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| NEWS > 22 March 2007 |
Other related articles:
Australia: Concerns on corrupt
A COLLEAGUE raised concerns about the fraud detective Con Kostakidis more than two years before he was charged by the Police Integrity Commission, but police dismissed his allegations.
Kostakidis, who was sentenced six weeks ago for fraud over a colleague's mortgage application, has since been allowed to resign.
But the commission is investigating further allegations against him, including those raised by a former colleague from the state crime command's asset confiscation unit nearly three years ago.
In 2004 the former colleague, who does not want to be named,... Read more
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Half Moon Bay Review and Pesca
22 March 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Half Moon Bay Police Departmen
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Next police chief must make in
Half Moon Bay's next police chief must do a better job of informing residents about critical matters of public interest.
That has been clear for a while now, but it came into stark relief last week when word leaked that one of the city's police officers had been put on administrative leave with pay during an investigation into whether he withheld information in the shocking case of a martial arts instructor who acted inappropriately with his teenage students. Word of the allegations came from agencies outside of the city's police station and not from the men entrusted with our safety.
Chief Ike Ortiz, who announced his retirement days before the allegations became public, undoubtedly considers the affair a personnel matter and the focus of an internal investigation best handled in private. But it is much more than that: Short of a police shooting, the allegation that an officer purposely withheld evidence is as serious as any that can be leveled. Ortiz could have rightfully withheld the officer's name and still informed the public that he was on top of the matter, that he understood the gravity of the allegations, that the officer had been temporarily relieved of duty, and that the officer in question was being treated in accordance with the California Peace Officers' Bill of Rights.
Instead there was silence. And that is not unusual.
• Earlier this month: City Council members angrily questioned Ortiz after hearing rumors of a drive-by shooting on Main Street. The chief told them the incident was most likely kids playing with a BB gun, but he didn't seem to understand that any such incident on Main Street warrants public notice.
• January: A nonprofit group known as Californians Aware reported that Half Moon Bay police flunked an audit of the agency's public information practices. The Police Department required auditors to provide separate letters for each morsel of rightful public information - even though state law makes no such requirement. In the wake of the report, Ortiz admitted his agency can do better.
• December, 2006: Half Moon Bay police failed to adequately investigate the conduct of an off-duty Hayward police officer who drew a gun during Nights of Light festivities on Main Street and subsequently failed to release any exculpatory evidence they may have had. The result was at least the perception that the local agency was protecting another member of the brotherhood.
• June 2005: Half Moon Bay police fail to notify the public about a tsunami warning that could have spelled big trouble for the Coastside. Then-City Manager Debra Ryan said she didn't hear of the threat through official channels, and the San Mateo County civil grand jury subsequently blamed police for not following their own procedures.
Individually these incidents are just that - individual incidents that could have been handled better. Collectively they are a dangerous red flag.
We give our police officers enormous responsibilities along with their badge and gun. Those responsibilities require unquestionable integrity, sensitivity to the local community, legal know-how and a full range of other skills for which they can't possibly be compensated adequately. Chief among these skills is the ability to relate to the public the officers serve. Internal investigations with no public notice, failing grades over the release of public information and foot-dragging on disaster notification are unacceptable. And the City Council should keep that top of mind as members search for a replacement for Ortiz.
- Clay Lambert
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