OAKDALE — Police Chief Marty West has launched a probe into who made a copy of a tape in which he asks a dispatcher to send officers to the home of the mayor's mother-in-law to deal with a trespasser.
The relative lives in a part of the city patrolled by sheriff's deputies, and on the tape West can be heard saying:
"This is an opportunity for the mayor to really appreciate the Police Department right now."
"I know it's in the county, but I told him we'd have a unit roll out. It might pay off, you know, when it comes time with all these budget cuts and stuff like that, you know. We're here for the mayor."
"The SO (Sheriff's Department) is going to take a week to get out there."
West said Sunday he could not comment about the investigation or any of the circumstances surrounding it because it's a personnel matter.
Mayor Farrell Jackson and West have been criticized at recent council meetings by some police officers and their supporters, who allege West has given the mayor special treatment.
"That's not true," Jackson said Sunday. "That's simply not true."
West has been Oakdale's chief for three years and has had a rocky relationship with the city's police union. Union members cast a vote of no confidence against him last year. The union has accused West of not standing up for his officers.
West has said the troubles are because of declining city budgets brought on by the recession. The Police Department has shrunk from 28 to 19 officers in three years and has eliminated or severely cut its speciality units to keep more officers on patrol.
West's February phone call to dispatch involved Jackson's 81-year-old widowed mother-in-law, who lives alone on Tioga Avenue, about three miles from the Police Department.
As she was getting ready for bed, she spotted someone in the rocking chair on her patio. She called her next-door neighbor, who called the Sheriff's Department.
Jackson's mother-in-law then called her daughter, who came over with her son. Jackson was out of town on business when his family called him. Jackson called West.
The man on the patio had been a tenant in one of Jackson's rental properties before being evicted. Jackson has called the police on Larry Hendrix several times over the past two years.
In one incident, Hendrix picked up a knife when officers arrived, according to police records. "I had to draw and point my duty weapon at Hendrix because of a knife that he picked up in the kitchen," an officer wrote of that incident.
Jackson said he was concerned about his mother-in-law's safety, especially after his sister, niece and niece's husband were stabbed to death in Riverbank last year.
"I know what can happen in a matter of minutes," he said, adding that he would have called the police chief for any other resident facing the same circumstances as his mother-in-law.
Jackson said the real issue is how the copy of the dispatch tape was obtained. West is expected to give a report to the City Council about the investigation at its Tuesday meeting.
In the report, West said July 25 about 9 a.m. that "an unauthorized person" was seated at one of three clerical work stations in the records and communications area. That area houses sensitive information not available to the public.
Then in August, police learned a reporter had a copy of the dispatch tape. "The reporter would not state how he obtained the tape," according to the report. West wrote that there is no public records request for the tape.
The Bee obtained its copy through a public records request.
"If there was a breach of protocol or the breaking of the law, then we need to do an investigation," Jackson said. "Was someone in a restricted area where they were not supposed to be?"
Jackson said city records need to be obtained through public records requests and other approved methods.
But an official with the police officers' union criticized West and the investigation.
"As far as the chief's allegation that someone was sitting in a restricted area, if he has already seen this, then why spend money to investigate it?" said Doug Gorman, business agent for Operating Engineers Local 3, which represents the Oakdale Police Officers Association.
"Take the necessary corrective action and get it done," Gorman continued. "There is no reason to hire an investigative firm. It's just another waste of money. He goes out and hires a private investigator. In the last six months, he's been saying they have no money."
Bee staff writer Kevin Valine can be reached at kvaline@modbee.com or 578-2316.
RSS
E-Mail
Print
reprint or license
