Gen5Dallas
05 October 2003, 12:38 AM
YEARS after the fact, Dallas' world-class newspaper has decided to tell the public about the backgrounds of DPD command staff promoted by former chief Bolton...
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"Questions of credibility among Bolton's top staff:
Fired Dallas chief defends controversial promotions"
9:24 PM CDT on Saturday, October 4, 2003
By TANYA EISERER and HOWARD SWINDLE / The Dallas Morning News
Floyd Simpson already had been disciplined for a road rage incident when police answered a 911 domestic violence call at his house on Valentine's Day 1999. Officers found his wife with a badly swollen eye and abrasions on her arm. A year and a half later, he was promoted two levels to deputy chief in the Dallas Police Department.
As a patrol officer, Zackary Belton was suspended for 15 days for lying about an off-duty job. After being promoted to deputy chief, he was suspended for five days after a traffic accident. At the time, his driving privileges had been suspended after at least 17 accidents.
Kyle Royster was disciplined while he was a detective after he testified as a character witness for a cocaine dealer and recommended that the judge grant probation. Twice, the officer failed the civil service lieutenant's exam. But he was promoted three levels – from sergeant to deputy chief – and placed in charge of one of the city's toughest patrol divisions.
The three deputy chiefs, along with virtually the entire senior command structure of the Dallas Police Department, are Terrell Bolton's controversial legacy of promotions that awaits whoever emerges from the national search to replace him as Dallas' police chief.
Although Mr. Bolton hasn't occupied the sixth-floor chief's suite at the Jack Evans Police Headquarters since he was abruptly fired Aug. 26, the 17-member sworn command staff he assembled continues to run the Police Department. The next chief, whose selection isn't expected until May, will inherit this staff, a team with gaping holes in managerial experience and lingering credibility problems.
And according to many midlevel veteran police supervisors interviewed by The Dallas Morning News, some of those deputy chiefs – and the man who promoted them – have sent departmental morale plunging.
"If you get a new chief that would do it, all those folks that he promoted that were not ready for promotion, they should go," said Joe Gunn, who recently retired after spending 23 years of his nearly 29 as a lieutenant. "It's going to be difficult to bring someone in from the outside and for them to assess what's there now. You can't just walk in and get rid of everybody."
Getting rid of everybody in the command staff is virtually what Mr. Bolton did in October 1999, barely a month into his tenure as the city's first black police chief. In what has become known around the department as "The Saturday Morning Massacre," he replaced the predominantly white upper echelon of police leadership with one that is predominantly minority.
Among his demotions were Executive Assistant Chief Robert Jackson and Deputy Chief Willie Taylor, who are black, and Executive Assistant Chief Manny Vasquez, who is Hispanic. Each had been mentioned as a contender for the job that ultimately went to Mr. Bolton. Mr. Bolton's decision cost the city almost $5 million in legal settlements with members of the old regime.
Although many white rank-and-file officers believe that Mr. Bolton's stunning personnel move was motivated purely by race, midlevel supervisors say it was much more complex. Less obvious, but just as crucial in the decision, they say, was the issue of loyalty.
"We had competent, qualified minority lieutenants, so if he felt the overwhelming need to have a person of color in that position, there were more qualified people," said one longtime commander. "But those were also the ones who were not going to sit there and not say what was on their minds. Those were people who would do what was best for the organization."
Messages left for Mr. Bolton were returned Friday by a New York City attorney.
"Chief Bolton did his best professionally to evaluate personnel in the department, and he is proud of the people he promoted and who served in his administration," said Peter Ginsberg. "His judgment, in fact, was confirmed by the city manager in Chief Bolton's most recent performance evaluation in which the city manager went out of his way to compliment Chief Bolton's command staff."
Mr. Ginsberg described himself as an adviser to the former chief, who has indicated he plans to sue the city over his firing.
Police retirees talked freely for this story; officers on the force agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, for fear of being retaliated against or disciplined under the department's Code of Conduct, which makes it a violation to portray the department in an unfavorable light.
Midlevel supervisors from across the department offered strikingly similar assessments of the former chief's managerial style. Their views are echoed by some recent retirees.
Sam Johnson, a 31-year veteran who headed the department's Management Research Team until he retired about six months ago, worked daily among the police hierarchy, drafting the briefings that went to the City Council.
"He [Bolton] was way too much into personal loyalty," said Mr. Johnson, a former sergeant. "I think loyalty is overrated. Loyalty is important, but competence is underrated. I can put up with people who aren't just 'dog' loyal as long as they're doing a good job. But Terrell was never that way. It didn't matter how bad you were. If you were dog loyal, that's what counted."
[b]Premium on loyalty
Deputy Chiefs Simpson and Royster demonstrate the premium Mr. Bolton put on loyalty. At various times each had worked closely as Mr. Bolton's personal aides, arranging his schedule, returning his calls and answering his mail as he made his way up the ranks from deputy to assistant and, finally, chief.
Chief Royster chuckled at the notion that Mr. Bolton valued personal loyalty above managerial experience.
"I worked hard for him. He disciplined me when he had to discipline me. He never backed off," Chief Royster said. "You can ask a hundred people who are sergeants now on this department, and if they were given an opportunity to become a deputy chief, 99 percent of them would probably tell you yes.
"I've had conversations with sergeants on this department who said, 'I wish he would have asked me because I would have taken it in a heartbeat.' "
Both deputy chiefs said they were qualified and ready for their promotions.
"With regard to me, I certainly looked forward to the challenge," Chief Simpson said. "And I think that since I've been here in the job, I've been doing pretty good."
To be sure, not all of Mr. Bolton's promotions are criticized within the department. Shirley Gray, an assistant chief in charge of the Homeland Security and Investigations Bureau, and Ron Waldrop, a deputy chief now acting as an assistant chief in charge of the Support Services Bureau, draw routinely high marks from lower-ranking supervisors.
"He surrounded himself with people ... the overwhelming majority were 'yes men,' " said one supervisor. "One of the great exceptions is Chief Gray. ... She's an outstanding chief. He didn't make her. She used to be a detective. She supervised detectives."
Chief Waldrop also has had a lengthy career in investigations, assigned at various times to homicide, youth crimes, public integrity and internal affairs divisions.
Interim Police Chief Randy Hampton, who was promoted from deputy to assistant chief, likewise is respected by many supervisors.
"I think he will be very collaborative in his leadership style," said one, who, as a sergeant, worked closely with Chief Hampton. "I feel like he's gotten off to a good start."
Said Mr. Johnson: "This guy [Hampton] is so low-key and he's so friendly that people totally underestimate him. He's bright. He listens. He's a good guy."
Chief Hampton has not said whether he wants to be a candidate for the chief's job.
Lack of confidence in the executive staff, according to many supervisors, sits more with the second line of chiefs, the deputies, rather than the top-level assistant chiefs.
Although eight members of the command staff have been disciplined for a range of misconduct, from lying to superiors to failing to fully investigate a case involving a police officer, the nine commanders Mr. Bolton demoted had relatively unblemished backgrounds. Among the nine, there were a total of 12 internal affairs investigations, according to departmental records dating to 1977. Only one of the allegations – verbal abuse – was found to be valid.
Mr. Bolton was aware of disciplinary actions against some of his command candidates before he appointed them, according to his sworn deposition taken in January 2001 as part of the lawsuit filed by the chiefs he demoted.
"I would pull their resumes once I started kind of honing [sic] in on it [the appointment]," he said. "And those things were reviewed by me. Everybody that I appointed."
Those files included personnel and internal affairs records, according to depositions by Deputy Chief Royster and Jennifer Li, the civilian who heads the department's administrative operations.
[b]'That's my prerogative'
Asked in his deposition about prior discipline issued to Dora Saucedo-Falls, whom he promoted to assistant chief, Mr. Bolton said: "Well, I think those incidents ... date back 20 years ago. And you have to take all that into consideration.
"But as police chief, under the charter, that's my prerogative."
According to personnel and internal affairs files obtained by The News through the Texas Open Government Act, Chief Saucedo-Falls, at the time a patrol officer, was suspended in 1979 for seven days for submitting a false report and spreading rumors. After failing to appear to testify in court, according to the file, she told supervisors she had become ill and gone to the doctor.
When she was confronted with the fact she had not gone to the doctor, according to the file, she told other officers that her sergeant had filed the complaint against her because she refused to date him, an allegation she apparently withdrew later.
Chief Saucedo-Falls said last week that the incident "certainly was an embarrassment."
"I've made mistakes," she said. "But when you make mistakes, I think the best thing that anybody can do is to improve and keep moving and don't make that mistake again."
Others disciplined
In addition to Chief Saucedo-Falls, according to files obtained by The News, seven other members of the command staff assembled by former Chief Bolton have been disciplined. They are:
• Deputy Chief Zackary Belton.
In August 1977 while still a patrolman, Officer Belton was suspended for 15 days for violating the department's off-duty job policy. According to the suspension letter, the officer lied to his supervisor about having a prior agreement to work off-duty at an apartment complex; he also had not filed the appropriate request to work off-duty.
In December 1987 while he was assigned to patrol, Lt. Belton received a letter of reprimand for violating the department's professional conduct code. While working off-duty on the parking lot of a nightclub, Lt. Belton sold an off-duty sergeant two tickets for $25 to a Frank Sinatra concert. The tickets were among 1,000 that had been distributed free to department employees, though the sergeant who bought them had been off and was unaware the tickets were complimentary.
Lt. Belton said he sold the tickets for a civilian in the department and kept $5 for himself. He also said that he was unaware they were complimentary tickets. Acting Chief Louie Caudell denied Lt. Belton's appeal, noting that the lieutenant had declined to take a polygraph examination.
In July 2001 while a member of the command staff, Deputy Chief Belton was suspended without pay for five days after he was involved in a traffic accident. Chief Belton, who has had at least 17 accidents, eight of which have been ruled preventable, violated the city's driver safety program.
(continued...)
__________
"Questions of credibility among Bolton's top staff:
Fired Dallas chief defends controversial promotions"
9:24 PM CDT on Saturday, October 4, 2003
By TANYA EISERER and HOWARD SWINDLE / The Dallas Morning News
Floyd Simpson already had been disciplined for a road rage incident when police answered a 911 domestic violence call at his house on Valentine's Day 1999. Officers found his wife with a badly swollen eye and abrasions on her arm. A year and a half later, he was promoted two levels to deputy chief in the Dallas Police Department.
As a patrol officer, Zackary Belton was suspended for 15 days for lying about an off-duty job. After being promoted to deputy chief, he was suspended for five days after a traffic accident. At the time, his driving privileges had been suspended after at least 17 accidents.
Kyle Royster was disciplined while he was a detective after he testified as a character witness for a cocaine dealer and recommended that the judge grant probation. Twice, the officer failed the civil service lieutenant's exam. But he was promoted three levels – from sergeant to deputy chief – and placed in charge of one of the city's toughest patrol divisions.
The three deputy chiefs, along with virtually the entire senior command structure of the Dallas Police Department, are Terrell Bolton's controversial legacy of promotions that awaits whoever emerges from the national search to replace him as Dallas' police chief.
Although Mr. Bolton hasn't occupied the sixth-floor chief's suite at the Jack Evans Police Headquarters since he was abruptly fired Aug. 26, the 17-member sworn command staff he assembled continues to run the Police Department. The next chief, whose selection isn't expected until May, will inherit this staff, a team with gaping holes in managerial experience and lingering credibility problems.
And according to many midlevel veteran police supervisors interviewed by The Dallas Morning News, some of those deputy chiefs – and the man who promoted them – have sent departmental morale plunging.
"If you get a new chief that would do it, all those folks that he promoted that were not ready for promotion, they should go," said Joe Gunn, who recently retired after spending 23 years of his nearly 29 as a lieutenant. "It's going to be difficult to bring someone in from the outside and for them to assess what's there now. You can't just walk in and get rid of everybody."
Getting rid of everybody in the command staff is virtually what Mr. Bolton did in October 1999, barely a month into his tenure as the city's first black police chief. In what has become known around the department as "The Saturday Morning Massacre," he replaced the predominantly white upper echelon of police leadership with one that is predominantly minority.
Among his demotions were Executive Assistant Chief Robert Jackson and Deputy Chief Willie Taylor, who are black, and Executive Assistant Chief Manny Vasquez, who is Hispanic. Each had been mentioned as a contender for the job that ultimately went to Mr. Bolton. Mr. Bolton's decision cost the city almost $5 million in legal settlements with members of the old regime.
Although many white rank-and-file officers believe that Mr. Bolton's stunning personnel move was motivated purely by race, midlevel supervisors say it was much more complex. Less obvious, but just as crucial in the decision, they say, was the issue of loyalty.
"We had competent, qualified minority lieutenants, so if he felt the overwhelming need to have a person of color in that position, there were more qualified people," said one longtime commander. "But those were also the ones who were not going to sit there and not say what was on their minds. Those were people who would do what was best for the organization."
Messages left for Mr. Bolton were returned Friday by a New York City attorney.
"Chief Bolton did his best professionally to evaluate personnel in the department, and he is proud of the people he promoted and who served in his administration," said Peter Ginsberg. "His judgment, in fact, was confirmed by the city manager in Chief Bolton's most recent performance evaluation in which the city manager went out of his way to compliment Chief Bolton's command staff."
Mr. Ginsberg described himself as an adviser to the former chief, who has indicated he plans to sue the city over his firing.
Police retirees talked freely for this story; officers on the force agreed to speak only on condition of anonymity, for fear of being retaliated against or disciplined under the department's Code of Conduct, which makes it a violation to portray the department in an unfavorable light.
Midlevel supervisors from across the department offered strikingly similar assessments of the former chief's managerial style. Their views are echoed by some recent retirees.
Sam Johnson, a 31-year veteran who headed the department's Management Research Team until he retired about six months ago, worked daily among the police hierarchy, drafting the briefings that went to the City Council.
"He [Bolton] was way too much into personal loyalty," said Mr. Johnson, a former sergeant. "I think loyalty is overrated. Loyalty is important, but competence is underrated. I can put up with people who aren't just 'dog' loyal as long as they're doing a good job. But Terrell was never that way. It didn't matter how bad you were. If you were dog loyal, that's what counted."
[b]Premium on loyalty
Deputy Chiefs Simpson and Royster demonstrate the premium Mr. Bolton put on loyalty. At various times each had worked closely as Mr. Bolton's personal aides, arranging his schedule, returning his calls and answering his mail as he made his way up the ranks from deputy to assistant and, finally, chief.
Chief Royster chuckled at the notion that Mr. Bolton valued personal loyalty above managerial experience.
"I worked hard for him. He disciplined me when he had to discipline me. He never backed off," Chief Royster said. "You can ask a hundred people who are sergeants now on this department, and if they were given an opportunity to become a deputy chief, 99 percent of them would probably tell you yes.
"I've had conversations with sergeants on this department who said, 'I wish he would have asked me because I would have taken it in a heartbeat.' "
Both deputy chiefs said they were qualified and ready for their promotions.
"With regard to me, I certainly looked forward to the challenge," Chief Simpson said. "And I think that since I've been here in the job, I've been doing pretty good."
To be sure, not all of Mr. Bolton's promotions are criticized within the department. Shirley Gray, an assistant chief in charge of the Homeland Security and Investigations Bureau, and Ron Waldrop, a deputy chief now acting as an assistant chief in charge of the Support Services Bureau, draw routinely high marks from lower-ranking supervisors.
"He surrounded himself with people ... the overwhelming majority were 'yes men,' " said one supervisor. "One of the great exceptions is Chief Gray. ... She's an outstanding chief. He didn't make her. She used to be a detective. She supervised detectives."
Chief Waldrop also has had a lengthy career in investigations, assigned at various times to homicide, youth crimes, public integrity and internal affairs divisions.
Interim Police Chief Randy Hampton, who was promoted from deputy to assistant chief, likewise is respected by many supervisors.
"I think he will be very collaborative in his leadership style," said one, who, as a sergeant, worked closely with Chief Hampton. "I feel like he's gotten off to a good start."
Said Mr. Johnson: "This guy [Hampton] is so low-key and he's so friendly that people totally underestimate him. He's bright. He listens. He's a good guy."
Chief Hampton has not said whether he wants to be a candidate for the chief's job.
Lack of confidence in the executive staff, according to many supervisors, sits more with the second line of chiefs, the deputies, rather than the top-level assistant chiefs.
Although eight members of the command staff have been disciplined for a range of misconduct, from lying to superiors to failing to fully investigate a case involving a police officer, the nine commanders Mr. Bolton demoted had relatively unblemished backgrounds. Among the nine, there were a total of 12 internal affairs investigations, according to departmental records dating to 1977. Only one of the allegations – verbal abuse – was found to be valid.
Mr. Bolton was aware of disciplinary actions against some of his command candidates before he appointed them, according to his sworn deposition taken in January 2001 as part of the lawsuit filed by the chiefs he demoted.
"I would pull their resumes once I started kind of honing [sic] in on it [the appointment]," he said. "And those things were reviewed by me. Everybody that I appointed."
Those files included personnel and internal affairs records, according to depositions by Deputy Chief Royster and Jennifer Li, the civilian who heads the department's administrative operations.
[b]'That's my prerogative'
Asked in his deposition about prior discipline issued to Dora Saucedo-Falls, whom he promoted to assistant chief, Mr. Bolton said: "Well, I think those incidents ... date back 20 years ago. And you have to take all that into consideration.
"But as police chief, under the charter, that's my prerogative."
According to personnel and internal affairs files obtained by The News through the Texas Open Government Act, Chief Saucedo-Falls, at the time a patrol officer, was suspended in 1979 for seven days for submitting a false report and spreading rumors. After failing to appear to testify in court, according to the file, she told supervisors she had become ill and gone to the doctor.
When she was confronted with the fact she had not gone to the doctor, according to the file, she told other officers that her sergeant had filed the complaint against her because she refused to date him, an allegation she apparently withdrew later.
Chief Saucedo-Falls said last week that the incident "certainly was an embarrassment."
"I've made mistakes," she said. "But when you make mistakes, I think the best thing that anybody can do is to improve and keep moving and don't make that mistake again."
Others disciplined
In addition to Chief Saucedo-Falls, according to files obtained by The News, seven other members of the command staff assembled by former Chief Bolton have been disciplined. They are:
• Deputy Chief Zackary Belton.
In August 1977 while still a patrolman, Officer Belton was suspended for 15 days for violating the department's off-duty job policy. According to the suspension letter, the officer lied to his supervisor about having a prior agreement to work off-duty at an apartment complex; he also had not filed the appropriate request to work off-duty.
In December 1987 while he was assigned to patrol, Lt. Belton received a letter of reprimand for violating the department's professional conduct code. While working off-duty on the parking lot of a nightclub, Lt. Belton sold an off-duty sergeant two tickets for $25 to a Frank Sinatra concert. The tickets were among 1,000 that had been distributed free to department employees, though the sergeant who bought them had been off and was unaware the tickets were complimentary.
Lt. Belton said he sold the tickets for a civilian in the department and kept $5 for himself. He also said that he was unaware they were complimentary tickets. Acting Chief Louie Caudell denied Lt. Belton's appeal, noting that the lieutenant had declined to take a polygraph examination.
In July 2001 while a member of the command staff, Deputy Chief Belton was suspended without pay for five days after he was involved in a traffic accident. Chief Belton, who has had at least 17 accidents, eight of which have been ruled preventable, violated the city's driver safety program.
(continued...)