The past few days at ASUPD have been very hectic; the administrative melt-down we’ve all been hoping for has finally happened at ASUPD (and it may be a sign of the times for the department).
On Thursday, we were the first to report that Chief John Pickens and Assistant Chief Jim Hardina were abruptly removed from their positions within the department. According to witnesses, both employees were given boxes and seen pushing carts full of their belongings out the door to their vehicles. The Phoenix New Times Valley Fever blog quickly picked up on our story, and cited us as a primary information source (see the story about Pickens here, and the follow up story about Pickens/Hardina here). New Times blogger Ray Stern contacted the university’s PR gurus (who confirmed the emails we posted were authentic) for a statement, and they were unable to provide a logical explanation for the abrupt nature of both Pickens’ and Hardina’s departures.
On a separate, but not totally unrelated note: another media source has contacted The Integrity Report in search of current and former ASUPD employees who are willing to share their stories. The source has stated that anyone wishing to share their ASUPD experiences CAN have their identities withheld! If you are interested in participating, send an email to:
firstamendmentftw@hushmail.com
We don’t need your name or your story; once we receive an email expressing interest, we will send you the contact information of the person with which you can share your story. We strongly encourage EVERY current and former ASUPD employee to speak up and allow their experiences to be shared with the WORLD! This is one more medium we can all collectively use to affect positive change and accountability at ASUPD.
I love it. No more secrets, no more bullshit! Good j
This is a great opportunity to get the word out. This department has been failing for some time and nothing will change if the problems aren’t exposed.
Full disclosure is the key to fixing this place. Anything less perpetuates it.
One can only hope the administration of ASU has enough sense to not believe “…the chief made me do it. I had no choice.” nonsense that’s being circulated around the department. I was just following orders doesn’t cut it when those orders were immoral, illegal, or came from people who see the chief as an easy scapegoat for their past misdeeds. No excuses.
I was under the impression the president of this university, Michael Crow, wasn’t one to tolerate an endless amount of excuses, but the remaining command staff at ASUPD say otherwise. This story isn’t over.
They have been lied to for years and I can guarantee they are still being lied to. They’re either just waking up now or they have been proponents in mediocrity policy this whole time and it’s finally catching up to them.
They can’t afford to be lied to anymore. How many more news stories break before they are the feature piece?
If they want stories it would have to be in a way the officers couldn’t be identified. The amount of disgruntled ASU Police employees far outnumbers the posters on this blog, which shows a minority of people willing to post.
The fact remains that ASU or the minions running the police department can do nothing about. The top two guys being thrown out on the ears painfully short of retirement is the proof! Even knowing this many ASUPD employees with reasons to be dissatisfied with the department don’t post.
Are they afraid, are they cowards? I’m beginning to think so. You don’t have to be brave to post on an anonymous blog. Expecting them to tell their stories may be way too much. I wouldn’t get your hopes up.
It is good seeing all of this unfold. I hope some people can step forward anonymously or go public with what they have to say. The public has a right to know how much of a distasteful mess the ASUPD has become. They pay 14 million for spotty one to two man coverage.
It’s a shameless joke how long the public has been unprotected, the baseline officer unsupported, understaffed, and underpaid. Despite this Pickens stuffed the department with dozens of supervisors 70k and up.
The top heavy supervisor stuffed police department we have serves what purpose? To look impressive to a public who don’t realize supervisors make no impact on our depleted patrol numbers?
Hopefully enough people come forward to anonymously report what they have seen here. Obviously the University thought ASUPD command was doing a sub par job.
Why else were James Hardina and John Pickens seen pushing their worldly possessions out of the door on carts like transients living on the street? From the penthouse to the curb in a week!
Karma is a bitch! Pickens and Hardina deserve everything they got in the end.
Maybe the remaining command staff better take note and start prepping their carts.
The opera ain`t over till the fat lady sings.
I would have given anything to see that spectacle. It sounds like the only thing missing were the angry townsfolk cursing and throwing rotten produce at them.
That’s what you get for knowing about issues for years and turning a blind eye to them because they don’t affect you personally. I guess they affect you now!
We can only hope they do say something, for god’s sake it’s anonymous. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by a revamped department.
The department won’t change if the truth remains buried because the people responsible for wrongdoing will have no consequences for their bahavior. How does this serve or protect anyone? It’s a shame so many people ate afraid to say anything.
The current dysfunctional state of affairs at the command-level is severely undermining the ability of the ASU PD to retain sworn officers badly needed to staff all four campuses.
The university’s leadership has further calcified the culture of dysfunction in the ASU PD by minimizing the problems or outright refusing to acknowledge they exist.
Hopefully, some current and former employees will have the inner fortitude to come forward and provide their experiences working for the ASU PD.
Yet another officer jumped ship this week, what a surprise!
Now they are leaving as soon as they get off training. Why bother waiting for the first year of probation?
Michael Crow and company neutered the ability of the ASU PD to retain sworn officers because they decided to keep the unlikable command Pickens left behind.
Keep watching as the numbers drop!
The story needs to be told, otherwise you enable the crap management and failed leadership to continue. It’s that simple.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King
If the ASU PD leadership refuses to change how it operates and the university’s leadership fails to properly fund and allot the ASU PD with the necessary number of sworn officers, the only other way, besides potential law suits, to affect positive change within the ASU PD and university, is to expose their pernicious methods of operation through the public media
The Arizona Republic, Sunday, September 21, 2014, edition, highlights our anemic staffing numbers for patrol. The article is on the front page of the Republic and is a well-written piece depicting our many problems within the ASU PD by investigative reporter Anne Ryman and Rob O’Dell.
The article spotlights, to the masses, how dangerous the ASU campuses are and our inability to provide the level of safety and security for our students, faculty, staff and visitors while on ASU’s four campuses.
The university’s leadership is just as culpable for our lack of adequate patrol officers as current and former command staff members who willfully or negligently mismanaged ASU PD resources over the years, to include their most vital resources, their employees
Nothing will change fundamentally within the ASU PD until virtually every member in the current command staff is removed from their positions and held accountable for our lack of patrol officers.
The university’s leadership also has some accountability as it allowed the department to be mismanaged and poorly staffed under the former chief, John Pickens, for over 14-years!
Hopefully, with the continual exposure, on the local and national level, the university’s leadership will be forced to make the much-needed changes within the ASU PD and the Arizona Board of Regents will make the much-needed changes within the university’s leadership.