addressed on here. Years of workplace victimization and complaining in private have accomplished what exactly? Nothing.