Fullerton Police Cut a Deal to Bypass the Law
As hinted yesterday, we received an anonymous piece of correspondence with a copy of the separation agreement between “Lieutenant” Kathryn Hamel and the City of Fullerton.
It is quite an interesting read. We aren’t the only outlet to receive this so we’re curious to see what coverage, if any, this receives in the press.
From what we have gathered Officer Hamel had at least two internal affairs investigations into her actions. It is alleged that one of them was for giving false statements.
These internal investigations were dropped as a condition of this settlement specifically to avoid disclosure under the law known as SB1421.
To quote the agreement (bold emphasis added, caps lock in original):
“The City will revise its Notice of Intent to Discipline Hamel to remove allegations relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness. The Interim Police Chief will place a notice in the file indicating that, pursuant to settlement, all charges against Hamel, including charges relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness were never resolved or proven because there was no Skelly hearing or opportunity for appeal and, accordingly, are not sustained. The IA investigation, and related materials including the revised Notice of Intent to Discipline, will be sealed and maintained in the Human Resources Department, and only in the Human Resources Department, with a notice reading: “THIS IS A SEALED FILE AND SHOULD NOT BE DISCLOSED OR OTHERWISE PRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE CITY MANAGER, AND ONLY AFTER RECEIVING A WRITTEN OPINION FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY THAT SAID RELEASE OF INFORMATION IS REQUIRED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.”
“The City asserts, based on a “not sustained” finding of all charges, that any and all records relating to this investigation are not subject to release under Senate Bill 1421. The City further asserts that any challenge to this legal opinion by any entity will be defended by the City – in court if necessary – to the fullest extent.”
Since Jerry Brown made it possible to find out when police lie, sexually assault people and cause great bodily harm through SB1421 the police and local governments in CA have been scrambling to find ways to block it’s implementation or ways to work around it and here we see one of those ways.
We citizens should fully expect that this is going to be the new normal.
Lacking consequences the police will continue closing cases and ending investigations to protect their own. Watch as the councils and mayors of our city and state do nothing for fear of union funded reprisals at the ballot box.
This is what happens when there is no objective civilian oversight and departments are allowed to handle their own investigations into the wrongdoing of their friends, family and co-workers.
Full settlement agreement can be read in the following photos:
“The Interim Police Chief will place a notice in the file indicating that, pursuant to settlement, all charges against Hamel, including charges relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness were never resolved or proven because there was no Skelly hearing or opportunity for appeal and, accordingly, are not sustained.”
Obstruction of Justice much?
This is wildly intolerable. Good job, FFFF.
What did this lady do?
She lied multiple times in an internal administrative investigation and got caught. But instead of being terminated for dishonesty, she was given a sign and trade deal!! Someone should contact her new employer very soon before the lawsuit!
I believe she made the final decision to arrest the police officer from another department on elder abuse…..when there was none…..and opened up the city to potential liability.
Standard protocol in a case like that is that you run the case by the DA first to make sure everything is good to go before obtaining a warrant and making an arrest. Word is that when the case was run by the DA, the DA said there wasn’t enough evidence to file charges and she couldn’t get a warrant. She made the decision to arrest anyway.
Thus the lawsuit. She is listed as one of the named defendants,claiming false arrest, defamation and wrongful death, among other allegations
After the arrests, Bonnie and Roland Wagner were removed from the house, barred from contact with the suspects and placed in residential care, where they died.
Casselman said the suspects and their photos were paraded for the media, though evidence against them wasn’t there.
“The investigation was nonexistent to minimal,” Casselman said. He described the case as “basically a rush to judgment.”
“Their names have been smeared,” Casselman said. “The case was so poorly documented that the district attorney refused to file any criminal charges whatsoever.”
I believe the fact, that the case was so poorly documented, that fact is being an issue inside the FPD for decades.
Also, they always get the wrong victims. This is not the first time.
But , who call the police for elder abuse-
How incompetents FPD Officers are .
They should sign their names in the break records of incompetence & wrong victims .
Starting from the lower rank of cops who arrest Officer Rock all the way to the detective who handle this case.
Wait, for this kind of situations is usually a family crime detective involved.
I wonder who was the inept detective
DAILY PILOT
Laguna Beach police officer’s lawsuit accuses Fullerton of false arrest and defamation over elder abuse case
By JULIA SCLAFANI
NOV 13, 2018
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-me-laguna-police-lawsuit-20181113-story.html%3foutputType=amp
…all for a promotion!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a disgusting and crooked runaround of the new state transparency law. Hopefully our brave assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva will run this issue to the floor of the capital and get it resolved.
“The City will revise its Notice of Intent to Discipline Hamel to remove allegations relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness—wow so telling!!!!
It’s called a coverup.
There’s still a civil suit by the Laguna PD cop.
Was Dan Hughes involved?
Dudes.
The officer quit rather than go through a lengthy and possible expensive investigative process. There was not a completed investigation.
Therefore nothing proven.
No confirmation of the allegations.
Therefore, no legal, moral and ethical way to state without slandering and libeling the officer these unproven acquisations.
Accused officer gone from Fullerton, money saved, risk mitigated. LAW FOLLOWED, NOT BYPASSED
Think of what you’d be saying if it went the other way and the end result was a large judgement for the officer after a lengthy court case.
You may not like it but, What do you not get?
You should be questioning the position, integrity, ethics and motives and ability to continue to serve in a position of trust of the person who sent you this info and even if is it complete and accurate.
Keep telling yourself that, Dick Head.
A process created for and by the unions.
So the unions have made it difficult and expensive to remove lying cops and we’re supposed to take it as a “win” that we saved money by letting an officer get away with crimes. Talk about your Hero-and-Deserve bootlicking rationality.
So all the wrong doings go away without punishment and the city saves money? No the city pays another cop a huge retirement package-covered up all criminal actions on her part and erased. You call this justice?
bad cops are not a common thing.but in fullerton after the Kelly killing there was a outcry for justice as well it should be .but it left a void that is being to the criminals advantage.gangs have rebounded and multiplied 3 fold.porn now filmed in the city,homeless are abused.punish the bad ones but praise the good or end up with a cty like Sadom.
.someone needs to call the media,this is outrageous! Families effected by her and now the dept erases Hamels record? “The City will revise its Notice of Intent to Discipline Hamel to remove allegations relating to dishonesty, deceit, untruthfulness, false or misleading statements, ethics or maliciousness -“The City asserts, based on a “not sustained” finding of all charges, that any and all records relating to this investigation are not subject to release under Senate Bill 1421 -complete cover up once again
Avoiding legal liability is not a carte blanche excuse for our city council to disregard all morality and justice in its decision making.
The city must me a closet rich one to give pensions to ones who don’t deserve. Hamel should have to be tried for her failures and held accountable like EVERYONE ELSE!!
Smells like Dunn, in his bid to pay back Hamel on behalf of his buddy Hendricks, overreached, but didn’t realize it until afterwards. Domer made him make a deal to avoid being embarrassed during arbitration… if I were her I would have fought it and then sued. Looks like classic retaliation given the backdrop.
I ❤COPS
Oh ya good cops❤️Honest ones are the best
Exactly not the ones who get a raise on the backs of others and lie about it.
on her back you mean
Why am I not seeing this on all the news? Another false arrest and another bad cop covered up but this time this cop was given a huge pass!!!
And an accelerated retirement? WTF??
Just hit KFI – congratulations
6 KFI clips already! Lonnie – so glad for you-hit the News
i hate police officers and every time one gets murdered I laugh and cheer.
She sued Glendale PD and came to Fullerton PD. Her brother LT. Crum got her hired.
What was “her” lawsuit about?
So on Veterans Day the orange county register came out with an article about Criminal Cops in California https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ocregister.com/2019/11/10/californias-criminal-cops-who-they-are-what-they-did-why-some-are-still-working/amp/
It appears as though a huge cover-up has been happening and you should refer to this for further information. Why didn’t Hamels name appear in this article? Her alleged crimes were dropped? Was this another deal done by the City of Fullerton? This blog seems to be the only place where truth and freedom of press exist. . Also appears the city is trying to do away with all truthful news. We are entitled to know about any crimes that occur, even if it is with important people on the payroll!
This should be put into some context with current events in order to explain the problem. When some cops are fired for seemingly trivial issues while others are given a pass for egregious conduct it sets bad examples. It tells Officers who to follow, which lies are okay and where things stand in regards to the Blue Wall of Silence. This is how a cancer grows in a department. A blind and subservient government is how it remains untreated and metastasizes.
This year, thanks to this blog, we learned that Fullerton PD and Fullerton City Hall worked to enter into an agreement in order to shield Lieutenant Kathryn Hamel from the disclosure of her crimes. The city was willing to stop investigations in order to protect her, the wife of Irvine Police Chief Mike Hamel, from any sustained findings of dishonesty which would have made her crimes public records under the CA law known as SB1421.