Content submitted by a guest writer who would like to remain anonymous.
On Thursday January 8th the majority of employees at the Arizona State University Police Department found out one of their own was being terminated by… their chief of police Michael Thompson? No. Were they told by his bosses Morgan Olsen, Kevin Salcido, Michael Crow, or any random dean that wants to boss a police chief around? No. Employees found out when the Arizona Republic ran an article about it because they knew prior to the employees of ASUPD. Employees of a state police department find out more about their department from the local news than their anti-transparent mismanagement team. Way to go!
http://www.azcentral.com/videos/news/local/tempe/2015/01/09/21484749/
http://www.azcentral.com/videos/news/local/tempe/2015/01/08/21433645/
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2015/01/07/asu-moves-fire-police-officer-arrested-professor/21423153/
We knew this was coming months ago, but now it’s official. We have been hearing for months how ASUPD command was on a new fault finding expedition, pouring through Officer Stewart Ferrin’s personnel file, opening new internal affairs complaints, and producing disciplinary paper in his absence. Yes…we know, and there’s so much more. The Arizona State University clears Officer Ferrin, the ASUPD clears him, but then the media blitz happens.
The ever compensating Michael Crow clown school at the Fulton center panics, gets cold feet, and waffles hard left on their previous decision. The Maricopa County attorney, the AZ courts, and the FBI, all clear Officer Ferrin. Whatever your opinion is on this issue, those are the facts. As usual the public university, with a fist full of public dollars, will attempt to spend its way out a problem they invented despite being told by every state and federal entity there’s no case against Officer Ferrin and he did nothing wrong. How do you know if you are running with a fringe agenda? The sign on the door says push, but you keep pulling, it doesn’t open and you keep pulling. No matter what you hear, what you know, you keep pulling for your agenda.
You know what people think of you by the way you’re treated. It’s nothing new; the administration of this university does not care about public safety, its police department, and especially the low on the totem pole officers on patrol for this university. We get bullied by any dean that takes the time to bother, we get passed up for raises other officers have received for years, our department patrol numbers have remained nearly stagnant for a decade as the university balloons beyond comparison.
Time and time again we hire and fail to retain employees with very few making it to retirement. Our chief can’t even demote employees, fire employees, nor do anything to effectively run the department without explicit approval from ASU Human resources and ASU university administration. I would like to tell you that lessons will be learned by the people making these decisions, but you know better. They have a theoretical thesis to support no matter what the evidence of reality supports.
Could both sides have been more courteous? Yes. Only one was resisting a lawful arrest, only one kicked and assaulted the other, and it’s not the University employee they are attempting to fire. That’s the university employee they are keeping. Is Officer Stuart Ferrin the target of neo-racism, academic elitism, a fringe agenda, wafflehouse pussies, or all of the above? The writing is on the wall.
Could Officer Ferrin have handled things a lot different with Professor Ore? You bet! Officer Ferrin had a lapse in judgment on that fateful evening. Professor Ore had a lapse in judgment on that fateful evening.
If Officer Ferrin had strong supervision and mentorship during his short career the incident with Professor Ore probably wouldn’t have ever occurred.
Top-level ASU administrators, wanting to be politically correct and appease a small radical segment of society, have attempted to tie the Ferrin/Ore interaction as race-based. Officer Ferrin was later cleared of such interaction with Professor Ore.
Every employee at ASU PD should be very concerned with what is going on with Officer Ferrin and how the university’s top-level administrators and ASU PD command have elected to handle the situation from the onset.
Every law enforcement agency in this country should be monitoring what is going on with ASU and its handling of the Ferrin/Ore incident as this is setting, in this poster’s opinion, a dangerous precedent.
They hold the same line of thinking that every classified staff employee is the same, disposable. It reminds me of reading a comment from one of the people managing the city of Phoenix. They equated their patrol officers as simply employees no different than the janitors that clean the buildings.
This ivory tower class attitude is destructive to public safety because this isn’t just a job, compared to the calls Phoenix goes to our calls are weak, but every now and then something happens. When it does it doesn’t matter what the patch says, where you work, but what you do in the situation.
I guarantee you the distinction between who’s who and what a police officer is worth will be known should a real emergency happen here. The leadership of this university should consider that when they dispose of us like we are garbage and word gets out in the law enforcement community that this isn’t the place to be. What kind of candidates will be responding to emergency calls when you scared all the talent away? Get ready for more news stories.
So, since Ferrin was the victim of an agg. assault, someone else had to write the report. That report would have been approved by a Sgt, then a commander, and given the nature of it, probably someone higher in the PD.
We know ASU General Counsel reviewed the facts the following morning and signed off on it.
Add in the County Attorney’s office reviewing it for charging purposes and even going so far as to add an additional charge, Ore’s attorney allowing her to sign a plea deal agreeing to all of the facts as presented, and a judge imposing a sentence greater than what the State was asking for and you have a boat load of people supporting the actions of Off. Ferrin. And now they say he was wrong?
Dont forget the FBI came in and reviewed the case as well. They left and we heard nothing more. In fact, how many of thought there was STILL an FBI investigation going on. Why? Because they highly publicized the beginning of the investigation but did they tout it when the FBI left because there was “nothing to see here folks, move along”.
I bet Ferrin would tell you today that he could have handled the situation differently. But does that mean he handled it wrong? No! It means he could have handled it more right so to speak.
But that comes through experience, leadership, training, and mentoring; none of which he received.
Verbal Judo training comes along AFTER this event but certainly not before it. Is there a correlation?
ASUPD command has no interest in training our officers or bettering our skills because they dont want us out being proactive crime fighters. That generates stats….
If instead of terminating Ferrin they used this as a learning opportunity for him, and gave him some added training, they would be showing the rest of us that they give a hoot about us and they would be retaining a good cop.
And what of the nutty professor? Her actions clearly violated numerous ASU policies as well as state laws but has she been fired? No, poor little Ursula is the victim.
Really? Where is her victims rights pamphlet? Where is her letter from the Co Atty Victims Assistance unit? Oh thats right, those things presumably went to Ferrin as the victim of an Aggravated Assault that was clearly captured on video and admitted to by the professor.
Is there not anybody in a position of authority within this University with half a brain to see the wrong person is being terminated here?
Stand By ASU, ASUPD and anyone else who has “blood on their hands”, I see a civil suit looming and Crow, Thompson, Pickens et al being on the losing end.
All good points. The author of the article is right, they ignore the information that doesn’t support their agenda. In this case they ignored their own initial judgment, the courts, the feds, and are going it alone to hurt this officer out of spite for the negative media attention.
For years this university took a blind eye to young women being the target of sexually harassing faculty, botched rape cases, so why would a liberal university care what happens to employees in what’s typically a job filled with conservatives? They don’t.
If Officer Ferrin and Ursula Ore had the same skin color and she was not a professor this wouldn’t have made the news or have gone anywhere. There wouldn’t be special interest race based organizations sitting in Crow’s lobby threatening protests and scaring them into the flip flopping routine they adopted to handle this issue.
If there’s a raced based organization that’s for Caucasians everyone assumes its rascist, funny how it doesn’t work the other way around. The university is so engulfed in political correctness nonsense they can only see things one way.
The university treats the asupd like hired help garbage and only care when they really need us. Lip service doesn’t go very far and this latest gaff is just more proof how they will not back up their officers because we are all expendables.
If this were really race based, wouldn’t Jarrett Maupin (http://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/reverend-jarrett-maupin-accuses-asu-of-not-being-diverse-after-controversial-mlk-party-) have weighed in on it?
He has not said a word because he is probably embarrassed by the behavior of Ms. Ore.
This is very disheartening news. Another confirmation that there is no real support for the Arizona State University Police Department or the officers who work here. Nobody in the university is questioning what was going on with the army of supervisors this young officer had for the year he was solo on the road after his FTO training phase.
Let’s begin there, the training program was a disaster that Pam Osborne left and gave to Larry Fuchtman who needed quite some time to get it working again with trainers that knew what they were doing, had outside agency police experience, and weren’t picking and choosing who to pass, who to fail like Speranza, Aston, and Pam Osborne would in the old days.
I had hoped a new chief would turn this department around, but university meddling and micromanaging are killing that dream. At least I have heard good things about Thompson since he became chief because Pickens was a corrupt incurable ass. I’m looking forward to the media exposure of more integrity violators who have no business in uniform.
This puts every single ASUPD officer on notice that if you get into a situation where you need the support of your police department, the university they work for, it’s just not there. Anyone new to this career field may want to consider if this is where they want to hang their hat before it’s too late to leave.
Folks,
I am saddened by the news of ASU attempting to terminate Officer Ferrin after being cleared by every legitimate and lawful entity that can scrutinize this case. When I was a young officer, I felt, in general, that the University had our backs and were proud of us. This has obviously changed over the years and I regret not leaving you a better police department than I found.
Keep your heads held high, but watch your six. This could have happened to any officer, so please protect yourself. Look into an association with a legal package- it’s cheap insurance my brothers and sisters. I know from experience that the State will look out for their best interests and not yours.
My prayers are with you all and I do miss working the street with you.
~MT460
Do you really think it’s the state or a rogue element within it? The state gave it’s judgment in state court and reached out to the federal government who came to the same conclusion.
This nuts of this state entity decided they will ignore their own first conclusion, ignore the state court conclusion, ignore the federal conclusion, and go it alone on ignoring all this to fire him without cause claiming an accumulation of events they resurrected today after ignoring them yesterday.
We miss working with you. Thanks for speaking out, it meant a lot to many of us still here.
The courts, county attorney, FBI, Magic 8 ball, and Happy Meal decoder rings didn’t give them the decision they were hoping for, so now they are going another route.
Although this is the most public case, this is by far not the only case where the corrupt entities within ASUPD were tasked with putting a stack of paper together to attempt to justify a termination. I’m glad Stewart has the support he has, but many officers were not as fortunate through the years. There’s no wonder the department is continually full of new faces.
The university retained the employee convicted of criminal charges and fires the victim of those charges. Sounds like party school logic, not much research going on here.
If you plan on making a career here just pray you never need the support of your department which is now entirely controlled by a whimsical far left university hierarchy who jumps to the feet and panics at bad press, if Al Sharpton threatens to visit, and facts don’t matter. It’s all about appearances, pride, prestige, and pomp. Your safety, your life, your career, your family, none of this means anything to them.
A word of advice to all potential job seekers at ASUPD: Anyone thinking of joining the ASUPD should really consider other police agencies in the Valley before applying to ASUPD.
Yes, every police agency and organization has its internal problems and issues, but many of the deep-rooted internal problems and issues within the ASUPD stems from a cultural and systemic sickness with the university’s leadership and management.
Hopefully, with the continual media exposure, positive changes will eventually occur within the university and its dysfunctional police department run by an incompetent and self-serving command staff.
ASU will always be hiring because we have always been hiring. Third string management guarantees it.
Heed the red flags all over this and the many other issues affecting employees at ASUPD. If getting treated like a red headed step child is for you then you’ve come to the right place. This issue says it all.
This university decision is complete bullshit, the courts will side with Ferrin again. Officers at ASU have been fired for less and they try to keep it as private as possible thinking if the troops don’t know it won’t affect morale or recruiting.
The fact is, the troops do know what’s going on and the lack of transparency within asupd just leads to more distrust. I wasn’t hoping for much when Thompson took over as chief, but finding out about what’s happening from the news before being told internally is pathetic.
I’m guessing this is another Olsen, Salcido meddling issue telling chief Thompson sit, lay down, roll over…
I can’t believe the news knew before the troops. Unbelievable.
I saw this on Facebook today. Lets show our support for Ferrin.
https://www.facebook.com/SupportOfficerStewartFerrin
The support keeps on piling up!
As soon as the media began breaking the weeks old story on this the university changed it’s mind like a dirty diaper. The facts no longer matter to them because they have an agenda. That agenda is a back door deal to dispose of an officer targeted by special interest groups to avoid any more bad press.
The agenda is to appease a peer group that politicizes police especially when they make the news. This peer group ignores facts for feelings and lives with the luxury of never having to call 911. Consequently they live with the ignorance of what officers have to deal with day to day and make decisions like this regardless of all other decisions from official sources.
They don’t know the first thing about police work. Staffing has been critical for years, a huge liability issue concerning the outlying campuses have one officer at any given time. The knee-jerk response of taking the rifles from the PD without implementing replacements and training makes us especially vulnerable to what could easily be a better armed active shooter. Remember…we have to account for all our shots, they don’t.
Hopefully Officer Stewart Ferrin has an exceptional lawyer that will negotiate a nice settlement for him since it’s obvious that Michael Crow, Morgan Olsen and the university’s infamous HR man, Kevin Salcido, don’t want him affiliated with the university, even after being completely exonerated by outside agencies.
I have a great idea? Why don’t we begin termination proceedings for the aforementioned ASU executives, who think that they have the license to do whatever they want and treat university employees like disposable chattel.
It’s poetic justice when the Arizona Republic and the local television stations are now asking the pointed questions and requesting the documentation so that they can comprehend and accurately report to the public what’s really going on with ASU and its police department.
To be continued…
If the university and ASUPD initially cleared Ferrin of any wrongdoing and then later outside entities also cleared Ferrin of any wrongdoing, then what exactly is Ferrin being terminated for?
Reinstatement of Ferrin with intense remedial training probably would have been the more equitable solution for the university and Ferrin in resolving this high-profile incident.
The university’s leadership has some explaining to do on exactly why they have elected to initiate termination proceedings on Ferrin.
Arizona state government already made the decision in the courts, the federal government made it’s decision, even ASU made it’s decision. Now ASU is reversing it’s own decision and going against everyone else’s decision.
These people are idiotic administrators who treat the university like it’s their private preserve and don’t deserve to be in charge of it. The state legislature should move on ABOR for some restructuring on the “have it your way” leadership of this institution that’s gone rogue.
He needs to sue everyone involved in the smeer campaign. Enough is enough.
I wonder what concoction of paperwork was put together on the 11th hour to attempt and justify this action after every opinion was sought after and none supported the university’s final conflicting second opinion.
The problem here is ASU command has done this sort of thing for years. When Officer Lindberg pulled over the baseball coach, then coach Murphy the coach was cussing and pissed he was stopped by an ASU officer and pulled the do you know who I am game, dropped the then asupd chief John Pickens’s name, and threatened to have his badge.
Immediately a internal affairs investigation was launched, nothing found at fault, then the chief intervened telling them to find something and they reversed the findings, found him at fault, and wrote him up for not recording the traffic stop on our faulty voice recorders at the time. The joys of being an officer at asupd.
The big question of what they make an issue of now is why didn’t they make an issue of it then? Politics! They are willing to lie their asses off to make their bosses happy.
Another officer’s career getting assassinated by ASUPD’s upside down supervisor pyramid cramming his personnel file full of negative paper illustrating their creative writing skills and their willingness to be less than truthful. I hope Stuart sues everyone who has a hand in this.
The university keeps the only “Ore is a victim” torch burning and now she’s suing to get ahold of $2 million tax payer dollars. Complete nonsense.
Her suit is only supported by the dummies trying to fire Ferrin. She took a plea to avoid a felony and now she wants 2 million in free money claiming it was an unlawful arrest. If that was the case it would have came out months ago. Ferrin should be suing her for defamation of character.
I’m waiting for Crow to name a building after her to appease the ivory tower moronicans who have no idea what we encounter day to day and are miffed one of their pompous entitled asses got booked into jail and it made the news. Oh the humanity, play the race card again…
Commit a crime, dodge a felony, if you get stopped by a white cop claim rascism,get hailed as a victim, as a civil rights hero, get 2 million dollars. Is this the message we want to sent to the community?
This is the message the university and our department is sending. Lines are forming, reserve your place now.
Ore set one hell of an example for ASU students. Stuart is guilty of being a white cop stopping a racist black professor. The race card is getting so old. If I thought for one second Stuart was a racist he wouldn’t get any support from me or anyone we know and respect.
This is all political maneuvering in the 4th inning to avoid the black panther party response from a “civil rights leader” who most likely only responds to allegations concerning African American individuals. Has he done any work for the civil rights of other people?
The big issue is the contrary response to all the formal findings and ASU’s own initial findings. It’s patently obvious what they’re doing. If ASUPD command feels they are fooling anyone with a Billy Mays, Oh but wait, there’s more to the story response…they’re not. Everyone has their own opinion of how they would have handled this situation but who feels he should lose his job? Anyone other than a university police command told to get rid of him?
As if being tried over and over again and being acquitted by every state and federal governing body wasn’t enough your own police department under duress from the university reverses it’s own findings to find you guilty before they finish their so called”investigation”.
You now have more garden variety racist agitation from people whose only claim to fame is the color of their skin and riding the coat tails of the 1960’s civil rights movement they have nothing in common with.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2015/01/13/civil-rights-activists-back-firing-asu-police-officer/21719467/
Murder suspects get less retrials and less public scrutiny than Ferrin has here at the university for this case.
The university is being sued by professor Ore for 2 million and our infamous command at ASUPD is creatively reframing Officer Ferrin’s file to justify a firing. He was responding to the training he received in our joke of an FTO program that required a complete overhaul shortly afterwards. ASUPD is on the hook for negligently training him with people who had little experience and plenty of issues, putting him on a night shift known for aggressive contacts and questionable policing methods.
They will claim he had previous issues in order to fire him. If they knew he had issues like this previously, they are on the hook for keeping him on the road.
If Ferrin is getting fired and can’t be what ASU terms as rehabilitated then people in ASUPD command should be losing their jobs as well, supervisors disciplined, demoted, or terminated depending on their level of involvement or negligence. Why should they receive special considerations and be given breaks when he doesn’t receive the same courtesy?
Excellent points guerriero! Why is it that everyone but Thompson gets it? If he had issues, where was the mentoring and training? Again, failed leadership at its finest!
My faith in Thompson as our chief lies on his ability to contend with the destructive elements within our department and build it into a functional police department. The only thing any of us are seeing is the same department the former chief left in crisis.
The Orr’s boys gang is alive and well conducting business as usual drawing down our operating budget by warming chairs as staffing remains critical. One step forward, one step back.
All true…unfortunately.
RUKidding me sound like all the disgruntled employees that I’ve had the pleasure of terminating in my career. Reminds me of the kids that would make gestures at cars and act tough, but when the car hit its breakes and the so called tough kid saw the break lights, would scatter and run like hell. You know he works for the dept and acts tough, but hides behind an alias and post crap. “But I’m defending one of my own,” “We stand together.” But hides and trashes his own. Well, there’s a saying in the construction world that says,”Your not doing you job, till your name hits the j-john walls.” Since I see this website as a stinking toilet, I want to congratulate President Crow, Olsen, and Cheif Thompson on doing a great job. Congrats guys! As with all leadership, it’s lonley at the top. If it was easy, “RUKidding me” would be running the show.
@ ASU Pride…again. Chief Michael Thomspon! Welcome back to the Integrity Report again, you must have retired “Comeonnow”. Oh this one was too easy. Congratulations, you enjoy firing people, so did the last chief. That’s why we enjoyed seeing that piece of shit get the fuck out with such great pleasure.
Your pride got the better of you on this one. Other than “RUkiddingme’s” criticism of you, what exactly did you take offense with in their comment? You are protecting and rewarding a handful of employees who have injured employees here for years under your former boss ultimately leading to his demise as chief. Think you will fare better supporting them the way he did?
He would probably still have his job if it wasn’t for them creating so many disgruntled employees,if it wasn’t for the investigative journalists looking into issues, and this blog, which means you should offer all parties a thank you.
I agree with RUkiddingme, but with one exception. I have no faith in you being to do anything about the clique because even if you had the foresight to clean out the viper pit you would still need the ability, which you don’t have. In fact you can’t relieve yourself until any one of the puppeteers remove their hands giving you that freedom. Whether it’s Crow, Olsen, Salcido, or any stray dean they own you and you have to crucify Stuart to save your job. You have done nothing to earn the trust of the troops and this incident further illustrates the problem creating a clear picture for patrol and what support they can expect.
If you earn our trust we will follow you sir, we will make this a better place. Are you capable of earning the trust that was drained from employees here? We will salute the rank, but can we respect the man? If we can’t we will remain divided into two camps. Those who kept our oaths and hold ourselves and our brothers accountable no matter what and those who sold their souls for cheap, for power, for pride, without the wisdom, reason, and good will to use it effectively. A timeless good versus evil story. Which side do you want to be on?
ASU PRIDE:
It’s lonely at the top because of a conscientious decision to isolate yourself from good and decent people.
ASU PRIDE…sounds like all the former ASUPD chief John L Pickens emails that were sent out without being proof read by his administration assistant Barbara Hoskins. Take a look a the crap writing style. Even the poster name sounds like Pickens, a prideful self-absorbed jerk right up to the day of being relieved of command by Mike Thompson.
Wow, ASU PRIDE…where did you go to school? It looks like English is your second or third language. Why don’t we examine how you wrote because we already ignored what you said.
ASU PRIDE says:
January 17, 2015 at 6:18 pm
RUKidding me sound(should be sounds like) like all the disgruntled employees that (“that” is unnecessary)I’ve had the pleasure of terminating in my career. Reminds me (what reminds you?) of the kids that would make gestures at cars and act tough, but when the car hit (cars don’t hit brakes, drivers of cars do) its breakes (it’s brakes) and the so called (so-called) tough kid saw the break (brake) lights, would scatter and run like hell. You know he works for the dept and acts tough, but hides behind an alias and post (posts)crap. “But I’m defending one of my own,” “We stand together.” But hides and trashes his own. (You don’t start sentence s with, “But” unless you are quoting a response to a statement.) Well, there’s a saying in the construction world that says,”Your not doing you (YOU JOB…REALLY) job, till your name hits the j-john walls.” Since I see this website as a stinking toilet, I want to congratulate President Crow, Olsen, and Cheif Thompson (Spelled chief wrong) on doing a great job. Congrats guys! As with all leadership, it’s lonley at the top. If it was easy, “RUKidding me” would be running the show.
Amazing…my limited grammar and spelling skills found 11 mistakes. Can anyone else find more? Jesus, did Luqman Khalid writes this?
The writing is atrocious but what’s more disturbing is the mindset.
Michael Crow, Morgan Olsen, Kevin Salcido and Michael Thompson have put the university and its police department in a precarious position liability-wise for how they have poorly handled the Ferrin/Ore incident.
The university and ASU PD have opened Pandora’s box, that’s actually a blessing in disguise for many of the men and women in the ASU PD who have been calling for positive changes in how its police department operates and treats its employees.
The continued media exposure at the local and national level coupled with the requests for FOIA documentation will reveal the truth about the inner workings of a nefarious operated institution and its police department.
Thank you Officer Stewart Ferrin and Assistant Professor Ersula Ore for indirectly being the catalyst that might actually change how the university’s leadership and its police department’s leadership operates and treats its employees.
Unbelievable. They mismanaged the situation like the politically correct cowards they are and now they’re running scared of reverse rascists camouflaged as clergy holding a march, scared of negative press, and they made many strategic mistakes along the way as a result.
The asu police department and the university want a clean, blame free narrative so they can slip out a back door on this issue. Ursula Ore pleads guilty in court, but wants fantastic financial compensation for fighting with the police and setting a horrible example for students. Nobody wins.
They had FOIA requests before and ignored the law in complying with them. The ignore court rulings in Ferrin’s case. They ignore their own policies when it suits them. As public officials ignoring the law, ignoring policy, and doing what they want regardless they are corrupt.
I’m confident more will be uncovered on these issues and look forward to the exposure of people who have no right to wear the badge and the university leadership who abuse their public positions. Corruption is being tolerated and encouraged here.
I think your right, more will be uncovered concerning Officer Ferrin. Unfortunately for him, it’s not going to be good for him. This will only put him in the spotlight. This guy has a short history with ASU PD, but seams to have a long history with complaints. Isn’t he the same guy that was on the news for excessive force on Jason Heckendorn. Maybe he just always seams to be portrayed as the bad guy, but usually, we’re there smoke there’s fire. I would be real interested to see what else he has received complaints on that ASU PD can disclose.
@ ASU Pride
You seem to now a lot about the inner workings of this department and specifically internal affairs related to Officer Stuart Ferrin’s case, but don’t have the rank and file opinion. Most Sgt’s and below wouldn’t have that information, so which level of command are you exactly?
ASU PRIDE, We look forward to the facts coming out regarding Officer Stewart Ferrin. In turn, we look forward to the facts coming out regarding the university and its police department.
ASU Pride…. Looks like your boy Heckendorn plead guilty. http://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/docket/CriminalCourtCases/caseInfo.asp?caseNumber=CR2014-105913
Another Ferrin arrest that went through the judicial process and was upheld in court. Oh, and after what, one quick blurb on a viewerless TV channel, Heckendorn disappeared, never to be heard from again.
Ferrin’s problem is he is a street cop and the University Admin only wants security guards promoting a Disneyland atmosphere.
The Ferrin and Ore incident was badly dealt with from the outset. Shame on the university’s administrators and Chief Thompson for not dealing with this in an impartial and level-headed manner.
If Officer Ferrin is terminated, this will have a unpalatable and negative ripple effect on the police department. It also will send a chilling message to the rank-and-file.
You never know when you will get a call or on view something that will get you into a situation. There are situations beyond your control and you need a department and co-workers who will back you up.
Other than a few friends does anyone believe they will find that support at the ASU police department?
It’s disgraceful how they are handling Officer Ferrin’s case after he was cleared by every official entity that could be called in to review this issue.
The anti-police far left agenda is alive and well at ASU and they will ignore the courts, county attorney, and FBI because their opinion is contrary to fact.
The message this sends is clear, if you expect support from your agency ASU police isn’t for you. If you want to do police work and not get treated like a disposable security guard ASU police isn’t for you.
If you want to be successful in this career, do specialty jobs as a Leo, ASU police isn’t for you. If you expect step increases, cost of living increases the last one took six years. With the millions of budget cuts looming don’t expect another one anytime soon.
None of this should be happening, least of all the scapegoating of this officer after being exonerated by every official source of judgement. How long before you’re in a pickle and do you want to stake your career on dodging them for 20-25 years?
It’s a message long time employees know all too well. Our so-called police command fills the roll of hand puppets for hire whenever the university administration gets anxious. Instead of respecting court ruling they hoped would have been different they are lashing out at Ferrin on their own administratively claiming to have a silver bullet to put this to rest.
The problem is how can you be right about everything; put all the responsibility on a rookie officer and save absolutely none for yourselves and your titanic three rows deep supervisor chain that’s equal to a city department’s command?!? You can’t and sensible minds in the courts will make these decisions for the feeble minded once again.
I want everyone to take a look at the commenter on this post: “ASU PRIDE” who claims to have been a supervisor at the department. It’s this sort of dull witted, weak, and inarticulate leadership the employees of ASUPD have been saddled with for too long.
This poster ridicules posters for not using their names, but then fails to do so himself. This poster brags about enjoying firing employees, but then talks confusingly about defending the brotherhood. Were you thinking about the critically undermanned brotherhood when you enjoyed firing people? Obviously not.
Read their post and make your own judgment about the intellect of this poster claiming to be an ASU Police supervisor.
Here is their post, “ASU PRIDE says: January 17, 2015 at 6:18 pm
RUKidding me sound like all the disgruntled employees that I’ve had the pleasure of terminating in my career. Reminds me of the kids that would make gestures at cars and act tough, but when the car hit its breakes and the so called tough kid saw the break lights, would scatter and run like hell. You know he works for the dept and acts tough, but hides behind an alias and post crap. “But I’m defending one of my own,” “We stand together.” But hides and trashes his own. Well, there’s a saying in the construction world that says,”Your not doing you job, till your name hits the j-john walls.” Since I see this website as a stinking toilet, I want to congratulate President Crow, Olsen, and Cheif Thompson on doing a great job. Congrats guys! As with all leadership, it’s lonley at the top. If it was easy, “RUKidding me” would be running the show.”
Speaking of running the show, it was a relief to see the two chiefs (Pickens, Hardina) leave against their own will clinging to the door on the way out. It’s just a shame they didn’t take the like-minded commanders with them to the “stinking toilet” from which they came. Some good changes have been made, but so many haven’t.
As I was reading the comment from “ASU PRIDE” it reminded me of a clip from the movie Tropic Thunder where M Downey’s character reminds B Stiller’s character to ,”…never ever go full retard.” when acting.
Tropic Thunder (5/10) Movie CLIP – Never Go Full …: http://youtu.be/X6WHBO_Qc-Q
“ASU PRIDE” just went full retard. If the poster is a member of command or really the chief it just shows how low they set the bar for leadership at the Arizona State Police Department. Even this dropout could be a part of it.
Hilarious! Thanks for sharing.
I just read the most poorly written comment on here since I started tuning in. This person is claiming to currently be or has been a supervisor at ASUPD…god help us.
Based on the writing skills of ASU PRIDE, someone spent too much time studying at the titty bar where some ASU alumni came to terms with what their degree was worth and are dancing to pay it off.
The poster “ASU PRIDE” represents the shallow end of the pool with our 80% acceptance rate and as a result the ASU English department has decided to offer free tutoring to this poster, but you must act now because they can’t do this all day.
I don’t know who wrote this, but they’re a fucking idiot. It had to be one of Pickens’s promotions or Pickens himself. Some people have said it could be a flustered Mike Thompson response…I sure hope not or this place is damned.
The poster “ASU PRIDE” is an embarrassment to higher education. The amount of errors within their entire comment is baffling.
The most disturbing part of the “ASU PRIDE” comment states, “RUKidding me sound like all the disgruntled employees that I’ve had the pleasure of terminating in my career.”
The idea the Arizona State Police employed this person as a senior supervisor over employees is disgrace. It also reflects poorly on ASU human resources.
I have little doubt this poster works or worked for the ASU police department. It might be former chief John Pickens. His emails not reviewed by other staff looked as if a child wrote them.
Until recently, hardly a day would pass that I didn’t think about how I was railroaded at ASU PD. Exposed to immoral individuals during my “training” (odd that it’s called field TRAINING when little training actually takes place). These individuals were ultimately backed by a few equally immoral 3rd floor mob bosses, I chose to leave but it was a calculated risk on my part that fortunately worked out well for me. For a while I wondered what I could have done differently and it really bothered me. I’ve moved past it, secured a position with another agency and I’m thankful on a daily basis. I am 100% certain now that I was not the problem.
Unfortunately, this is another case of ASU administration simply choosing to discard another officer for the sake of expediency and perceived image. Officer Ferrin is possibly also reflecting, wondering what, if anything, he could have done differently. The problem isn’t Ferrin, it’s the administration and people like chief fat-head. People who refuse to do what they know is right. I hope Ferrin finds a flesh-eating monster of an attorney and snatches the likes of Crowe, Thompson and the rest of the ASU PD syndicate by their short hairs and takes them for a very rough ride. Good luck and best wishes to Officer Ferrin!!
Your experience counts against you here. They are terrified of the experienced people who come in and know they’re full of shit. They know you could take their jobs and do them with competence instead of fucking up and making excuses for it, delegating everything, and blaming subordinates.
The news should do an article about the turnover rate at ASUPD. The only place you don’t see turnover is in the 70K and above group. The only way to earn more in 10 years is to promote and those people are picked before they test.
There have been so many highly experienced lateral officers run out of this department. I’m glad you were able to make your escape. The mentality of this department is the “eat its own” management method.
Certain slugs in middle management have all their friends in upper management and they all have friends they want to promote up through the ranks. They feel threatened by experienced officers who know infinitely more than them about police work, but get paid half as much.
As a result they actively target experienced officers who make them look like idiots because they don’t know what they’re doing and don’t have the stomach or aptitude for police work beyond running routine traffic stops, subject stops, and doing building checks. We had laterals from all over the nation and this state experience the same disgust with ASUPD and abruptly separate ties.
Most of them were able to leave without the department having their careers damaged by bitter people within this agency. We are all too familiar with the manufacturing of stories to take peace officer certifications, and people have spread the word.
Once in a while I come in contact with officers in the state from outside the valley and they ask, “What is going on at ASUPD?!?”. AZPOST must be familiar with their game as well because of all the petitions to revoke certs our admin has pursued I haven’t heard of one successful one. Word of mouth is getting out about ASUPD leadership.
Overall, the majority of the people I interacted with there were decent people. The problem was that I, on my own admission, badly misjudged a couple officers who I thought were decent people. The real problem when I was there, outside of administration, was in the FTO program. Of the 5 total FTO’s I was with, 1 was great, 1 was pretty good and the other 3 were absolutely worthless as trainers. Another pitfall was that I did not know “the lay of the land” as far as the cliques are concerned.
I saw other trainees and FTO’s in very similar situations as my own. Let’s get real here – Corporals who are FTO’s while their spouses are Sergeants OVER the FTO’s?!? The same corporal who is friend’s and drinking buddies with the other female FTO…so if you have an issue with one, you AUTOMATICALLY have a problem with both.
As a trainee, frequently you’re told one thing, then the FTO later contradicts themselves and places the blame on you, the flat lie on D.O.R.s, they spread gossip regarding the trainees, they fail to train then blame the trainee for not knowing a particular procedure. The list goes on and on. Of course Chief fat-head wanted nothing to do with the truth, and simply chose to blame the trainee every singe time.
The entire FTO program was nothing more than criticism with 3 of the 5 FTOs I was exposed to providing zero constructive input. Then we have Mr. Puke Khalid, don’t even get me started on Khalid…how is that guy even a cop?!? I normally try to refrain from using names, but in his case I’ll make an exception. He is one of the most immoral, unethical individuals I’ve ever contact with, and he wears a badge. Mark my words, one day he will be held accountable for his transgressions. I just hope it happens before someone is seriously hurt or more good people have to lose their jobs.
I really hope, for the good people who are part of ASU PD, that positive change comes. I’m sure it will eventually change for the better…there’s just no telling when. Stay safe…Keep the faith!
BuckeyeNut, thank you for sharing your story. You certainly are not the only one to be targeted by the insecure clique allowed to run amuck on employees in training. Anyone they didn’t want in the department didn’t make it through training, or got fed up in short order and left the department.
If their feelings changed about someone who was indifferent to them that person was targeted and ran out of the department.
The command of asupd has been aware of the issues and ignored them for years. They are all clique members who allow their friends to do whatever they want. They are the creators of the Integrity Report on the ASU Police Department.
The responsibility for the problems plaguing the department today are entirely on their shoulders.
While Khalid did quite a bit of damage to the FTO program and department staffing he wasn’t alone like you said.
Sgt Pam Osborne gave him direction to target certain employees because that’s what her and the clique have done for years and the process continued under Sgt Larry Fuchtman who pretended as if the problem didn’t exist despite all the evidence.
Like many of the people promoted under Pickens they never acknowledge the problems because they were a part of them. They are part of a supervisor chain that can never admit fault. The chief’s bosses are finally noticing the faults and so is the public.
BuckeyeNut, we are very sorry for what you were subjected to during your time at ASUPD.
And no, you were not the problem; you never were! It was a group of very insecure and extremely incompetent sociopath-type individuals that were the problem.
Please know that many good folks are working diligently and methodically behind the scenes to change the culture and the climate of ASUPD, sans Chief Thompson.
On a positive note, two of the biggest malignancies, John Pickens and Jim Hardina, are no longer part of the ASUPD. Their hasty departure was the first symbolic confirmation that positive change is afoot at ASUPD.
What is our endgame? First, to ensure that no other employee is ever subjected to the abuse that you and countless others have had to endure. Second, to hold those individuals that abused others fully accountable.
You hit the nail on the head. The program wasn’t a training program. It was an evaluation program where little to no adherence to the scoring rubric was followed. I would see an officer in training doing fine with one person and getting failed by the next. This happened repeatedly under Sgt Pam Osborne and Sgt. Larry Fuchtman and neither one perceived it to be a problem. I couldn’t believe the stories of what was taking place, and nobody did a thing about any of it. That’s why we still have a staffing problem!
This is why Chief Mike Thompson is receiving a failing grade from the rank-and-file employees. What has he done to address and fix the major problems in the department, i.e., the notorious FTO program? What about the infamous Pickens-installed problem employees that continue to thrive under his watch?
Instead he spends his time pandering to the likes of Rev. Jarrett Maupin and kissing up to his bosses at the Fulton Center.
With all the more highly qualified, integrity- and ethically-based candidates out there for chief of police, we get stuck with another Pickens-type individual.
Oh well, at least he doesn’t drive the Pickensmobile home and traipse about the country attending college football games when Rome is burning.
The terrible irony at our police department is what happens to the employees who have been the most destructive to the public safety mission of the Arizona State University PD. They promoted!
Yes, the people pushing out the talent they are threatened by have promoted where they can do the most damage.
I feel for chief Thompson because he’s saddled with these destructive employees as commanders, some Sergeants, and some Corporals. Any good willed applicant soon finds out how difficult or impossible they are to work with.
The process continues as the new Sgt process looms. The clique responsible for hobbling this department have their representatives.
These are employees known for abusing other employees and staff leaving as a direct result of their actions.
Corporal Luke Khalid, Corporal Katie Fuchtman (aka Pam O’s mini me) who tests for positions after not working patrol for over a year, and Officer Dustin Melton who conducts himself as if Pickens is still here to sign off on the abuse of fellow employees. I’m sure more are putting in that I missed. Who doesn’t want to make 70k for sitting on their ass? That’s the attitude, find me a working Sgt.
This will be a true test for the department’s future direction and a test for chief Thompson. The whole department is tuned in.
Buckeyenut, the training program here needs to be in the hands of someone who cares that people are being treated appropriately and fairly.
It went from Pam’s whore house of displeasure to Larry’s rush everyone through with a rubber stamp. Neither one of these sergeants have been in tune with people or care to be.
They’ve been capable ass kissers that make their bosses think everything is A ok or find someone to blame if it is not.
It’s not going to be long before we’re in the news again for how we’re running things.
Buckeyenut,
With all the management principles that are taught at the business school it’s a shame none made their way into practice at the ASUPD. It doesn’t even take high brow intellectuality to see the problems because they defy common sense.
The idiots running this place didn’t get it when Pickens was here and they don’t get it now. They keep doing the same thing expecting something to change. All the turncoats playing games with your career livelihood did it to people before you and after you.
If it doesn’t affect them directly they don’t care any more than a butcher does for animals at a slaughterhouse. They are so used to the torrent of turnover they have become desensitized to it and accept it as the way of things without seeing the problem.
A private business ran this way would have been bankrupt years ago, but again it’s not their money being spent on and endless stream of trainees, so they don’t give a shit.
Apparently Officer Stewart Ferrin and Rev. Jarrett Maupin are now breaking bread.
Rev. Maupin and civil-rights activists now want Officer Ferrin reinstated.
I suppose we will receive an email in the not-too-distant future from Chief Thompson telling us he has decided to reinstate Officer Ferrin.
Who’s really running the police department, Chief Thompson?
I guess this will save the university and its police department from being forced to air their dirty little ways in a publicized lawsuit.
Nobody wants their name and reputation to suffer because it was attached to a fucking fraud. He eludes to that in his statement within the article. Good for him.
It takes character to stand up in front of God and everybody to say “I was wrong.” Thank you Reverend Maupin, you are a righteous man.