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| NEWS > 10 September 2008 |
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UK: Police trio deny misconduc
Three Northamptonshire police officers have appeared in court accused of misconduct after allegedly threatening to plant incriminating evidence on a teenager they had arrested.
Constables Stephen Eaton, 49, William Docherty, 42, and Sean Holditch, also 42, each face one charge of misconduct in a public office over their handling of a 16-year-old boy they had arrested for breaching his bail conditions.
The three officers, all based at Campbell Square police station, appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday, where they entered not guilty pleas to the charge.
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Newspaper Tree - El Paso,TX,US
10 September 2008
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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El Paso Police Department, TX
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Police Department chief of sta
The city of El Paso used a "suspect" selection process to hire the least qualified candidate for police chief, the Police Department's Chief of Staff Diana Kirk alleges in a lawsuit that claims employment discrimination and retaliation.
The lawsuit also includes allegations of discrimination against women and Hispanics, as well as police misconduct and destruction of evidence. [lawsuit]
Those latter allegations are mentioned in making the case that certain officers received favorable treatment.
Kirk, reached by telephone, would not comment beyond stating, "I'm here. I'm still working. I'm still in the same position I was in. I might not be overseeing the same things I was overseeing before but I'm still chief of staff."
When asked to elaborate, she referred comment to her lawyer, John Wenke, who is considered one of the city's top attorneys for employment cases and has taken other high-profile clients (for example, he was the lawyer for former Housing Authority CEO Pablo Salcido).
Police Department spokesman Chris Mears said the department could not go into detail in answering questions, and declined to comment on specific allegations in the lawsuit.
"When Chief Allen became chief of police he retained her as one of the assistant chiefs," Mears said.
But Kirk's lawsuit states that her chief of staff position changed on Dec. 27, when then-Chief Richard Wiles, on his last day in office, announced a reorganization plan.
The plan promoted deputy chiefs to assistant chief, with pay raises, but Kirk did not receive a pay raise, states page 7 of the lawsuit, which also notes that the plan "took several responsibilities away from Plaintiff." The organizational chart before and after Wiles' plan is included in the lawsuit as Exhibits 1 and 2.
The lawsuit also goes into the selection process, questioning Allen's qualifications (page 8) and his disciplinary history (page 9).
On page 8, the lawsuit notes that the job posting "included the 'highly desireable" qualifications of a master's degrees (sic) and ability to speak Spanish. Of the five finalists, Allen was the only one who did not have a Master's Degree. In addition, Allen was only one of two candidates who did not speak Spanish."
In an Open Records Request sent to the city, Wenke asked for "written criteria and matrixes" used in the evaluation process, documents reflecting scoring and ranking of candidates and other material that would describe the selection process (records request if Exhibit 3). The city responded (Exhibit 4) with some materials, but did not have others.
"Without getting into details in these allegations, the case is going to cause people to reconsider the current role of the city manager," Wenke said. "As you can see in this case there are basically no checks and balances in the system.
"How you can select a police chief and not have interviews with the candidates, no selection criteria or final rankings of candidates I think is pretty suspect. This is the most significant position in the city that is not subject to election."
The lawsuit asks for a new selection process to be instituted that includes written criteria and ranking, as well as lost wages and benefits and compensatory damages to Kirk.
City Manager Joyce Wilson defended the city and the hiring process in a statement: "The City has not been officially notified of any formal notice of litigation, so it is premature to respond to any pending lawsuit. However, Chief Kirk did file an EEOC complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission which was reviewed with no finding of fact to support the complaint.
"The Police Chief recruitment was an open, fair and inclusive process, involving 20-25 internal and community participants, in addition to a community forum. The candidate selected for the position was the overwhelming consensus among the parties involved. I am comfortable and confident in defending the process and selection."
Wiles, now running for El Paso County Sheriff, issued a similar statement: "Because of pending litigation, it is not appropriate to comment in detail regarding her allegations.
"At no time did I ever discriminate against Asst. Chief Kirk. At the time I was appointed Chief in July 2004, I promoted individuals to the position of Assistant and Deputy Chief which resulted in the most diverse staff in the history of the El Paso Police Department, to include Asst Chief Kirk ... In her own petition, she alleges her vertical progress through the Police Department which is clearly not consistent with someone who has been the object of discrimination."
The statement also notes that an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint was not validated: "No doubt the conclusion of this litigation will be consistent with those findings."
The lawsuit opens with a mention of the EEOC complaint, as well as one filed with the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division, which issued a "notice of right to file a civil action."
Kirk opens the lawsuit by claiming that Wiles "routinely displayed favoritism towards non-Hispanic male officers" (page 3). The lawsuit gives several examples of favoritism, while not naming names.
In one case, Kirk claims that an undercover office destroyed evidence and later lied about it (bottom of page 4, top of page 5). While she does not name the officer, his identity is made clear because of the incidents described.
The officer, called in the lawsuit Officer F, allegedly instructed another officer to destroy two marijuana cigarettes on May 27, 2007 at the Coronado Motel, 4645 N. Mesa. Officer F, states the lawsuit, was involved in a shooting at the Coronado Motel in which the officer shot a man 12 times. On June 13, 2008, Officer Matthew Jones shot and killed Gregory Smith in the parking lot of the motel.
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