FAST AND FURIOUS: APD Style

“…and weird” is how retired APD Lieutenant Jay Gilhooly described the current state of affairs in an interview that opened up this week. If there was any confirmation of how weird things are with Mayor Berry’s police department and his police chief, Ray Schultz, one only has to look at Chief Schultz’s press conference yesterday as he released the now infamous SE Bike Cop videos. Whatever one’s take is on the officer’s actions in the video, we at the Eye are troubled by the threatening behavior and intimidating actions asserted by Chief Schultz in yesterday’s press conference. As Chief Schultz is in violation of the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act, Chief Schultz is the last person of any standing to reprimand the media for wanting to break a story before alerting law enforcement to possible criminal violations by officers. As he has an endless history of chronic abuse of his authority, information manipulation and deception, and a “leadership” style despotic in nature, Chief Schultz should keep the finger waiving to his own defects. Yet, Chief Schultz tries to deflect his by stating reporters had inside information and were trying to play a game of “gotch ya.” There are no requirements in IPRA which compel a justification for desired records. There are however requirements within APD’s SOPs that mandate APD personnel to investigation wrongdoing committed by personnel. Our Eyes tell us the officers involved in the video were subject to an IA investigation but the investigation was tied down, if not sat on, by none other than DCOP Banks.

Chief Schultz clearly needs a reminder that it is NOT the media’s job to do his job. If Chief Schultz was doing his job the media clearly would have little to report. And in the midst of this mess where is Mayor Berry? While APD once again makes negative national news, Mayor Berry is at the city zoo discussing an increase of tickets by over 30%. Apparently not satisfied with his destruction of the annual balloon fiesta, Berry seeks to destroy one of the few remaining city run attributes as well.

However, just when we thought things could not get any weirder with APD, they continue to do so. While Chief Schultz was falsely reprimanding the media for doing their job—holding him responsible for suppressing public records and violating state law—several of our eyes alerted us to a very troubling matter concerning firearm shed by APD. On any given week, guns are tagged into evidence by APD personnel. Not all of these guns are related to crimes but are often stored for “safekeeping” or “found.” As such, owners/responsible parties may retrieve the weapons from APD. However, APD is bound by federal and state regulations that require a background check to ensure compliance with laws before releasing the weapons to citizens. For instance, it would be unlawful for APD to transfer a gun to a person who is a convicted felon, has a diagnosed mental illness, is an unlawful user of controlled substances, is not an illegal alien, has not had a dishonorable discharge from the military, that precludes them from possessing a firearm.

Our Eyes alerted us to the pictured emails coming from none other than APD’s lawyer, Kathy Levy. In these emails Ms. Levy states that APD need only “…limit the check to the parameters of the Brady requirements.” Prior to then, APD had completed what is called a Triple I check which reviewed a citizen’s criminal history on a national scale and not just limited to local matters. Ms. Levy adds that “I had an opportunity to speak with the Chief and he, too, was unaware of the depth of the investigations we have been conducting…This new approach should free up a lot of resources.” Per the Brady statute, a transferor is required by law to ensure that the person seeking the gun does not fall into any of the above listed categories. However, our Eyes tell us Ms. Levy and Chief Schultz have ordered APD evidence to perform a local background check ONLY ensuring that the citizen simply has no outstanding warrants. Why would Ms. Levy want to be so quick to release guns to citizens we wondered? Our Eyes tell us that once again inventory in evidence is being mismanaged and they are running out of storage space for guns. And that Triple I checks cost money.

So in an effort to save space and reduce costs, Ms. Levy and Chief Schultz are allowing more firearms to be released without conducting a full investigation to see if a citizen satisfies the Brady law. As all officers know, a limited local check is extremely narrow and does not include a review of all of the criminal records which may exist on a given citizen. Only a Triple I does this. Once again, Chief Schultz and Ms. Levy either are ignorant of the very laws they are subject to OR they are intentionally trying to circumvent them. Given the recent active shooter tragedies around the country, we at the Eye demand that APD go back to full Triple I background investigations before any guns are released and transferred to citizens. This is an unsafe and an unethical practice that frankly, defies belief given recent events in Colorado and all the police shooting that APD has been involved in.

Chief Schultz stated he wanted to be briefed before the release of any story involving possible misconduct. Well, in the United States of American we are free to brief public officials in PUBLIC and in a manner supported by the Constitution. And that is exactly what we are doing here. And we know where Mayor Berry will be while this mess gets worse….