Complaint Review: Garden Grove Police Department - Garden Grove

 Some individuals are incapable of telling the truth, and claims of dishonestly begin to resemble a systemic pattern of misconduct. I believe this author's claim against this recipient, because I'm familiar with Alex, his history, and past behaviors. Let's first examine his past business adventures, verifiable via basic Google search. Several years prior, Alex founded a couple debt settlement companies, both long gone following a national policy outlawing the business practice, of which one company was prosecuted for deception by a state attorney general. Alex has discovered, and exploits, a little known fact that in the US, you can often lie to people and companies, under the guise of "conducting business", and law enforcement will declare the discrepancy as a "civil matter", leaving Alex immune to those unwilling to file and pursue civil litigation. As far as Alex's claim of "retaliation" due to civil suit, I say "no way". Just another creative, though plausible, complete lie by Alex in a desperate attempt to sanitize his filthy and unredeemable public image. If his lips are moving, if his keyboard is clicking, he's lying.

How does one entertain a city department full of corrupt police officers who lack a conscience? That's easy, just host a banquet, at the taxpayer's expense, then hand out so many meaningless awards, they lose any value as an achievement or accomplishment. I was reviewing a local Orange County law enforcement website, recently, and discovered a story depicted a city sponsored award ceremony in which nearly 60 officers, out of 160, received awards for unquantifiable, and undefinable acts that most government agencies that hire civil servants consider to be basic responsibilities. Amazing, the officer my girlfriend filed a legitimate complaint against, a complaint the department never resolved, was awarded "Officer of the Second Quarter". They even awarded awards to non-officer staff, like that lying counter employee who could not seem to identify one of the city's few Asian officers, the only one who stands 5'4", and happened to be on duty that minute, so my ex-girlfriend could file a complaint. Amazing, when I probed, "how many officers does your department have?", "how many are Asian?", "how many Asian are currently on duty?", upon realizing my intention to identify this misbehaving officer, she could not overcome her spontaneous amnesia. And what award did this lying, er, um, I mean selective memorizing employee receive? She received an award for "Excellent Customer Service".

Most reputable police and law enforcement departments, city, county, state and federal, carefully select the most competent and qualified candidates, from a pool of applicants, then based on their confidence in this selection, require approved candidates sign a non-compete agreement in exchange for the applicant's paid admission to a local academy, and stipend for purchase of duty weapon and training ammunition budget. Any respectable department with confidence in their vetting process considers the expense an investment in fortifying their department infrastructure. Enter Garden Grove PD. While they are adept at paying half million dollar settlements, for the privilege of pretending to be legitimate, they seem to struggle paying just a few thousand dollars, like most other department, an investment in their confident decision. Instead, they lower the bar, and their expectations, sparing them this minor expense, guaranteeing a badge to those willing to pay their own way to the academy.

Perhaps this is why their staff seem to make so many blunders, mistakes, and lack morals. When a department has nothing invested, they deserve less performance, of course, they'll still pay a half million dollar settlement to protect their subsidized positive image. Interestingly, I noticed how old some of the department cruisers appear to be. I mean, some of their squad cars are old jalopies, nearing 15 years old. I can't help but think how many squad cars that 500k settlement payment would buy, if only this department would raise the bar, be more selective, invest a few thousand dollars in training, and encourage those recruits to actually follow the rules written by their department. It sounds complicated, but it's actually a simple concept for those enjoying the benefit of common sense, logic, and at minimum, a high school education, features clear lacking by the "Brass" within this department.

I will explain how a department with questionable policies, that they don't bother to honor, could be expected to garner or even foster deviant officer behavior. According to state law, department are required to establish procedures for the accepting and consideration of community complaints. About the only requirement they place in the statute is that such rules be written and available for viewing, and that all claims be adjudicated within a certain period of time. Without looking up this statute, I believe this period of time is 45 days, though it could be 30. A fair and transparent department would be expected to honor all complaints without erecting artificial barriers designed only to frustrate those who file them. The first such obstacle, erected by Garden Grove Police is the requirement that applicants be required to speak with a watch commander, prior to receiving a complaint form. Having personal experience with this departmental flaw, I can state that other departments don't set such requirement, and the requirement serves as little more than an attempt to dissuade aggrieved citizens from filing legitimate complaints that will invariably go ignored anyway. But more on that in a minute. If you resist their attempt to discourage your filing, you will then experience another barrier, this being your required attendance of an interview. It does not matter how complete your filed report was, it does not matter how much irrefutable evidence you submitted, you will be required to attend an interview designed only to encourage your dismissal of such complaint. In my ex-girlfriend's case, she elected not to take part in the charade, especially when the incompetent, Sargent Craig Mciver, mailed her his documented deception, signed by the Chief. I don't know if I was more angry due to the lie, or because a ranking uniformed officer was stupid enough to verifiably document such deception. I guess good help is hard to find, especially when you sell badges. Anyway, because my ex-girlfriend refused to participate in the charade, Mr. Craig Mciver "deactivated" the complaint. Not only does the state statute governing department complaints, not list any provision for such behavior, it wouldn't matter anyway because Garden Grove PD never gives due consideration of complaints, regardless of its legitimacy. In the end, reading the Sargent's poorly written, poorly worded, document form of lies, I couldn't help feel sympathy for the community citizens. It annoyed me the most that someone so clearly lacking adequate communication skills, enjoyed the rank of Sargent, title of Internal Affairs, making a considerable salary, all at the taxpayers expense. What a waste of payroll. Nepotism at its finest!