Tag Archives: ABOR
The media is reading the Integrity Report and they want YOUR stories!!
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.
Tagged ABOR, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, bullying in the workplace, CALEA, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, drugs, financial mismanagement, Integrity, James Hardina, john pickens, kevin salcido, Michael Crow, Michael Thompson, mismanagement, Morgan Olsen, police corruption, staffing problems, WTF
In this edition of ASUPD's Hunger Games: Hardina and Pickens are immediately removed from their positions!
Everyday life at ASUPD has morphed from a job that somewhat resembled a watered-down version of law enforcement to a real life version of The Hunger Games; if one can survive the work day in the presence of low morale and arbitrary enforcement of policies/law without going insane or killing/harming themselves or another employee, they will be safe until the following days reaping. Those that don't make it to the end of the workday are thrown to the wolves (metaphorically, of course) and become another HR statistic on a piece of paper in Kevin Salcido's office.
In today's edition of ASUPD's Hunger Games, the two employees that didn't survive the workday today were Assistant Chief James Hardina, and Chief John Pickens.
This afternoon, ASU CFO Morgan Olsen sent the following email out to all ASUPD employees:
The Assistant Chief (Thompson) over admin "ascends" to the position of acting Chief instead of the AC above patrol operations…odd. There is also no mention of Hardina vacating his position AT ALL in the above email; only after Hardina was seen packing up his desk and officially left the building was patrol notified about Hardina's departure. We speculate that Hardina was forced out of his position by someone in the university, simply because Hardina doesn't have another job waiting for him, nor is he remotely close to retirement.
The email also mentioned that Pickens will be vacating his position as Chief by this Friday, July 11th. This is a complete 180 from the email sent to all ASUPD employees barely a month ago, which stated that Pickens would remain in his position until his successor was hired. Pickens' "leave" was probably forced upon him by the university who will most likely allow him to "retire" quietly, instead of rewarding his bad behavior with another cushy ASU job.
Someone at ASU finally wised up to the fact that the entire ASUPD Command staff was allowed to function relatively unchecked for decades. Command staff's strategy of punishing those who speak out against them while allowing their "battle buddies" to do whatever they please FINALLY backfired; its hard to employ that tactic when your department is beyond critical staffing levels and the FBI/news media are sniffing around your dirty laundry.
Until the department has cleaned out "Chief" Thompson and all of his Command staff, we expect to see ASUPD's Hunger Games played out on a daily basis.
AZCES raises relevant questions about ASUPD's ability to train and investigate its officers
The Arizona Center for Ethnic Studies group raised some pretty interesting questions regarding ASUPD's ability to train and investigate its officers. In the post, AZCES appeal to ASU's administration with the following questions:
What policies and practices are in place at ASUPD regarding accountability for racial profiling and use of force? How are complaints filed and investigated? What is ASUPD's record of complaints? What kinds of training are in place to ensure police conduct that upholds the rights and dignity of all ASU community members?
What is the name of the outside law enforcement agency that will be reviewing this case? What, specifically will they be reviewing? What are the standards they will be using to evaluate officer conduct? How many similar audits have they conducted in the past and what have been the outcomes of their investigations?
Although we strongly disagree with AZCES's assertion that Officer Ferrin used force excessively and engaged in racial profiling, the points they raised are valid ones and are not just limited to the topics of use of force/racial profiling. AZCES' blogpost has grazed the surface of the much larger issues raised on The Integrity Report involving training and supervision of ASUPD employees and transparency/fairness in internal affairs investigations
In any major investigation (such as the FBI's probe of ASUPD), the actions of the individual involved is dissected, as well and the training and supervisor that the individual received. If the department acted negligently by not providing either adequate supervision or training, then the department (and also university) is also at fault. This could mean a litany of lawsuits against the university in circumstances where the arresting officer was trained by an FTO who wasn't certified to be training, or supervised by an FTO or patrol Sergeant who wasn't properly certified or trained to supervise others. Not only does this hold true for officers currently employed at ASUPD, but would also include officers who made arrests while employed at ASUPD that work for other departments or who have left LE completely.
Considering the amount of officers that have left ASUPD in the past 5-10 years, ASU could be facing a major class action lawsuit.
Although this situation with Officer Ferrin is unfortunate (and again, we do believe he will be exonerated), it has brought a lot of attention and media scrutiny to a major problem that has been plaguing ASUPD for years. It will be interesting to watch the chain of events unfold in real-time.
Again…stand by, folks.
Tagged ABOR, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, bullying in the workplace, CALEA, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, drugs, financial mismanagement, Integrity, john pickens, kevin salcido, Luqman Khalid, Michael Crow, mismanagement, police corruption, staffing problems, WTF
How many people are reading The Integrity Report?
While we are busy writing and researching behind the scenes, we'd like to answer one of the MOST frequently asked questions on the blog: how many people are reading The Integrity Report everyday?
The site averages about 150 hits per day! 70 of these hits are "unique vistors" or distinct individuals visiting the page during a given period (regardless of how many times these individuals visit a page).
The bounce count for the page (ie, people who visit the page and immediately close the window or go to another page) is pretty low–around 20%. This means the majority of people who head over to The Integrity Report's site are staying and reading the posts. The average time a person spends reading posts on the blog is fairly high also, around 6 minutes.
Which pages are the most popular? Our home page is the most popular (with an average of 80 visits a day), followed by our post about ASU General Council botching a FOIA request (average of 60 visits a day), and then our post about Kevin Salcido sending unprofessional emails to ASUPD employees (average of 35 visits a day). The most popular keyword search is "ASU Police Chief Pickens resigns"; on our internal search tool its "firearms".
How high The Integrity Report is listed on major search engines (such as google) is also a major indicator of site traffic. Sites that have lots of user traffic and are linked by other sites are ranked higher in search results than sites that have little to no traffic. Using the google search engine and searching for "ASUPD", we are SECOND only to the official ASU website. The pictures from our post about unprofessional behavior amongst firearms staff is number ONE in google image search.
For a blog that was labeled as the work of "a few disgruntled employees", this is very significant. Employees (both inside and outside the PD), Command Staff, students, and staff are reading The Integrity Report. People outside of Arizona State University are reading the information we post, the comments that others post, and are beginning to ask questions about the situation at ASUPD.
This is one baby step forward toward our goal of shining the light of integrity into ASUPD and holding those that dishonor their oath accountable.
Tagged ABOR, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, bullying in the workplace, CALEA, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, drugs, financial mismanagement, Integrity, john pickens, kevin salcido, Michael Crow, mismanagement, police corruption, staffing problems, WTF
ASU's General Council botches FOIA request, releases social security numbers of several officers!
Earlier this year, we submitted a MASSIVE FOIA request to the Office of General Council for the FY13 budget documents, as well as departmental requisitions for training and equipment. We are acutely familiar with the way the State of Arizona's FOIA laws work; under Arizona's Public Records exemption, information which would be considered an invasion of personal privacy and would outweigh the public's right to know and can be redacted. This can include addresses, phone numbers, date of birth, and social security numbers.
Therefore, after we received and preliminarily reviewed our FOIA request, we were acting upon the good faith that ASU's General Council did their jobs and redacted the personal information contained in the files we requested (we looked at all 300+ pages of the file to the best of our ability). However, this morning we received several emails from concerned readers of The Integrity Report who let us know that several of the requisitions submitted for training between 2012-2013 contained FULL social security numbers that were NOT redacted! We have subsequently removed the entire FY 13 budget until we can redact the personal information of officers/police employees.
Coming from a university that claimed showing a picture of an officer's vehicle was a security threat…releasing the social security numbers of police employees on public documents is a MUCH larger security threat!! With a SSN number, an officer's identity, credit, and bank account could be completely compromised! This situation also begs the question: what other personal information has ASU released to the public via a FOIA request? The possibilities are endless.
We will be contacting all the officers personally whose information was released by ASU via a public records request, so they are aware of the situation.
Clearly, the safety and security of ASUPD's employees isn't too concerning to university administration. It's not enough to allow staffing to reach alarming levels which can compromise the lives of sworn and civilian employees alike; ASU must ALSO compromise their employees financial livelihoods as well!
We're expecting some sort of "damage control" email on behalf of ASU's General Council shortly.
Kevin Salcido addresses The Integrity Report once again
Earlier today, the head of ASU's Human Resources department (Mr. Kevin Salcido) sent this email to all of ASUPD's employees in regard to a recent photograph posted on The Integrity Report:
To: All Members of the ASU Police Department
Recently , a law enforcement photograph of an ASU police officer, her name, her rank and a picture of her automobile (including her license plate number) was posted to the "Integrity Blog". This action violates the expectation that was communicated on February 19, 2014 (see below).
A.R.S. §§ 39-123, 39-124, and 39-128 prohibit the release of peace officer photos in all but a limited number of circumstances. The law was passed by the Legislature to help protect and safeguard our peace officers and their families. The recent unauthorized posting of our ASU PD officer's law enforcement photo on the blog is contrary to law and will not go unaddressed. Again, as noted below, anyone we identify who publicly shares or takes and posts sensitive operational information, obtained through any means , which could potentially compromise the security and safety of the ASU community can and will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
The large majority of Police Department professionals are devoted to the safety and security of the ASU community and their work is appreciated on a daily basis. There are multiple avenues available for raising concerns including the PD chain of command, the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Equity and Inclusion. This is a university after all and we should be able to have an open exchange of ideas. As the Chief Human Resources Officer, I am disappointed that a very small minority of employees continue to avoid these channels and have become disruptive to our mission of serving and protecting students. Those who are so unhappy here are invited to take their careers elsewhere. They will most assuredly be happier and we will not feel their loss.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation. As always, you can reach me at 5-6608 with questions or comments.
Kevin Salcido
Associate Vice President/Chief Human Resource Officer
We would like to take a moment to address some of these "expectations" we failed to adhere to, as well as some points brought up in the body of this email.
The "expectations" Salcido mentions refers to an email he sent to all PD employees on February, 2014. In his email, Salcido stated that posting an old schedule to illustrate how low officer staffing levels were "exceeds the bounds of free expression and protected activity because it has safety and security implications for the ASU community". The "safety and security implications" are only the ones the university itself created by failing to properly staff and manage a police department, period. Beyond that, old schedules are NOT listed as an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), so any member of the public could request the same information we posted.
The assertion that we broke the law by posting a professionally taken photograph of an officer is ludicrous, and the sections of the Arizona Revised Statutes you cite we violated do not appear to be applicable to this situation.
ARS 39-123:
A. Nothing in this chapter requires disclosure from a personnel file by a law enforcement agency or employing state or local governmental entity of the home address or home telephone number of eligible persons.
B. The agency or governmental entity may release the information in subsection A of this section only if either:
1. The person consents in writing to the release.
2. The custodian of records of the agency or governmental entity determines that release of the information does not create a reasonable risk of physical injury to the person or the person's immediate family or damage to the property of the person or the person's immediate family.
C. A law enforcement agency may release a photograph of a peace officer if either:
1. The peace officer has been arrested or has been formally charged by complaint, information or indictment for a misdemeanor or a felony offense.
2. The photograph is requested by a representative of a newspaper for a specific newsworthy event unless:
(a) The peace officer is serving in an undercover capacity or is scheduled to be serving in an undercover capacity within sixty days.
(b) The release of the photograph is not in the best interest of this state after taking into consideration the privacy, confidentiality and safety of the peace officer.
(c) An order pursuant to section 28-454 is in effect.
D. This section does not prohibit the use of a peace officer's photograph that is either:
1. Used by a law enforcement agency to assist a person who has a complaint against an officer to identify the officer.
2. Obtained from a source other than the law enforcement agency.
E. This section does not apply to a certified peace officer or code enforcement officer who is no longer employed as a peace officer or code enforcement officer by a state or local government entity.
This entire statute refers to the actions of an AGENCY, or LOCAL/STATE municipality, NOT the actions of an individual. Furthermore, the picture we published WAS NOT and WILL NOT be serving in the capacity of an undercover officer, nor was her privacy, confidentiality, or safety compromised. Sgt. Pam Osborne has several social media sites accessible to the public in which contain pictures of herself and her family (the pictures were already removed from one site after we published the initial picture), and her picture is available using the "Google" search engine, so her privacy, confidentiality, and safety were apparently not compromised by those arguably more personal pictures. The picture we released was a department sanctioned photograph which was available on the W drive to all PD employees.
Photographs of this nature are regularly used on the ASU website, which is accessible by the public.
The burden of proof is on the State to prove the release of the photograph is a privacy, confidentiality, or safety concern.
The picture of the motor vehicle we also released was taken on a public street in a public place, so we are also legally allowed to publish it. Out of professional courtesy, we did redact the license plate number.
It is ironic how Salcido addresses the issue with this photograph immediately, yet other photographs we have released which show members of the department, dressed in uniform and acting inappropriately goes on unmentioned.
Releasing information identifying an eligible person; violations; classification; definitions
A. Any person who is employed by a state or local government entity and who, in violation of section 39-123, knowingly releases the home address or home telephone number of an eligible person with the intent to hinder an investigation, cause physical injury to an eligible person or the eligible person's immediate family or cause damage to the property of an eligible person or the eligible person's immediate family is guilty of a class 6 felony.
B. Any person who is employed by a state or local government entity and who, in violation of section 39-123, knowingly releases a photograph of a peace officer with the intent to hinder an investigation, cause physical injury to a peace officer or the peace officer's immediate family or cause damage to the property of a peace officer or the peace officer's immediate family is guilty of a class 6 felony.
This is pretty simple: we did not release the photograph to hinder an investigation, cause physical injury to the officer/her family, or cause damage to the property of the officer/her family. First, there is no investigation to hinder in regard to Sgt. Osborne. Second, we would never want another officer—regardless of how deplorable of a person they are—to be injured or their property damaged. There is no text accompanying the photograph that would incite a reasonable person to commit physical injury or property damage to the officer or her family. Finally, there is no personal identifying information (address, phone number) in the photograph that would compromise the officer's safety, period.
Disciplinary records of public officers and employees; disclosure; exceptions
A. A public body shall maintain all records that are reasonably necessary or appropriate to maintain an accurate knowledge of disciplinary actions, including the employee responses to all disciplinary actions, involving public officers or employees of the public body. The records shall be open to inspection and copying pursuant to this article, unless inspection or disclosure of the records or information in the records is contrary to law.
B. This section does not:
1. Require disclosure of the home address, home telephone number or photograph of any person who is protected pursuant to sections 39-123 and 39-124.
2. Limit the duty of a public body or officer to make public records open to inspection and copying pursuant to this article.
What is the point of including this statute? This just says the state isn't require to disclose a photograph if requested through a public records request.
Salcido is correct in stating that "the large majority of Police Department professionals are devoted to the safety and security of the ASU community", however the qualifying statement of "…and their work is appreciated on a daily basis" is untrue. Who appreciates employees below the Sergeant level? Certainly not the university, who has elected to give all its officers less than a 10 cent pay raise and no cost of living increase (and also giving no pay increase to any civilian employee).
Line-level employees are also not appreciated by the members of their Command staff, who refer to them as "bees", unleash frivolous IAs if they try to leave ASU, or are told they should work at McDonalds if they don't like the hostile work environment.
Mr. Salcido himself has shown that he does not appreciate the work of employees at ASUPD nor care about their well-being because he has routinely failed to act upon the concerns of the 10-12+ employees who have brought serious issues to him. Salcido has flatly refused to investigate any of the alleged misconduct reported to him, instead delegating it to the very department that mishandled the issues in the first place.
It is insulting that Salcido suggest we use the PD or HR Chain of Command to address any concerns or problems, because several of us have tried to resolve issues this way with no success. There are several paper trails and digital voice recordings to back up these assertions. There is absolutely no ability to deal with these issues within any Chain of Command at ASU, because the university's prurient interest in controlling negative press about itself ultimately prevails.
If there is such a small minority of employees causing issues, and—according to you, Mr. Salcido, these issues have no merit—then why has ASU repeatedly addressed The Integrity Report in meetings and memos? If what is being said here is limited to only a handful of employees, why acknowledge the blog and give it life?
The truth is that ASU's dirty laundry is being aired for the world to see, and for the first time ever, ASU cannot control the negative publicity. We know ASU was accused of stifling the 1st Amendment Rights of a student who spoke against the rising cost of tuition, and we also know that ASU contacted indeed.com and had the site administrators stop people from posting negative comments about ASUPD. It is not a far stretch to assume that ASU would also want to stifle what is being said about its police department online.
However, the primary difference in the case of The Integrity Report (and what makes it such a sensitive issue among Command staff) is that it has the potential to cause many people to lose their jobs, from officers all the way up to President Michael Crow. Everyone who knew some of the issues detailed on this site yet refused to intervene is at risk of being implicated. All these issues coupled with the fact that the public and media are starting to circle like buzzards on a rotting carcass, and you have a perfectly legitimate reason for wanting to stifle The Integrity Report.
When that day comes where people are finally removed from their positions, in Salcido's own words, "we will not feel their loss".
Tagged ABOR, active shooter, alcohol, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, asu news, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, ASUPD Tempe AZ, chief pickens, CLERY, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, discrimination, financial mismanagement, john pickens, kevin salcido, Michael Crow, mismanagement, police corruption, staffing problems, Tempe AZ, WTF
Racist frat party highlights ASU's discrepancy in addressing problems!
On Thursday, January 23, 2014, ASU's President Michael Crow issued an official statement slamming the racist actions of an ASU fraternity on Dr. Martin Luther King day (the fraternity, TKE, held an MLK-themed party in which participants wore stereotypical hip-hop clothes, flashed gang signs, and drank out of watermelon cups).
In his statement, Crow says, "TKE was suspended on January 20, 2014 for hosting an unregistered, off-campus event on January 19, 2014 that encouraged a racially-incentive theme and created an environment conducive to underage consumption of alcohol. ASU is continuing to investigate the actions of individual fraternity members and other students who may have attended the party under the ASU Student Code of Conduct. When students gather as part of a university recognized organization, whether it is a varsity sports team, the student newspaper, an academic club or a fraternity, students are expected to conduct themselves in a manner that reflects the core values of ASU, which include respect for all people, races and cultures. The TKE party held last weekend was not held on campus and was not a sanctioned university event."
This party managed to elicit a response and reaction from the PRESIDENT of ASU practically overnight! What distinguishes this specific party from any of the other egregious actions committed by members of ASU's Greek community is the fact that this party made national news. CNN's Anderson Cooper called these ASU students "morons" in a 2 1/2 minute segment on CNN.
Contrast this situation to that which is transpiring currently at ASUPD: a department chronically plagued with low morale, low staffing, and a litany of issues in regards to sexual harassment, mismanagement of public funds, and a training program rife with legal liability. Why is Michael Crow so quick to decry this specific situation, when far bigger issues go unaddressed? The simple answer is negative publicity. When something so overtly disgusting–such as a racist party–makes the national headlines, ASU's primary concern is saving face. Notice how in Crow's statement, he asserts TWICE that this incident was NOT university sanctioned, and was off campus (in a recent dorm room drug bust, ASU press releases also emphasized that the incident occurred "off campus"). After all, having a university which is known for partying, crime, and racism is bad for business. ASU is desperately attempting to revamp its public image so more parents feel safe sending their kids here, which equals more $$ for Crow and the rest of ASU's administrators.
Michael Crow is acutely aware of the situation at ASUPD and is frantically trying to control the negative press and buzz generated by The Integrity Report. He has dispatched Kevin Salcido (head of ASU HR) to do a half-hearted "investigation" on assertions made on this blog. This investigation exists solely to minimize the university's liability in the chance that ASUPD's dirty laundry ever becomes public (ASU will assert that they had no knowledge of what was happening at the PD, and will blame Chief Pickens).
The true irony in Crow's statement is that while ASU students are expected to adhere to a code of conduct, employees are rarely held accountable to their own code of conduct. This becomes obvious when a handful of employees (none of which have been reprimanded or fired) are the common denominator in virtually every problem at ASUPD. The larger issue then becomes a question of how much more negative press linked to ASUPD is Michael Crow willing to tolerate? Issues which were once only known within the confines of the department have now spread like wildfire throughout the law enforcement AND civilian community in Arizona–it is a matter of time before ASUPD's problems also make national news.
Tagged ABOR, alcohol, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, asu news, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, ASUPD Tempe AZ, bullying in the workplace, CALEA, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, desperation, discrimination, financial mismanagement, Integrity, john pickens, Michael Crow, mismanagement, party school, staffing problems
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.
Michael Crow received another pay raise.
ASUPD's police employees utilized a job posting site, indeed.com, to dissuade prospective employees from applying.
Serious crimes on campus–sexual assault, robbery, burglary, drugs, and weapons crimes–all increased from the previous year.
The media dubbed ASU "a hangover school" due to the increasing amount of alcohol-related violence.
ASUPD plunged into a major staffing crisis, driven by a mass exodus from the department.
Officers found themselves in increasingly volatile situations because staffing is so poor.
The blog was created to provide a voice for ASUPD's employees.
Chief Pickens' mishaps from his previous departments came to light.
The cost of ASUPD's failing FTO program became public knowledge.
Tagged ABOR, ACLU, active shooter, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, ASUPD Tempe AZ, bullying in the workplace, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, discrimination, financial mismanagement, Integrity, john pickens, Tempe AZ
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)
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
Tagged ABOR, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, ASU Police, ASUPD, ASUPD Tempe AZ, campus police, chief pickens, chiefs advisory board, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, financial mismanagement, Integrity, john pickens
ASUPD acquires new scheduling software to fix staffing problems; meanwhile, the PD continues to fall apart!
In light of all the negative issues that have been brought to Chief Pickens' attention–poor morale, mismanagement–he has decided to ignore the input in order to focus his efforts on implementing a new staff software!!
From virtual-strategy.com:
ASU Police Department chooses ScheduleAnywhere employee scheduling software to improve scheduling efficiency.
Atlas Business Solutions, Inc. announced today that Arizona State University (ASU) is now using ScheduleAnywhere to improve and streamline its staff scheduling process. The campus police department chose ScheduleAnywhere as its officer scheduling software solution to improve the coordination and communication of shift schedules and improve operations. ScheduleAnywhere allows the ASU Police Department to continue its commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment to live, work, study, and conduct research.
"We're pleased to have the ASU Police Department join the growing number of law enforcement departments using ScheduleAnywhere," said Jon Forknell, Vice President and General Manager of Atlas Business Solutions. "ASU is a flagship department that's accredited by the Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies and we couldn't be prouder of our selection."
The ASU Police Department completed the transition from Microsoft Excel to ScheduleAnywhere about a month ago. With a staff of over 100 officers, the police department had a difficult time managing staff schedules and keeping track of availability. With ScheduleAnywhere staff scheduling software:
Updates to schedules are real-time and shared across the department.
Reporting and tracking vacations, time-off requests and availability is simple.
Existing staff can be better utilized.
Officers can access schedules online anywhere, anytime.
Another reason ASU chose to implement ScheduleAnywhere is because of its enterprise-wide visibility. Enterprise-wide visibility plays a vital role in larger organizations, where multiple people need real-time access to schedule information. In addition to regular staffing, ScheduleAnywhere is used to schedule security for all campus events, such as football games, parades, or ceremonies.
So apparently the department has had a difficult time managing schedule because they have SO many officers. REALLY!? I doubt there are even 100 sworn left in the department; when command staff is excluded, the number of people actually working the street is frighteningly low. How in the HELL will this "improve operations"? Chief, you don't need a computer program to tell you what you already know…that the department is ridiculously understaffed, and no amount of computer wizardry will change that. Here's a hint: START LISTENING TO WHAT YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE SAYING, INSTEAD OF SINKING MORE $$ INTO A COMPUTER PROGRAM YOU BELIEVE WILL SAVE YOUR DEPARTMENT!
Tagged ABOR, ACLU, active shooter, Arizona State University, Arizona State University Police, ASU, ASU online, ASU Police, ASUPD, ASUPD Tempe AZ, bullying in the workplace, CALEA, campus police, chief pickens, City of Tempe, college crime, college police, corruption, desperation, Integrity, john pickens, police corruption, Tempe AZ, WTF