Tag Archives: financial mismanagement

Jan 18 2014
20 Comments
General

New officer resigns after being sworn in at ASUPD

On January 16, 2014, Chief John Pickens was due to swear in the three new officers who had successfully passed their AZPOST test. These new officers were very desperately needed in the department to alleviate ongoing staffing concerns. After the swearing in ceremony, one of the three officers presented chief with something he should be well acquainted with–a letter of resignation. The chief was enraged. Shortly afterwards the issued equipment–the new clunky and garish badge, uniform with new patches–were all being turned back into the property room to await their new owner (who probably wouldn’t be hanging around long either).  

As esteemed members of the ASU Police Department, we would like to extend a special thanks to this officer for embodying the department’s toxic state into one singular action. It serves to illustrate the disturbing reality we live with daily which is putting more bodies into a lousy workplace won’t fix any of the problems at the department, it will only perpetuate them.

This latest lateral officer isn’t the first officer to do this by any stretch; there have been plenty who have quit in short order once they were exposed to our workplace. Chief Pickens is too proud to acknowledge the problems, too inept to understand and fix them. How many more employees must we tear through before Pickens realizes poor morale is the cause of the staffing problem??

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Jan 17 2014
15 Comments
General

Editorial: Show us the receipts!

It has been a minute since the writers at The Integrity Report have crafted any sort of ‘editorial’. Our main focus is factually reporting events that transpire at ASUPD, and intertwining them with pertinent news articles, snippets from books, and data analysis. We aim to present this information in a manner that is very straightforward, because the subject matter is shocking enough to speak for itself. On occasion, this approach can feel one-dimensional, and sometimes fails to tie facts and ideas into “the bigger picture”; that is where our editorial perspective is most effective.

In a very predictive fashion, ASUPD’s response to The Integrity Report has been incredibly reactionary in nature. The issues discussed on the blog have been a recapitulation of problems that have plagued the department for years, but the primary difference between the issues in the past and those in the present boil down to publicity. Because ASUPD’s problems are now out in the public realm, Chief Pickens and his Command staff are forced to react to this information, if only for the purposes of saving face.

This “kneejerk” response on behalf of command staff is readily apparent in the haphazard methodology in which the department has utilized to address problems. Instead of sitting down and hashing out a strategic plan to dismantle the self-destructing time bomb (which is common practice in the public sector when new programs/initiatives are implemented), Pickens has chosen to focus on the low hanging fruit–looking at the short term problem of staffing and ignoring the long term question of, “what is causing this chronic staffing issue?!”. Answering the latter question would require an honest and open assessment of the abilities and skills of your subordinates, as well as oneself (and its much easier to blame problems on “bad attitudes” or poor work ethic of your employees).

Nonetheless, the most recent and reactionary response [of the continuous bad press] by Pickens and Command staff is to have mandatory meetings for employees at the satellite campuses. These “meetings” have done nothing productive for the department’s employees and have only served the purpose of verbal masturbation–ie, tell me some positive information so I feel better about myself. If the department was truly serious about showing its employees it was actively working to fix problems, it would have some tangible thing to present (a game plan, if you will) that would serve the duel purpose of being an informative tool, and providing accountability to Pickens and Command staff.

Merely telling us that golly, you’re working really hard to make ASUPD a nicer place to work serves no purpose. It does not prove you have actively done anything but sit in meetings all day, freaking out. This is the same plot line as the movie The Wizard of Oz: we’re the leaders, you should believe everything we tell you, but you can’t know what secret plans we have going on, and you CERTAINLY can’t look behind the curtain!

Well Pickens–the gig is up. People from all over the valley are now paying attention to ASUPD’s missteps–other university officials, other police departments, the City of Tempe, the media, and private citizens, to name a few. You can’t hide from answering the hard questions anymore. If you are really serious about fixing the department, show us the receipts; outline the steps you and your Command staff are taking to tackle the hard issues. If not–to borrow one of your colloquial phrases–McDonald’s is always hiring.

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Jan 16 2014
7 Comments
General

Transparency in police budgets: why it needs to happen at ASUPD

Because Arizona State University is a public university–funded by tax payers–budget expenditures for the university are readily accessible (via web/hard copy). However, one budget that is noticeably absent from public view would be that of the ASUPD! When referenced in the context of the university’s budget as a whole, it is summarily tossed in to the “public service” sector tag with other departments. Therefore, seeing the actual operating costs and expenditures of ASUPD is impossible, short of a FOIA request.

Why is this important, you ask?

There has been a huge discrepancy in the amount of funds Chief Pickens repeatedly says the department doesn’t have (and then arbitrarily spends), and the amount of money the department has frivolously spent. 

For a department that is so cash strapped, ASUPD seems to materialize funds when they are desperate to retain people. Prior to the indeed.com situation in the summer of 2013, the only raise ASUPD employees had received in five years came from the Governor’s office (in which state employees were given a 3% pay raise). This is coupled with the fact the 3% pay raise did NOT replace the lost wages accrued from a lack of cost of living raises, and a uniform allowance. [As an aside, the Chief and Command staff have been consistently  receiving pay raises/incentives during the time period when the rest of the department was on a pay freeze! Chief Pickens’ is also one of the highest paid Chiefs in the valley!] .However, after the indeed.com scandal broke, Sergeants and Officers found themselves receiving a pay increase after being told previously there was no money in the department’s budget to do so. Additionally, several members of the department who were leaving for greener pastures were also offered small amounts of money to entice them to remain at ASUPD.

Frivolous spending throughout the department’s “tough financial situation”, however, remained at an all-time high.

Chief Pickens decided to replace ALL the sworn cotton uniforms with a cotton/wool blend that degraded faster and cost more to maintain. He also completely redid  and replaced ALL of the department’s badges, despite the fact funds were desperately needed on the patrol side for new employees and new vehicles. Fairly soon, the Chief will also be revamping the departments’ patch, costing time and money to replace the preexisting patch.

Chief Pickens also routinely spends unknown amounts of money on other items such as regular lunches for himself and command staff, a take home vehicle for himself and several other members of the department, and possibly even traveling with the football team.(As an aside, several other Police Chiefs across the country have come under intense scrutiny for frivolous spending of tax payer money, such as Baltimore’s former Police Commissioner  ,a St. Louis County Police Chief, and an Ohio Police Chief).  Not surprisingly, in a 2011 assement, CALEA noted that the methodology utilized by ASUPD to track cash account activities made it difficult to keep track of how much was actually being spent.

The Integrity Report also did a cost analysis on ASUPD’s FTO program which showed the department had spent nearly a million dollars in two years on its failing FTO program; approximately 1/2 million dollars was spent on training employees who quit the department after less than a year of working there (with some only staying for MONTHS at a time!). This number is especially shocking when you consider it doesn’t include the salary of the Sergeant who had no qualification/training to run an FTO program (approximately $70k), or the salary of the FTO’s who were also not qualified to train new officers.

In summary, there has been an untold amount of tax-payer money being misappropriated by the Chief in various forms, which could be used to aid the underpaid, under trained, and unequipped employees who are still trying to hold the department together. The tax paying citizens of Arizona should be outraged enough to demand each requisition, receipt, and budget from ASUPD so that the many of these  public officials–including Chief Pickens–are help accountable. Perhaps this blog post will prompt the mainstream media to undertake this challenge?

 

 

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Jan 14 2014
8 Comments
General

Civilian employees: the backbone of ASUPD

The primary focus at The Integrity Report has been addressing department-wide issues in general; however, these issues are most applicable to the sworn sector of the department. We wanted to specifically address our civilian sector, too; without them, the department would be even more in shambles than it currently is (if that’s possible!).

When we discuss civilian employees, who do we mean specifically? Police Aides, dispatches, administrative assistants, evidence and fleet technicians. Because of their support staff roles, we feel their concerns have a tendency to be overlooked by command staff (who is currently fixated on the sworn staffing situation). Here’s a brief list (and by no means “all inclusive”) of issues command staff needs to address to improve the productivity and retention of the backbone of ASUPD–the civilian employees.

  • Pay Raises: Yes, we know everyone wants a pay raise, but the civilian employees definitely deserve one. While officers have been getting pay raises (albeit insignificant ones), the PAs and dispatchers have not been receiving any sort of pay raise, and also make considerably less than their peers (see the salaries tables located here). If you want to hire and retain best employees, you have to give them an incentive to stay!
  • Training: PAs have been routinely used to supplement the low patrol numbers, which means they are regularly dispatched to calls in which they are ill-equipped to respond (dispatched to violent subject calls, often backup for an officer when they’re going hands on). Give them taser training as well as some advanced cuffing techniques, so they can be utilized effectively. PAs and dispatchers should also be incorporated into sworn training when possible.
  • Use them effectively: There are lots of PAs with former law enforcement/military experience, or highly educated/specialized degrees who are not being utilized effectively. There are many ways the department could deploy these people with experience, especially in a way that would be helpful during a staffing crisis. Instead of ignoring or discounting their experience, let them use it to make the department more effective and efficient.
  • Allow for career development…if they want it: Allow the civilian employees the opportunity to USE their tuition reimbursement or enroll in additional training, when possible. It is difficult to schedule classes/training when your workweek can change at the drop of the hat to suit the department’s needs. Also recognize that some people DON’T want career advancement for whatever reason–its their retirement job, they’re going to school for another career field–whatever. Constantly hounding employees to test for officer positions is pointless for people who don’t want to work in the field or are using ASUPD as a vehicle for somewhere else.
  • They’re the “eyes and ears” for the department…but they’re not sources of intel: Civilian employees are used as “eyes and ears” for the sworn staff; there are easily more civilian employees than sworn, so they can observe and report activity that patrol wouldn’t normally see. However, just because they see or hear a lot does NOT make them a source of intel or gossip! There has been several supervisors who have tried to use PAs or dispatchers to spy on other employees for the purposes of bullying/getting an officer in trouble. This is absurd! It’s not high school anymore, and the civilian employees don’t want to be involved in departmental drama or gossip.
  • Supervise their supervisors: This is a huge one. Make sure the people that supervise civilian employees know what they’re doing and know HOW to manage people. How long did a former dispatch supervisor terrorize her employees before she left? How many complaints were made against PA Lead Atkinson or Nasca before someone realized they were NOT good supervisors? Civilian supervisors should be instructed how to properly and unfairly evaluate employees using a standardized method in addition to receiving training on how to manage people and resources effectively. Just because you have a civilian in a supervisor position does NOT mean he or she know how to do the job. (That being said…there are also some pretty stellar supervisors!!)
  • APPRECIATE YOUR CIVILIAN EMPLOYEES!!: Some supervisors are excellent on giving accolades to their civilian employees when a major event transpires on the sworn side (Sgt. T was always giving out “atta boys” for this civilian employees)…but quite frankly, a lot of them don’t. You can (to an extent) mitigate low pay, poor working conditions–a myriad of other variables–IF you employees feel appreciated, invested, and are happy. This means giving them credit for great work they do, both visible or behind the scenes (look at how much work was put into revamping the evidence processing, fleet/equipment managing, or how much behind the scenes work the admin assistants do regularly). Their roles SUPPORT the function of the sworn side, so without them, the sworn side cannot perform their duties.
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Jan 10 2014
8 Comments
General

How ASUPD narrowly escaped dealing with an armed/dangerous suspect!

On Monday Dec 16, 2013, there was a police pursuit and standoff involving an armed subject in the East valley; however, what the media failed to mention is this incident originated in student housing at the ASU Polytechnic Campus.

24 hours prior to being apprehended, the suspect threatened to shoot and kill his girlfriend, as well as himself. He also had the means to carry out those threats by claiming he owned several guns (he was later apprehended with a shotgun and a handgun in his vehicle). After the victim reported the threats, ASUPD Sgt Phil Osborne claimed they had no charges against the suspect (please see ARS 13-1202, Threatening and Intimidating, for more info). According to Sgt Osborne, because they had no charges against the suspect, ASUPD was unable to detain or arrest him when/if they had the chance.

 Eventually, the suspect was  located outside of the victim’s workplace, but took off when officers attempted to stop him.  ASUPD Polytechnic Commander, L. Scicilone was stepping over the ASUPD officer’s radio traffic (who was trying to stop the suspect)  in an attempt to cover policy, repeatedly (and excitedly) asking over and over, “ you are not in pursuit are you?!?”. ASUPD officers eventually lost the suspect. Gilbert and Mesa officers who were in pursuit of the vehicle (which got up to speeds of 100 mph!) eventually found the suspect. An ASUPD officer responding to the scene driving code three was told by Mesa and Gilbert PD to stay out of their scene. Ultimately the standoff came to a peaceful end and the suspect was taken into custody in Mesa after negotiating with officers.

This situation could have been resolved much sooner had Sgt Osborne reacted appropriately by identifying the fact a crime had occurred and attempted to get the subject into custody soon. What would have happened if the subject would have come back to the victim’s room a day later and killed her? Or fired rounds at police? It is by sheer luck ALONE that ASUPD did not have this situation turn much worse.

This story illustrates perfectly how ASUPD is ill equipped—both with personnel and equipment—to deal with a major incident on campus. The blame lies upon ASUPD command staff who refuse to prepare a contingency plan for a major incident, and provide their officers with adequate training to be able to respond to a barricaded subject or an active shooter. Constantly functioning with the blasé attitude that “it can’t happen here” will eventually get someone seriously harmed/killed and is purely negligent on behalf of command staff.

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Jan 07 2014
10 Comments
General

GA public safety chief resigns over police staffing

Interesting how in other jurisdictions, mismanaging your police staffing would elicit such a strong response from other public officials. Conversely, at ASU, the department and university have known about chronically low staffing issues for years, and no public official in a position to handle the situation has addressed this issue. 

From policeone.com:

By Dan Klepal
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County’s top public safety official resigned Monday with acidic four-page letter to county manager David Hankerson, alleging that police staffing levels are dangerously low and that Hankerson and other county officials refuse to do anything about it, even though they have known about the problem for more than a year.

Jack Forsythe, director of the county’s Department of Public Safety, also said in the letter that the Atlanta Braves new stadium will exacerbate the problem if the county doesn’t add more officers.

“For over a year now, the decision to increase the police department’s authorized strength has been delayed or denied by continuing to request additional information that … is not available, or (by) requests of duplicate information that has already been presented,” the Jan. 6 letter says.

Forsythe went on to write that Hankerson has stonewallled his effort to commission a study that would document the need for more officers. Cobb’s police department has more than 600 sworn officer and 150 civilian employees. Forsythe also was in charge of the county’s fire department, 911 operations and animal control unit.

“You have stated that the county is not ready for what the report will say nor can the county afford the number of officers the report will say we need, therefore the study has not been given approval from your office to proceed even after I was directed” by Commission Chairman Tim Lee to have it completed, the letter says.

Forsythe’s resignation takes effect Jan. 24 but he is on leave until then. Hankerson will recommend to the Cobb County Commission that Fire Chief Sam Heaton replace him permanently. Heaton served as interim public safety director from August 2010 through January 2013, and will again handle the job on an interim basis until the commission acts on the recommendation.

Lee did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment on the resignation and the allegations in the letter. The county’s public relations office released statements by Hankerson and Lee Monday night, but neither addressed the substance of the letter.

Forsythe’s performance appraisal for 2013 shows that he was given a “meets requirements” designation in all areas of his job, and for his overall performance.

However, the appraisal noted: “Communication with County Manager and the office is very poor. This area needs improvement more than any other area.” It also noted that Forsythe missed public safety related events in the community “without any communication to the County Manager.”

Forsythe’s letter also hints at friction between him and Hankerson.

“You … stated that I don’t do things the Cobb Way,” Forsythe’s letter to Hankerson says. “It appears the Cobb Way is not to disagree or buck the current procedures, regardless of the validity or legality of the Cobb Way process.”

Forsythe worked as a senior law enforcement official for NASA from 2003-11. He was working as a consultant from 2011 until hired by the county in December 2012.

Forsythe’s letter also complains about his salary, which he says is “$30,000 below the national average.” But the major thrust is the lack of police manpower.

“Public safety in Cobb County has suffered from a lack of sufficient funding and resources to properly sustain the appropriate level of personnel, facilities and equipment needed to provide an adequate level of protection for the citizens,” the letter says. “This lack of support for public safety over the years has increased officer safety issues, reduced the number of officers available for calls, increased fire response times and ultimately (led to) the degradation of the morale of all public safety personnel.”

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Jan 07 2014
3 Comments
General

What ASU really achieved in 2013

We were pretty struck by the article on ASU’s homepage: What we achieved in 2013! Granted, some of the achievements regarding research were pretty stellar, but the majority of the article was peppered with “achievements” such as: being one of the “greenest” schools in the country, revamping the business school building, and having the Sun Devils in a bowl game.

Noticeably absent, of course, are topics such as Michael Crow receiving a pay raise while the rest of his employees receive a measly 3% pay raise (after a 5 year pay freeze!), or the decrease in proactive policing (due to staffing issues). Therefore, we’re creating a list of what ASU also achieved in 2013. This is, by no means, a conclusive list.

 

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Jan 05 2014
5 Comments
General

Why was the defunct Chief’s Advisory Board resurrected?

This is an old email, but still interesting, nonetheless.

The bolded parts in the following email sent from Chief Picken’s are supposed to “establish an agenda and direction for the Chief’s Advisory Board”. In hindsight, however, we know that the issues brought forth from the past two meetings are identical to the issues from meetings in 2009 . What is perhaps the most telling about this email (besides the obvious attempt to pretend that you are actively working to better the department) is the timing of its release; it happens to coincide with the time that the department was fretting over the negative postings made by its personnel on indeed.com.

From: John Pickens (Chief of Police)

Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 2:57 PM

To: DL.ORG.DPS.PSD

Cc: John Pickens (Chief of Police)

Subject: Chief’s Advisory Board

I established a Chief’s Advisory Board in 2001 to serve as a mechanism to improve communication by providing accurate information and a forum to address and resolve issues. The board was not established to circumvent the chain of command. The board as it was established has not met since 2009. There has been quite a bit of change since that time, (promotions, changes in personnel, new hires, etc.). I would like to re-establish the board with more of a focused driven direction. Members of the advisory board would be bring forth ideas to establish new programs, suggestions to improve processes, and other relevant suggestions that would assist me with continued progress of the department. I would like to focus on the positive things but I also realize that there will be other issues that will need to be addressed as well. I anticipate adding representatives from the sergeant’s group at a later date.

The group consists of:

Officer DB

Officer RG

Officer DG

Officer JG

Officer BK

Corporal KF

Corporal MP

Corporal LK

Police Aide KG

Police Aide PW

Police Aide BF

Dispatcher AK

Please get in touch with any of the representatives to provide information and suggestions. The first meeting will be scheduled very soon. As always, I appreciate your assistance. Please contact me if you have any questions.

John L. Pickens Chief of Police Arizona State University Police Department

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Jan 03 2014
6 Comments
General

Chief Pickens and his love of ASU Football: who is picking up the tab?

We know Chief Pickens’ LOVES ASU Football; it is pretty apparent due to his regular attendance at nearly every home ASU game. However, what has us concerned is his very frequent road trips with the ASU football team to attend their away football games, which also includes traveling to ASU’s end of season bowl games. Our question is this: what entity provides him with the funding to go to all the away football games? Does the money come from the police department budget, or does the money come from the athletic department?

Either way, you’d be hard pressed to find another major university sending its POLICE CHIEF to every football game, home or away. Other major universities–Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and USC, to name a few–send one or two OFFICERS to away football games (this includes bowl games as well).

It speaks volumes about Chief Pickens’ priorities when he bends over backward to attend every football game, yet removes himself from his own department’s advisory board (which is designed to fix the problems that are crippling ASUPD).

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Dec 24 2013
13 Comments
General

Chief’s Advisory Board Meeting Minutes from 2009 shows the PD dealing with the same problems as it currently is!

Interesting.

Check out these meeting minutes from the Chief’s Advisory Board from 2009; notice how several issues the department is currently struggling with–officer pay, not having proper equipment,  training, IAs–are being discussed. Chief Pickens also gave nearly the same exact spiel about wanting to discuss the frequency of meetings, talking about how IAs are essential for people to learn from their mistakes, and urging anyone with issues to address him specifically.

Mtg Notes 3-11-09 bulleted

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