DWI - Police Get DUIs in Utah???
Police Get DUIs in Utah???
The Police are making arrests for DUIs. A story broke today about 30 officers being disciplined. Many of the disciplined officers were involved in sexual misconduct. However, I was shocked to see a few of them were officers convicted of DUI or Alcohol Related offenses. One of the officer’s was the the poster child for getting tough of DUIs.
Here’s a break down of what discipline occurred:
Officers disciplined
Other current or former peace officers disciplined today were:
– Centerville police: John F. Spencer, revoked for felony convictions of child abuse and assault
– Salt Lake County Sheriff s Office: Jaron H. Brown and Ronald Friend, two-year suspensions for sexual misconduct and associating with criminals; James M. Coleman, revoked for theft conviction
– Orem police: Barry T. Nielsen, revoked for conviction of sexual battery
– Utah Highway Patrol: John C. Ellis, revoked for criminal trespass
– South Ogden: Stuart J. Ford, revoked for domestic violence
– Utah County Sheriff s Office: Troy W. Abplanalp, revoked for conviction of making threats with a weapon
– Salt Lake Valley Emergency Communications Center: Stephanie K. Poret, revoked for drug use
– Tooele County Sheriff s Office: Elizabeth M. Miller, revoked for custodial sexual misconduct
– Salt Lake City police: Roger J. Nielson, revoked for sexual misconduct; Cortney C. Haggerty, four-year suspension for drug use
– Utah Department of Corrections: Stephen A. Gray, revoked for custodial sexual misconduct; Katie C. Schofield, revoked for custodial sexual misconduct; Robert W. Crozier, revoked for sexual misconduct with a state computer; Alan W. Hurst, three-year suspension for driving under the influence; Bryan R. Sandness, two-year conviction for driving under the influence; David A. Goodrich, 9-month suspension for pattern of misconduct
– Ogden police: Leon Weese, 18-month suspension for sexual misconduct
– University of Utah police: Tory K. Park, three-year suspension for driving under the influence
– Police academy cadets: Benjamin L. Walker, four-year suspension for theft; Valerie Hutchens, four-year suspension for falsifying her application
– Washington County Sheriff s Office: Joy L. Andrews, three-year suspension for lying
– Cache County Sheriff s Office: Jared L. Glover, one-year suspension for pattern of misconduct
Chief, jail officers among more than 30 disciplined by police board
By Nate Carlisle
The Salt Lake Tribune
Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated:
Posted: 6:00 PM- ST. GEORGE - In what might be the largest docket in its history, the state’s police board Monday booted or disciplined more than 30 peace officers accused of wrongdoing.
That included action against the former Helper police chief and four Utah County jail officers all accused of sexual misconduct.
The four jail officers were found to have had sex with a woman jail employee in the evidence room and other locations in the jail, said the board’s investigator, Lt. Steve Winward. All four men, the woman and another male jail employee have already resigned after the affair came to light in the fall.
One Corrections officer, Michael Kingston, had his peace officer certification revoked, meaning he cannot practice law enforcement elsewhere in Utah. A former sergeant at the jail, Mark B. Binks, received a four-year suspension of his certification, while jail officer Michael H. Houck received a three-year suspension and jail officer James B. Collyer was suspended for two years.
The board revoked the peace officer certification of former Helper Chief George Zamantakis for having an affair with a one-time department secretary and then lying about it to state investigators.
Winward said when the affair came to light it caused a disruption in the small town. But investigators also noted Zamantakis still had the support of the mayor and other officers with the police department.
The board, called the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, adjudicated twice as many cases as normal for its quarterly meeting. Winward said the high number was not the sign of an increased discipline problem in Utah police but rather investigators and the board trying to adjudicate cases that had been ongoing.
"We were cleaning things out," Winward said.
The board meeting is coinciding with the annual conference of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association. One of the conference discussion items for Tuesday is titled: "Ethics on the Job: A Continuing Challenge."
The board also revoked the certification of former Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., marshals Fred Barlow and Preston Barlow. The two marshals, which worked in the polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border, already have been decertified in Arizona. They were found to have written to the community’s leader, Warren Jeffs, while he was a fugitive and they failed to answer the questions of investigators looking for Jeffs.
The board issued a four-year suspension to former Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Fred Swain. In June 2006, Swain, who lead UHP’s DUI squad, wrecked his UHP car in Draper and was charged with driving under the influence. He resigned from the patrol and later pleaded guilty to alcohol-related reckless driving.
Here is the story as posted in Seattle.
I have also posted the story here in case the link dries up.
State crime lab chief resigns after problems raised on DUI evidence
Director, who leaves in March, says problems now fixed
By TRACY JOHNSON
P-I REPORTER
The head of the state labs that test crime evidence is stepping down, a move that prosecutors and defense lawyers say could help bring back lost confidence in the way drunken-driving cases are handled around the state.
Barry Logan’s resignation, effective March 14, comes after a series of problems at the Washington State Patrol toxicology lab have cast doubts on breath tests for suspected drunken drivers.
Mike Urban / P-I
Barry Logan talks to the media Thursday about his crime lab resignation. At right is State Patrol Chief John Batiste.
"Barry has done an excellent job of addressing the issues during this difficult period," State Patrol Chief John Batiste said. "But he and I agree that forward momentum will require different leadership."
The decision stunned attorneys who have worked with Logan on criminal cases and saddened his staff, leaving some in tears, but the lab has drawn stinging criticism about errors and ethical problems in recent months.
"Too many things went wrong on his watch," said defense attorney Francisco Duarte, who specializes in DUI cases. "I believe he wanted to run a laboratory that was based on integrity — and ultimately, he failed to do so."
DUI attorney Ted Vosk, who has worked to uncover problems at the lab and has persuaded judges to throw out many breath-test results, said he believed Logan’s departure was appropriate.
"His stepping down now seems to represent, at least in my mind, that we were right," Vosk said.
Logan has served as the state toxicologist since 1990 and became director of the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau — overseeing toxicology and crime labs — in 1999, managing 220 workers at eight lab locations.
On Thursday, he said he has dedicated his career "to quality evidence in DUI cases" and, after spending months trying to fix the lab’s problems, wants the public to know it "can have confidence in the results of these tests."
"I have done as much as I can," he said. "I feel that it’s going to help move things forward to have a new director."
Logan, a 46-year-old native of Scotland who is well known and respected in his field, said he remains proud of the labs’ work and takes responsibility for many of the Seattle-based toxicology lab’s errors — though he believes they were "dramatically overstated" by defense attorneys.
"With the benefit of hindsight, I can always say that I might have handled things differently," he said.
Doubts about the lab’s work surfaced last summer, when lab manager Ann Marie Gordon was accused of signing off on scientific tests she hadn’t actually done.
Some of the criticism toward Logan was about how he handled a vague tip about the wrongdoing. He assigned Gordon to investigate the matter, apparently unaware that she was the problem.
Then other errors came to light involving the same issue: how the lab tests an ethanol-water solution used to make sure breath-test machines give accurate readings. The solution is critical in tens of thousands of drunken-driving cases each year because if it’s off, people may face charges based on faulty results.
The State Patrol has maintained that inaccurate results have been extremely limited. Defense attorneys have argued that the lab’s shoddy practices call all of its work into question.
In October, two Skagit County judges challenged Logan’s credibility as they cited careless and potentially flawed work at the lab.
Last month, three King County District Court judges questioned his ability to serve as state toxicologist and found that the lab was fraught with ethical problems, scientific errors and carelessness — making all breath tests unreliable.
On Thursday, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said Logan built "a solid foundation" of forensic science and suggested that his resignation "is a positive step toward rebuilding the professional reputation of the lab."
Prosecutors, he said, "are eager to work with the State Patrol and the new toxicologist to make sure that they have corrected questioned administrative procedures … and ultimately restored the confidence of the court system" in breath tests as evidence.
Batiste said he would immediately begin a search to replace Logan. Crime Lab Division Manager Larry Hebert, a 34-year veteran, will take over in the interim.
The state has already appointed Fiona Couper, who most recently served as chief toxicologist in Washington, D.C., to serve as the state toxicologist.
Her job will now be a separate position from the director of the Forensic Laboratory Services Bureau because having someone fill both jobs, as Logan does, is "too much to ask of any one person," Batiste said.
P-I reporter Tracy Johnson can be reached at 206-467-5942 or tracyjohnson@seattlepi.com.