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Unofficial, but honest current assessment of the Arizona State University Police Department state of readiness 03-11-2015
With the incompetent and corrupt Chief John L Pickens and his sidekick James Hardina gone some people had a slight hope things would improve at the Arizona State University Police Department. We asked, “How could anyone run this police department any worse?” While we weren’t expecting much from the same morally bankrupt command Pickens left behind; Lou Scichilone, Michelle Rourke, William Orr, and Chris Speranza. We thought with the top two problem people replaced something would change. It looks like Chief Mike Thompson and Assistant Chief Lou Digirolamo have fallen in line with Pickens’s old command and its business as usual for the old crew.
With current reports coming out of the department even our low expectations for change were not met. The proof is in the fact that no matter how many new faces come and go from ASUPD; most employees have the same old complaints about the poor leadership and the lack of integrity ever-present within the agency. A police department relies on trust from the public to operate effectively, that trust comes from operating with ethics and maintaining a baseline for integrity. That comes from not tolerating what falls below that baseline and holding command to the same standard you hold every employee to. Integrity is meant to be the backbone of a law enforcement agency and the Arizona State University Police Department is spineless.
During our hiatus over disgust for the Officer Ferrin outcome we looked at emails received regarding individual people, current and former employees, being accused of either running “the blog” or posting on it, and some very interesting details on what everyone is calling “the witch hunt” with AZDPS getting roped into participating in it. (As usual your identities and email is confidential unless you state otherwise.) Other email topics included the usual mismanagement of the department, officers planning to leave, bullying by familiar suspects, unethical selection processes for promotions, and encouragement to continue the fight to restore honor to a police department that, “fell far from grace”.
Clearly Chief Thompson’s vision for the department appears to be nothing more than staying the course with former Chief Pickens’s practice of running the place like it’s command’s whore house/ant farm and that’s unfortunate for the public safety concerns the ASU community. They are paying the bill and getting robbed. The robbery continues to fund a dog and pony show and the porkers that have a stake in it.
Department mission? It’s to maintain the smoke and mirrors convincing the public there’s nothing to worry about while brass-plated fat cats make off with the lion’s share of their public safety dollars to maintain the failed management model of an upside down pyramid. Still the public talks to the news asking, “I don’t feel safe at night.” and wondering where are the patrol units? As this continues the department is looking to promote a new group of sergeants at $70k+ who will come from more officers being taken off patrol. One has been on sick leave for over a year and apparently is one of the front runners in the process. How productive are they going to be? Others aren’t even past their year of probation as employees. The trend to be evaluators in order to stop working and stop being evaluated, while dramatically increasing your take home pay continues. That’s the only way to get a step increase at ASUPD, something every other department offers sworn and civilian staff.
What do we mean by the statement of ASUPD being a whore house/ant farm, dog and pony show? A police department only functions effectively when all its separate units work as a team. When you promote a culture of extreme self-serving, where everyone is out for themselves, you destroy the potential for people to work together toward a united goal. In the case of a police department that united goal is public safety. When you award people for things other people have earned and everyone knows about it you kill incentive. (Luke Khalid getting consecutive 5’s when most get 3’s despite being “investigated” for the sexual harassment of another employee and being removed from being a trainer for being hostile to employees in training.)
When you run promotional processes and change the rules to them as you go along because you don’t want the applicants who applied to get the position that’s wrong and lacks integrity. When you award positions and favors to people you want because you simply don’t like a person more deserving of them that’s wrong and again lacks integrity. These immoral practices kill incentive, morale, and any sense of team. The ability of the department to do its job suffers. Anyone who has talent and can leave does so as soon as they are able.
This trend continues as it did under Pickens. New and old employees see the favoritism, the same old corruption continuing, they realize what they’re up against if they stay and have every incentive to continue the trend of leaving. When new ASUPD employees come on board they are presented with a choice. The choice is to ingratiate yourself with the unethical power brokers and career chameleons or object to their unethical behavior and set yourself up as a target for them to practice their craft. There’s more decorum and respect among chimpanzees during mating season, among inmates in a prison, and there’s absolutely no incentive for any of it to change from Morgan Olsen, Chief Thompson’s boss or President Michael Crow his boss.
Therefore there’s absolutely every incentive for us to continue this narrative. The narrative has expanded and will continue to expand until it is fixed. The local news outlets are uncovering lie after lie from ASUPD command and the ASU administration every time they look into an issue. Therefore there’s absolutely every incentive for them to continue this narrative. These are fundamental principles of logic we expected the flunkies running ASUPD to miss with only half the command holding college degrees. It’s somewhat troubling the administration of ASU seems baffled with how to proceed on this issue of logic relying instead on brute intimidation, threats, and muscle to silence their opposition when it would have been relatively effortless and fool proof for them to address and correct the problems. Deciding between an ounce of prevention and a pound of cure is usually a simple choice.
Nothing stated here surprises me anymore. Tweekers tweek drugs, liars lie. At our department the liars are command staff tweeking out petty power politics.
They told two employees in good standing with many years on they won’t get the events position and are holding another process until someone they want puts in for it, probably a brand new employee who hasn’t been blackballed yet.
Absolutely shameless, there’s no pay increase, but typical commander Lou Scichilone unethical behavior.
When Commander Lou Scichilone opens up his mouth he does so to breath or lie. Maybe he watched too many bad cop Hollywood movies for an impressionable mind, maybe too many years working for Pickens, but whatever the excuse he should be a footnote in a AZPOST integrity bulletin by now, not a police officer in good standing. When your boss is a thug you can be one because he sets the standard.
They are incompetent, an unchecked liability for the university. They can’t maintain the illusion of a fair and ethical process. Something always gets uncovered. Why should they, who’s going to hold them accountable? Kevin Salcido? Right. He’s still searching for a moral compass.
Every process is a political appointment and nothing more. Why bother having rules or a process when you are going to ignore them anyway?
A normal moral person would have a gag reflex, but these guys enjoy this. That’s the culture here. The term, “career chameleons” fits. They change with the prevailing wind.
Any of them will roll over on one another to get ahead and this behavior gets results here. It’s a leadership problem, a problem that comes from not having any.
They are fat and lazy, maintaining the illusion of impartiality or fairness in promotional processes requires work. They are under no stress to produce results, nothing as usual holds them accountable.
It’s apparent an outside (federal government?) intervention might be needed to hold the university’s power brokers accountable.
Agreed! The university has ABOR sucking a thumb and has DPS meddling in protected speech. They’re doing everything to avoid fixing the issues with ASUPD’s pathetic leadership. It’s absurd.
This is from USA TODAY in the state-by-state section dated, Friday, February 6, 2015:
Arizona Phoenix: In a reversal, the Motor Vehicle Division notified University of Arizona graduate Josh Miller that he can keep his personalized license plate that mocks Arizona State: LOLASU. Miller received notice in October that someone had filed a complaint.
If AZDPS is indeed investigating whom might be commenting on this public forum, they are putting themselves in a precarious position and possibly in violation of federal law as the First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression,* assembly, and the right to petition.
We don’t believe commenting about public safety concerns and individuals that might not exhibit the highest of integrity and ethics is a violation of any federal or state laws.
*The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government. The Supreme Court requires the government to provide substantial justification for the interference with the right of free speech where it attempts to regulate the content of the speech. A less stringent test is applied for content-neutral legislation. The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. For more on unprotected and less protected categories of speech see advocacy of illegal action, fighting words, commercial speech and obscenity. The right to free speech includes other mediums of expression that communicate a message. The level of protection speech receives also depends on the forum in which it takes place.
As the news continues to investigate ASU there will be more and more of a case for federal involvement. They simply don’t want that to happen and will hold tightly to all of that information. They redacted potentially embarrassing information form FOIA request without scruples, so they will do the same with anything of more importance.
Judging by how the department is run a lemonade stand might be too much responsibility. They were word smithing to try and find a list of accomplishments for Chief Pickens’s 14 years.
Most of his “accomplishments” were nothing more than purchase orders. Thompson’s accomplishments are following the same path. If you don’t have integrity you have no business in this business, if the troops can’t trust you the public can’t either.
Everyone knows about the promotional issue and anyone worthy of this job is disgusted by it. If Thompson can’t even run a straight forward ethical process for a specialty position, there’s going to be no confidence in his ability to run this department.
“If you don’t have integrity you have no business in this business, if the troops can’t trust you the public can’t either.”
Mike Thompson should read your words every morning before work, put them on plaques in every commander’s office. Without this as a reality for our department our PD is very much like the “whore house” the author of this post described.
“It’s somewhat troubling the administration of ASU seems baffled with how to proceed on this issue of logic relying instead on brute intimidation, threats, and muscle to silence their opposition when it would have been relatively effortless and fool proof for them to address and correct the problems.”
From what I have heard and read, it seems this is EXACTLY the tactic used against Off. Ferrin. Beat him down and then beat him some more until he goes away.
Really….has anyone ever heard of past EXONERATED and UNFOUNDED complaints resurfacing and being used against an employee?
And then Thompson comes to briefings to explain the Ferrin deal….c’mon Chief, we see right through the BS!
Yep…..Same kind of Hope and Change happening here as the BS our current US President fed us.
I have never heard of past EXONERATED and UNFOUNDED complaints resurfacing and being used against an employee. This is just one example of how low the asupd command will go without any guiding principles. There’s more honor among thieves.
It tells you something, at the very least a consensus, when every message board for police officers out there is against what ASUPD (through the direction of the university admin) did to officer Ferrin and his family.
Thompson has to regurgitate whatever Morgan Olsen feeds him. If Olsen doesn’t want to fix the problems at our department then maybe he’s the problem. I don’t believe they think there are any problems, just like Hardina, living in denial right up to the point where the door hit his ass on the way out.
How’s that sport trainer thing working out? Every 20 something male in Tempe with a gym membership is doing that. I’ll miss hearing new employees complain about the nude stretching freak stories in the Tempe locker room. That’s all anyone will miss.
The fact past EXONERATED and UNFOUNDED complaints resurfaced and were used against an employee goes to show you what type of people are running the ASU PD. Low life scum.
For a state of the department assessment I would say they must be feeling confident right now to invite the assessors back after turning them away before. It’s going to get topsy turvy again because nothing changed for the better.
Thompson is a better politician among the troops than Pickens was, but cheap tricks won’t win the day. The “career chameleons” as you say change with the wind. Look at how they reacted to the Ferrin issue, changing from support, quiet, and against. If it’s not their hide they don’t care.
During the chief selection process I heard Thompson was over at the Fulton center politicing his heart out. It’s what those people like, not a surprise he got it. With the university on the radar he’s not going to survive many years in the saddle following Pickens’s routine.
The stakes are getting higher and by selling a load of garbage about an employee to other employees in an attempt to justify his termination only reminds everyone how disposable the troops are.
It reminds everyone how any wrong perception can end your career, and how emotional politics rule instead of ethical reasoning. They pick and choose which policies to follow and ignore or who they apply to.
The pending selection processes for a new AC, commander, Sgt’s, and the events OT position seem really competitive until you hear people are being handpicked the way Pickens has done in the past, or there’s a pool of 1, which is OK if they like the applicant and not enough if they don’t.
You mentioned the Sgt process candidates and it reminded me of a California governor race. Katie Fuchtman has been on sick leave for over a year and spent half her career on FML. Of course she is one of the front runners in the process, her husband provided her with the tests.
If Thompson wants another Pam for the department he has the applicant. At least Pam had enough sense not to buy stolen I Pads off Craig’s list on duty in uniform for personal use. Larry couldn’t provide her the answer for that conundrum.
These processes are the same as they always have been. Rules are suspended, modified in mid stream, and the only part of a process they get right is the spelling. When cops have no better integrity than criminals something is seriously wrong.
Thompson needs to spend less time listening to his commanders, they failed Pickens and they’ll fail him. You have a group of people who are police officers in name only. Every one of them took a fast track to promotion to avoid doing police work. They know much more about breaking a team apart than they do about keeping one together.
Mishandled processes will be a serious loss of prestige for Chief Thompson. Anything less than fair is unethical. I found it ironic Lou S. had made challenge coins with “integrity” on them.
If the events planning position is a political post, you can bet the Sgt process is. As usual the testing is a formality AND as usual they’ll just be shooting themselves in the foot because they demonstrate their contempt for integrity, integrity, integrity.
ASU has too much pull with state government to feel any pressure to conduct themselves ethically. When it comes to their interests they are the first to cite bring up the topic of freedom. Look at this article:
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/03/12/asu-prof-shocked-target-dems-climate-probe/70164776/
Crow states, “I strongly urge you and your colleagues to be aware of and to consider the principle of academic freedom as you continue your pursuit of documents and information from universities and individual faculty members,”
I strongly urge Crow to get his head out of his ass when it comes to his police department leadership.
…it continues with Crow saying the university’s policy on academic freedom gives researchers the right to search for truth and knowledge without obstruction or restraint.
His opposition on this blog doesn’t get the same consideration for freedom without obstruction or restraint.
The hypocrisy is what have we come to expect, no wonder they’ve ignored the issues.
I’m pretty sure Stewart Ferrin was not given “the right to search for truth and knowledge without obstruction or restraint”. Michael Crow was the engineer of that railroad job. Just another example of high level bullying.
The hypocrisy is astounding. I hope the legislature roots up in their business like a hog through slop. There’s always something less than ethical found every time the news looks for something. It looks like the legislature smelled the blood in the water.
I don’t know about that. When has any member of the state legislature ever done something like this with ASU? Maybe after all the news stories getting the word out the legislature is taking a closer look at the what’s taking place here. Does Crow really think these guys give a shit about ASU policy? Lmao, really? I think his head is getting too fat.
It looks like Mike Crow needs to spend more time thinking about guaranteed American civil liberties, rights, and responsibilities and put down that bottle of ASU policy.
The real world doesn’t know or care what ASU policy is. Why should they? What’s more important? The world is a small place when you live in a ivory tower.
I know most people are already aware of this. ASUPD Chief Thompson is working closely with AZDPS to attempt an administrative investigation on “the blog” the Integrity Report. This investigation reinvented itself after the new DPS director took office. Maybe they are trying to wrap it up before it gets shut down, maybe it has new life, who knows and who cares. We’re Americans first and ASUPD employees second.
This investigation started under Pickens when he asked them to intervene and made it a paid overtime detail. A little confusing that they alleged a criminal investigation, but had to get paid OT from ASU to do it.
After their attempt at doing a criminal investigation, based on the posting of Pam Osborne’s photo allegedly “from the W drive”, failed they are trying a different route. The truth is if they were able to stop the blog externally they would have by now, so now they are attempting internally.
They are hoping to scare some of you into being worried about your jobs, hoping you know enough by now to dime one another out, hoping you’ll reveal information that can be used against you or others administratively with the usual liberal application of intentionally broad policies. They are very angry, frustrated, and are getting pressure from their superiors to make this go away.
I would advise each and every one of you that you are engaging in a free speech exercise protected by the supreme law of the land and protected by specific case law because you are anonymous. If you used your real names and still worked for the department they could take administrative action against you. No matter what they will attempt to take action against you because they control the appeal process and know most of you can’t afford lawyers to hold them accountable.
Treat their administrative investigation like a criminal one; give them nothing. You are dealing with people of poor character who will be looking to exploit any situation to assist in their goal of ignoring problems instead of fixing them. Take a witness with you, take precautions otherwise they can say you said anything. They are desperate and are frustrated because after all this time and effort they still know nothing.
What you do legally on your own time is your business and none of theirs. We’re Americans first and ASUPD employees second. They will do anything to hurt anyone contributing to this righteous endeavor. Admit to nothing that will hurt you or another employee. If they don’t like what’s being said too bad, they are public officials of a public government institution. If they can’t handle the truth it’s time to stop lying and start fixing issues.
Another employee sent me an article from the Arizona Republic, another well written piece by investigative reporter Anne Ryman. I found it interesting that the man who has a history of suppressing the free speech of people he disagrees with, ASU President Dr. Michael Crow, talks about the university’s policy on academic freedom giving researchers the right to search for truth and knowledge without obstruction or restraint.
In a letter Dr. Crow said, “I strongly urge you and your colleagues to be aware of and to consider the principle of academic freedom as you continue your pursuit of documents and information from universities and individual faculty members…”
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/arizona/politics/2015/03/12/asu-prof-shocked-target-dems-climate-probe/70164776/
Was this freedom a consideration of ASU President Dr. Michael Crow when he recruited AZDPS and other resources to search for the source of the blog, uncover the identities of the writers on the blog? Not hardly. Pure hypocrisy.
For the principals of freedom, responsibility, and integrity I urge each and every one of you to give them absolutely nothing of value for this nefarious investigation. Continue to represent the best in law enforcement by holding to your principals and giving your loyalty to serving the public. Don’t give your loyalty to those who put the public in danger by not doing their job to support us or the mission of public safety, they support the illusion, and only themselves.
The university and the ASUPD better be careful as many outside this public institution of higher education have taken a keen interest on what is going on with AZDPS in collaboration with President Michael Crow and Chief Michael Thompson’s efforts to attempt to infringe on one’s First Amendment rights.
Stand your ground and do NOT be intimidated by well-dressed bullies in executive positions or in uniforms posing as leaders. These bullies just cannot help themselves and continue to operate unethically and immorally in their endeavor to infringe on your First Amendment rights.
God bless the United States of America and the U.S. Constitution!
Thanks for the update. I have a few things to say about this. How many times have they tried this already and left with nothing? Nobody fears the scarecrows, cares what they think, and every played game or slight leads to more encouragement.
Everyone has a job with defined responsibilities and expectations. For Dr Crow and Dr Olsen, featured here in the photo and commentary, they are supposed to be academic professionals and public officials whose responsibilities and expectations increase twofold.
Academic professionals are expected to conduct research with factual empirical data to form truthful conclusions without bias to a foregone hypothesis they are trying to prove.
They failed this test miserably with Officer Ferrin and Ursula Ore. After all the verdicts were in they wasted state government money to hire a private investigator to contradict state and federal government findings to support their foregone hypothesis of finding some fault to terminate Ferrin. Not very academic or ethical, but 100% asshole. Going as far as re-opening closed internal affairs and reclassifying them is so completely wrong it isn’t funny and Thompson isn’t fooling anyone. Even the people licking his boots did a spit-take on that.
As public officials Crow and Olsen are expected to be truthful, transparent, conduct themselves in a ethical manner, respect individual freedoms, not infringe on the rights of others regardless of their own personal opinions. In short they are trusted by the public to do the right thing. When they fall short of this they should no longer be public officials.
The university administration’s continued retardation of it’s own public safety department, ignoring issues of leadership inadequacy, the causes of turnover, short staffing, knowingly submitting false reports of crime data to the federal government, and now conducting a witch hunt for this blog and it’s contributors only compounds the list of failings for this administration.
With so many missed opportunities to address and fix problems Dr Crow and Dr Olsen are responsible for the content of the Integrity Report, “The Blog”, because they have failed to act in addressing the problems at ASUPD. It’s no longer a question of whether or not they are aware of the problems, there’s documented proof of that.
Hiring AZDPS to participate in the witch hunt, taking other shady measures, is beyond scandalous, it’s illegal. I’m sure state government money can be spend more wisely than attempting to infringe on the 1st amendment rights of it’s citizens. Any AZDPS detective who takes money for such a fool’s errand should be ashamed of themselves. Their command doesn’t want to get uninvited to sit up in the ASU sky box to watch the football games and get paid OT.
As Dr Crow addresses legislators about freedom, truth, and knowledge without obstruction or restraint he falls short of these expectations and ideals in his own playground where he permits infingement on all these issues. How we treat others marks the difference between civilized people and barbarians. It separates the intellectuals from brutes and the university administration has been found wanting on the intellectual side of the house.
Anyone can attend class and pass, it’s quite different from learning. Haven’t they learned anything from the failures of their police department over the years? They backed one obnoxious liar and replaced him with another one slightly more skilled than the last, but that’s not saying much.
At least Pickens wasn’t carrying on an affair on his spouse in front of the whole department. Thompson’s wife should ask who Jill Mariano was and why they were sneaking off in his car off campus on extended “lunch breaks”. Ask why he felt obligated to pull some strings and get her a job at the Mesa City Courts? A whole lot of information can and will be released as this witch hunt continues and nothing is done about issues at the department.
It’s not for moral or ethics reasons that Pickens didn’t have an affair, he just didn’t have a spouse when he was chasing tail in the bull pen at work.
I will never understand why are they continuing along the same road with unethical clowns who have the leadership charisma of a low life thug? The comparison of ASUPD to a whore house is spot on. I have never seen human beings sell themselves so cheaply.
The illusion of public safety means more than the real thing? Apparently so. If the university administration did some research on finding suitable candidates to run a police department they would find integrity to be a precursor to good leadership, nobody wants to work for liars, cheats, and in a police department especially your employees should have more integrity and character than the people they take to jail.
You have an institution’s administrators and a department within that institution that has elected to go rogue. Dr. Michael Crow, Dr. Morgan Olsen, Kevin Salcido and Chief Michael Thompson have all made a conscious decision to operate in this manner.
Dr. Crow, if you do not like what is being written on the blog maybe the solution is to start addressing and fixing the problems that you are well aware of in your police department.
And if you do not think there are any major problems in your police department, maybe it is time to cede your position as president and allow someone more insightful to assume the presidency.
The blog has been extremely critical of you and your underlings, but going on a witch-hunt through AZDPS to shutdown the blog because you do not like what is being said about you, your underlings and the university’s police department is not the solution to fixing the problems.
Chief Michael Thompson, his underlings, his bosses, and DPS would have no blog to chase and snoop for if they just did their jobs. This blog wasn’t created overnight and neither was the deluge of problems affecting the ASU Police Department.
They tried covering things up and that didn’t work, so now you are trying to silence the people who disagree with you. That doesn’t sound very forward thinking, but it’s what everyone expected to happen.
After how ASU PD has been mismanaged I know the current crop of “leadership” is incapable of thinking their way out of the hole they dug themselves. It’s much easier to place that blame on a subordinate.
Officer Ferrin is a good example of this. While he did have his problems he was ill-trained, ill-supervised, nothing was substantiated in his file until they changed the file to fit their intention of terminating his employment.
Quite a few officers before and after him were making overly aggressive contacts on petty issues in the same manner. The only difference is this time it was a black ASU professor.
This issue will repeat itself because yet again nothing has changed. Instead of Pickens pushing a cart out the door full of junk looking for a new job it will be Thompson. Keep it up Integrity Report! These guys must be freaking out and losing their minds. For what they’ve done to people they deserve it!
To paraphrase Dr Crow…
I strongly urge Dr Michael Crow and his colleagues to be aware of and to consider the principles of American freedom as you continue your pursuit of individuals and information from law abiding Americans using their first amendment rights.
Is this a case of how bullies don’t like getting picked on?
I knew about this. They did it before. It’s desperation that says the Integrity Report is working. I want to know how much tax payer state money have they wasted on paying AZDPS to harass ASUPD employees? It’s a fucking joke.
When a business doesn’t like the reviews it gets it either changes the way it does business or it ignores them and goes out of business.
ASUPD isn’t managed like a performing business with a bottom line, it’s managed like the laughing stock of Arizona law enforcement circles with no accountability, known for internal problems, and not public safety performance. It shouldn’t be this way, but it is.
If President Crow and Chief Thompson figure they are going to be victorious in shutting down the blog through AZDPS, they might want to think twice about their endeavor.
President Crow might think he is god in his New American University, but mess with our protected speech and my finger is on the speed dial to my elected officials!
I am really disappointed in Chief Thompson. I thought maybe after John Pickens, he would start making positive changes in the department. However, nothing appears to be changing for the better. In fact, things appear to be getting worse, especially morale wise.
Chief Thompson not removing the commanders that Pickens put in place is really disappointing. None of those commanders is worthy of their title or the money they are being paid. Look at the current state of affairs in the police department–it’s abysmal!
Now hearing that Chief Thompson and his bosses are working with AZDPS to attempt to find out who is running the Integrity Report blog or whom might be posting is quite disturbing, especially for a university that openly touts “academic freedom and the right to search for truth and knowledge without obstruction or restraint.” The paraphrased quote is from President Michael Crow.
When will these silly clowns realize that nobody is afraid of them and their nonsense. The criticism is going to be there as long as the department and university continue to back people who have no integrity, but are running a police department. It’s an outrage.
This isn’t just a few disgruntled employees saying this, the silent majority have noticed. Only a minority have decided to go the extra step and write on here about it.
I’m always running into officers from other agencies and before I say a word they already know how screwed up ASUPD is. The word is out. It’s beyond the universal disgust in the LE community over the Ferrin issue, these guys know things I thought only internal employees knew.
The whole idea of them doing this is rediculous. It’s contrary to labor law, employee rights, constitutional law, and the ACLU would love to take a case like this. The media would be very interested as well. Not to mention any dirty laundry the affected employees had would become public domain. The embarrassment and negative attention for the university would be intense. They could count on more hush hush payouts.
I wonder what kind of deal the university struck with Stewart Ferrin and his attorney, Mel McDonald? It appears Ferrin went silent, with the exception of some staged public comments, after his resignation.
It would be interesting to know how much in hush hush payouts the university has tendered over the years.
Sounds like the makings for an outstanding news story. The public would love to know how much the university paid out in litigation and for what reasons.
How many millions in public money was paid out by the university for issues relating to negligence in public safety over the last 14 years?
Word is that AZDPS is continuing their witch hunt in their feeble attempt to find out who is running the Integrity Report blog and posting comments.
The university and its police department’s end game is to deny anonymous posters their First Amendment rights and shut down the Integrity Report blog.
We contacted our sources outside the university to inform them of the continued witch hunt orchestrated by President Michael Crow, Dr. Morgan Olsen and Chief Michael Thompson.
We can already see the next national and local headline news regarding Arizona State University: ASU, its police department and Arizona Department of Public Safety…attempt to infringe on protected speech and violate First Amendment rights of …
President Michael Crow, Dr. Morgan Olsen, Chief Michael Thompson and AZDPS, are writing the narrative on this one.
An obvious attempt to infringe on the right of free speech, the most basic of the guarantees that anchor our great Bill of Rights.
I enjoy tuning into the Integrity Report because it’s honest, it cuts off the fluff and fat to get to the meat. The department is desperate to make the crow’s nest happy and like Pickens they will continue to disappoint with another vain attempt to subvert protected speech and avoid further embarrassment.
They are writing this blog one inaction at a time. Criticism comes from how corrupt and inept they are at doing their jobs, but everyone knows that. The are attempting to silence opposing view points like people who won’t change the channel on a radio station playing a song they don’t want to listen to. Dumb.
This is what happens when you get a bunch of ego maniac fat cat cry babies in a room who forgot where they came from, who have no self check and balance, no common sense, and simply want what they want knowing the tax payer is paying the bill for their excess. Assuming everyone posting is still working at ASU what do you have, a policy violation or two?
A crime for allegedly taking Pam’s photo of her Pinterest page, Facebook, or W drive? How much overtime money has ASU paid to AZDPS for this by now? Is the new director aware of this looming embarrassment? LMAO. If what is on here wasn’t true they would have shrugged and ignored the blog a year ago.
Instead they sit in their offices clicking refresh on the Integrity Report every day hoping the latest embarrassment doesn’t surface and stressing over what will surface when. The stress caused them all to pack the pounds on, oh well, don’t be dicks. It’s about time someone started telling the truth about the internal mess of ASUPD. Thanks for keeping it real.
Long live the Integrity Report blog for its candor on how the Arizona State University’s leadership and its police department’s leadership functions and treats its employees.
We, the public, hope that in the end the facts will come out and those that are responsible for abusing their position or mentally abusing their employees in the police department are held accountable.
Does anyone know if the AZDPS investigation regarding the blog is still ongoing or has it been concluded?
A commander from a local police agency with over 20 years of experience, a master’s degree, FBI National Academy and other credentials was denied the opportunity to test for the AC position because he does not have “campus” law enforcement experience even though his experience wraps circles around the acting AC. The fix is in for the AC and other selections it appears.
It doesn’t surprise me. Shock and disgust are the most common felt feelings for ASUPD processes. For each of the sergeants they selected there were far more qualified, experienced, and worthy candidates in the “process”. The selection of chief, assistant chief, commander, even the overtime coordinator position all have the same familiar smell. They are not tested for, they are handed out.
Ass kissing, pandering, and personal connections are given the greatest concern over all else. The university doesn’t want leadership at the police department, it wants lackeys who jump when the phone rings, willing to abandon their people when the wind changes, and regard their officers as disposable. Just keep hiring more police aides and call the local municipal PD when police work happens.
You guys should publish a story on the corrupt selection processes that “integrity first” is talking about and on the latest New Times Ore /Ferrin article. The overall subject is beating a dead horse, but the article dives into the fact that complaint processes are questionable at best. One of the people receiving the most complaints was just appointed to Sergeant. Unbelievable.
You talk about Chief Mike Thompson like he was a impressionable kid who fell in with the wrong crowd and that’s where you’re wrong. He knows exactly what he’s doing and the past is catching up with him. There are too many people out there with “I caught Thompson in a lie.” stories.
Chief Thompson is all too happy to hear what someone has to say, lie his ass off to tell them what they want to hear, and do exactly the opposite and contradicting whatever he said to someone.
The truth is Chief Thompson is right at home with the bottom feeder sacks of shit Pickens left behind. He’s trying to build the department with the same low levels or morality Pickens was known for, levels any worthwhile peace officer would be disgusted by. It doesn’t work.
You are absolutely correct about Mike Thompson. Thompson will tell you one thing and then later you discover what he told you was an absolute lie.
Thompson fits right in with ex-chief’s chosen commanders.
He has the classic signs of bi-polar careerist. If you go to him for help expect to be hurt. You can’t expect anything but disappointment unless he knows you can help him. In that case you’re only delaying the disappointment.
Chief Mike Thompson is the perfect example of buddy fucking self-serving careerism. There’s nothing he won’t do or say to secure his position. It has nothing to do with running an effective police department or taking care of the people who make it operate, he could care less because the hiring door is always open, it has to be for the department to survive.
Chief Thompson has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde character. He puts on a good show about wanting to do the right thing, taking care and consideration, seeing your side, but this is all part of his game.
Politicians do this to get the confidence of naive voters, it’s a form of pillow talk. The women chief Thompson has affairs with are told the classic lines of, “I’m going through a divorce, my marriage is on the rocks, I tried to work it out with her but she’s unreasonable.”
This technique is used to gain sympathy from his audience and create a mutual understanding where in reality there’s a disconnect only he’s aware of. His audience is unaware of the agenda for him to get what he’s after and to be done with them. This goes for employees who have problems in the workplace and mistresses. He will actively engage others to hurt the people he personally told he was going to help.
This hints to a serious psychological problem with Thompson who has a propensity to pursue career advancement, power, and prestige through any negative or positive non-performance based activity that is deemed necessary.
These “non-performance” based activities are activities in which an he can easily manipulate the people whom he is trying to impress or pacify. This makes him dangerous to employees who put confidence in him to do the right thing.
Increasingly ASUPD employees are saying, “I don’t trust Thompson.” It’s no wonder, it’s a small department, word travels fast, and there really are no secrets. His bosses at the Crow’s nest should keep these observations in mind when they deal with the grinning bobblehead now occupying the chief position at ASUPD.
Everything in law enforcement circles depends on trust, so we’re fortunate very little police work happens here. That doesn’t mean employees who make it through extensive background screenings don’t have equally high expectations for moral behavior. Unfortunately for the employees of ASUPD they have come to have low expectations for their leadership.
When enough people are coming away with the same conclusion the illusion is over and the game is up. If you’re dealing with people who identify confront liars every day maybe lying to them is a bad idea. Don’t even blow smoke up their ass. The truth will set you free Chief Mike Thompson, the truth.
If Chief Thompson was a good decisive leader making positive changes at ASUPD nobody would pay much attention to the checkered past, mistresses at work, or anything other than the good job he was doing.
Instead he conducts himself at work the way he conducts his private affairs and there’s no faith in his ability to hold a leadership position. It’s unrealistic to expect a man to behave in a opposite manner on the the job than off.
One moment he acknowledges the department has a destructive clique, that he’s going to break up the Orr’s boys firearms gang, then in another moment he’s approving them all to get the same firearms equipment all other police departments reserve ONLY FOR SWAT.
Thousands of dollars for short barreled M4 rifles with suppressors?!? Interesting way to break up the destructive clique and fix the hemorrhaging department Mike.
It sound more like a John Pickens inspired management scheme where funds that go in a police department don’t make the public any safer, they just fund the whims and lifestyles of a top heavy management team. Standard patrol M4-carbines would have been more than adequate for the low staffing we have and for how few of us on patrol are given training to use them on a public university campus far from danger.
@ DL500unit,
Are you fucking serious? Those walrus flopping tacticalturds convinced Chief Thompson to buy them all Swat operator weapons to go with their wannabe Navy Seal/Molan Labe starter kits? Thompson is such a tool.
What’s next a command center vehicle, a armored vehicle, air unit? We can’t even get enough functioning equipment to do the real job, we don’t need high priced toys to do the job we’re never going to do. The news should look into this.
Incorporate Billy Orr’s training video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W8sySKupAg
Thompson is an unwanted encore of Pickens. Thompson keeping Orr’s boys in place and continuing with many of the former chief’s losing management ways by approving unnecessary firearms spending sprees does not bode well for the future of the department or him.