September 18, 2017 Mr. Klingle r, This letter was drafted on behalf of numerous employees of the Buckeye Police Department. it is our intention to bring forth to you some major internal concerns that we have with the agency and how it is being run. These concerns include hostile work environment, bullying, general employee misconduct, as well as criminal offenses to include the falsifying of crime statistics and the misappropriation of city funds. Due to the volatility of the BPD administration, this letter wili be sent as anonymous at this point. Please understand that the information disclosed herein, can be verified either through witnesses and/or a paper trail. At this point it will be sent by ?Anonymous,? as anyone who has voiced an opinion or brought up a concern about the administration?s actions has been targeted, to inciude receiving formal discipline in the form letters or reprimand, and most recently assignment transfers and demotions. As you know, Buckeye is rapidly growing and we have a fairly young police department. With that being said, many of us have been here for years and have worked for several different administrations. This is hands down the worst Buckeye PD has ever been, as there are horrible morale issues that result from employees being harassed, targeted by the current administration and treated differently based on who they are. The last thing that we as police department employees want is to bring more negative attention to the City of Buckeye. With modern day media thriving on issues like police corruption or misconduct, i could assure you the City of Buckeye would be portrayed negatively on the national level. As a group, we collectively decided to afford you the opportunity to do your due diligence and look into the matter. We are confident that you will quickly see that there is truth and validity to the allegations listed herein. We also have decided to afford you the opportunity to do your job and handle the matter appropriately. With that being said, we have decided a time that we think is fair and if we feel that the matter is not being taken seriously or investigated thoroughly we are prepared to take the information to the media. Since the problem is escalating quickly, unfortunately we must limit the time before we take it to the next level, as many of us fear our careers and families? livelihood are in jeopardy. Please understand, this is not a threat or a bluff, just the facts of what will happen if left unresolved. We have already contacted an agent at the FBI and spoke with them about the falsification of crime stats and they confirmed that with the documentation they were provided, that a criminal act has been committed. They stated that agencies often do this to attract future residents, businesses and obtain grant funding, however doing it under false pretenses is indeed criminal conduct. The agency advised that due to the volume of these type of cases, they typically leave it to city management to resolve the issue first, and if they fail to do so then they will investigate the matter. After that, the will usually come in and take over management of the agency, as you currently see with the Maricopa County Sherriff?s Office. As mentioned above, we prefer to not cast negative attention over the city, however we are prepared to do so as we inherently want to do the right thing and maintain the relationships with the members of the community that we have worked hard to create and foster for over the last decade. We fully understand their will be repercussions and ramifications to the agency if the media and/or become involved, but we unanimously decided it was worth the risk, because none of us want to be a part of, or associated with the corruption that is occurring on a daily basis. This information would be most easily understood by yourself and other outside parties, broken down individually by the involved party. Please see the following: - Misappropriation of government funds. on multiple occasions, utilized City of Buckeye Funds to travel to California for ?business,? when in fact he was having an affair on his wife and was utilizing City of Buckeye money to finance this affair. - Falsifying of Crime Stats. - _was aware that his subordinates were purposely changing the natures of crimes reported in an attempt to lower the crime rate. The Buckeye Police Officers Association approached - with this and notified him that we did not condone or support his behavior and it still continues to this day - and _re partners on a private security business together. Besides the obvious conflict of interest, _regularly goes after and disciplines anyone I who had brought forth a personnel issue against additionally, - _has failed to discipline _for muitiple major policy violations has had sexual relationships with Buckeye Police Department employees - _took over an IA of _nd covered up evidence and ?unsubstantiated? the IA that _was engaged in sexual intercourse with a record clerk who no longer works here, while on the clock - _has been witnessed consuming alcoholic beverages and then operating a city vehicie - _vas caught being drunken and disorderly at the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament and committed theft by trying to sneak people in on a prepaid wristband _said to others he implemented CALEA to build his resume and openly admitted it was self~serving because CALEA is a waste of money and that is why most agencies have gone away from it _was overheard planning with and?onhowtopush auto agency. _fo rmer colleagues from the Peoria PD we re the investigators who conducted the investigation MAJOR conflict of interest - has denied employees training and not afforded them the opportunity for career enhancement - ?told subordinates that he will not promote BPD personnel because of I attitude issues. _is already bringing in former colleagues to command staff meetings _as been witnessed gossiping and starting rumors and saying negative things about his subordinates integrity issue dishonesty made a decision about a domestic violence incident that later resulted in the death of 2 innocent people during a double homicide DV incident. - at the time, lied and said that a subordinate made the call and the matter was minimized by his business partner and supervisor, Failure to supervise ?continually covers up major policy violations of his peers. Examples engaged in multiple vehicle pursuits, one of which that led to a motorcyc ri er osing a leg, no discipline. Officers testified they ?in the pursuit that violated policy, no discipline issued, in fact, he got an award. Example 2 ??failed to impound evidence for several months. The evidence was of a theft of nearly million dollars, ?then coordinated to sneak the evidence in, allowed the policy violations to occur. Multiple supervisors have tried to write - ?up for policy violations, wont allow it and it ends in .targeting the supervisors. outinely ca uses internal conflict and commits policy violations and constantly changes crime stats, -as knowledge of this and allows it to happen. it should be noted that ?and ?socialize regularly on their days off. ?is the brother in law of and good friend of- ?has committed more major policy violations in the last few years then probably the majority of the department combined. These include, violating the pursuit policy, illegal search and seizure, violating the body camera policy, and also committed perjury during testimony. Every one of these policy violations was minimized or covered up. Supervisors who tried to address these, were ordered to quit targeting - -was overheard talking about having to ?protect? - ?also changes and falsifies crime stats. This was addressed in an association meeting and he became irate and yelled at the officer who brought it up. That officer has now been written up several times and has currently been placed onto a PIP. ?cratc a hectic be making fun of and bullying other employees. -has helped cover up "policy violations) and now helped him maintain employment while he is see mg a me we] retirement from an old injury that never presented an issue while employed. This is because the City of Buckeye will likely pay out a lot of money for gross negligence in the matter. Instigates arguments and harasses employees by talking trash, spreading rumors and belittiing other employees. - _routinely talks negatively about other employees and other supervisors to his subordinates ?sent an email to another supervisor with hiring links and job openings to other agencies suggesting he leave. - -hanges crime stats. This is a big one. There is an extensive paper trail to include emails where ?demands other people change the natures of the crime. ?routinely goes in and changes crime stats to lower the reported Part 1 crimes. ?even told subordinates to change the natures to lesser offenses so the property value of his house do not go down?has gone in and changed the nature of police reports, that were already signed off and locked by other supervisors of the same rank. Some examples,?likes to change Burglaries to thefts or lost properties, Aggravated Assaults to simple assaults and recently changed an Arson with over $30,000 in damage to a ?fire.? This incident was deemed an arson by the Buckeye Fire Dept and was routed to a different supervisor. ?went in and changed it to a fire so the arson crime stat would not appear as a crime in Buckeye. ?has bullied office rs into changing stats and they later complained that was not the right thing to do. There are numerous emails and 100?s of reports in the Spiilman database where this can easily be verified as it time stamps anytime someone accesses and modifies a report. He even changed a homicide to a dead body until the -hanged it back. - -has no regard for ethics in this profession. We could sit here for hours and keep listing policy violations that have occurred but we think you probably get the point by now. The corruptness has gotten so bad that employees are becoming vocal and they are now receiving backlash and discipline from the administration. We firmly understand that yourjob is difficult and it is not our intentions to make it worse. You have 95% of the Buckeye Police Department that do a great job and adhere to their values and abide by the oath that they swore too. You have an administration that is filled with corruptness and now that they are being called to the carpet, they are pointing the blame elsewhere. if anything, look at the crime stats alone and you will see that it has clearly occurred and that it can easily be verified. mm? Sight 0? What this profession is about and ave put you in un ortunate poSitIon avmg to try and resolve the issue. They all have knowledge that the stats are being altered, but will not deviate from the dishonesty as it makes them look like a more effective administration. As mentioned, it is not our intention to draw any more attention to this than necessary. We, the strong majority of the Buckeye Police Department, just want to know we are part of an organization that does things legally, ethically and morally. We hope that you take this letter serious and investigate the matter. Please don?t take this as a threat, and I assure you it is not a bluff, but if the matter is not being addressed in a timely fashion, then copies of this letter will be forvva rded to ail Buckeye City Council members and Mayor Meck. Next, all of the information, will be forwarded to the media, and after that the and D01. Letting that happen is a loss to everyone, however it is necessary at this point because the problem is compounding rapidly. Employeesjobs and personal lives are now being affected because they chose to stand up for others and what is right. We now leave it in your hands Mr. Klingler, please do what is right. Sincerely, Anonymous Employees of the Buckeye Police Department