SEQUIM — Police Department personnel will be prevented from acquiring or taking surplus public property directly from the city in the wake of a five-month investigation of city employees — including police officers — who took public property for personal use.
The employees, who returned most of the items, were absolved of any wrongdoing after being told items such as old sirens, police radios and found bicycles were “trash” destined for the landfill and believed they were doing nothing wrong, Lt. Sheri Crain said in a report on the Sept. 26, 2008, incident.
A heavily redacted version of the report, which included employee statements, was obtained by Peninsula Daily News under a freedom of information request for all documents related to the incident.
The 35 pages of documents include more than 400 blacked-out names and genders of any of those involved or questioned.
Identities shielded
Their identities are shielded because it was determined that no one did anything wrong and to protect their privacy, City Attorney Craig Ritchie said.
Crain also concluded that city policies regarding the disposal of city property were “unclear, not concise, nor do they cover all situations.”
“There is no indication that employees in general, those not intimately involved in the surplus process, have been given or have access to any policy or procedure on surplus or disposal of city property that provides guidance,” she wrote.
“Moreover, the surplus ordinance in effect at the time of this incident did not adequately solve the riddle of what to do with ‘trash.'”
Crain’s conclusion: “Due to the lack of clarity on policy, discipline is not warranted.”
Another Police Department employee said in a memo to Crain, “I am absolutely sure I could have sent most of that stuff to the Property Bureau and made money for the city.”
Crain’s review was the topic of what Police Chief Bob Spinks said would be a “press conference” Monday.
Spinks’ ‘Designated hitter’
It was City Attorney Craig Ritchie, acting as what he called “designated hitter,” who answered questions from two reporters and presented a prepared statement by Spinks in which he said the city would have benefited by the employees’ action but that they made the city look bad.
“The city attorney concluded, as have I, that neither state law nor existing city policy was violated by this act of ‘Dumpster diving,'” Spinks said in a three-page statement in which he said it wouldn’t have been worth it for the city to try to sell the property.
“However, the public perception cannot be overlooked,” he said in his statement.
“Consequently, the Police Department has implemented new operating procedures as part of a general overhaul of the department’s policy manual that restrict any police employee from acquiring any surplus or junk property directly from the city.”
Spinks did not return a call for comment Monday.
The new policy eventually will apply to all city employees, Ritchie said.
In Spinks’ statement, he said a 1992 Acura that was removed by an employee, then returned, will be turned over to a wrecking company for scrap.
Its transmission is “partially inoperable,” the tires are flat and rats ate through the wiring, Spinks said.
The employee who took the car would have towed the car away and used it for parts, doing the city a favor, he said.
“This would have saved the city anywhere from $125 to a $250 towing bill,” he said, adding the vehicle had been declared junk.
City Code Enforcement Officer Lisa Hopper told Peninsula Daily News on Jan. 18 that she had refused to classify the vehicle as junk when Sgt. Sean Madison, the supervising officer the day of the incident, asked her to do so.
Spinks said in his statement the junk vehicle declaration “was accomplished” and that Hopper said the conversation with Madison had taken place in 2007.
“It is unfortunate that clearing out junk and trash resulted in the raising of so much ‘dust,'” he said.
Still, in the future, “no one gets anything, even if it’s being thrown away.”
Reserve Officer Jim Whitaker sold two sirens he took that day after being told the items were “junk,” but would not identify the person who told him that for the Jan. 18 Peninsula Daily News report.
In his statement, Spinks said $166 was “donated” back to the city for two sirens.
In Crain’s report, she said an officer “was involved in decision-making on what was trash” but was not in charge of the removal project.
She said that person expressed the opinion that it was trash and “didn’t care what happened to it,” but did not give any employees property and was not present while property was taken.
‘Implicit permission’
That person “created an environment in which employees felt they had implicit permission to remove items destined for the trash,” Crain said.
“[Redacted’s] actions and opinions led to circumstances which allow outside observers to think the process was tainted, improper or unfair,” Crain said.
The employee who said the city could have made money from the items was told that a supervisor “was throwing away perfectly good stuff. [Redacted] threw away an in-car video system.
“I believe that [redacted] violated at least one city ordinance and/or state law in doing what [redacted] did.
“Since it is my ‘duty to report,’ I’m reporting what I believe was a clear violation of policy and procedure in the proper disposal of property no longer being used by the city but paid for with taxpayer dollars.”
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Staff writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
