Item #3 on yesterday’s agenda was a request by Acting Chief-Until-Mike-Sellers-Pulls-His-Head-Out-and-Comes-Back-to-Work Hamilton to buy some spiffy raincoats for his lads. 200 to be precise, at a cost of $17,000. That’s $85 bucks a pop, and presumably Hamilton got a great discount for quantity.
These uber-raincoats meet some sort of Federal guideline for work in “federal-aid” highways right-of-ways (weren’t you losing sleep worrying about that?). And naturally the current coats are old and only “water resistant.” Typical. in government resource mismanagement is always used as an excuse for big, new, outlays.
But consider this: right now Fullerton’s entire police force numbers about 140 (give or take, depending on how many are on paid or unpaid administrative leave and can’t work on any highway, federal-aid or otherwise. Then there’s the fact that not all 140 are on duty at any one time. Then there’s the fact that only a fraction of the force will actually be on patrol when it’s actually raining and might be needed to stand around after a car crash. Finally there’s the obvious fact that these people really ought to be able to share a few dozen of the same infrequently used garments.
Please note that because the money is from asset seizure and not General Fund, the requestor is unashamed to make such a profligate request.
So how did our esteemed city council vote? Apparently it passed on the Consent Calendar nod 5-0.
On Thursday the Fullerton Police Department released a sketch of a sexual assault suspect, according to the Register, here.
The attack occurred on October 12th, on Berkeley, near FJC, one month earlier. A little late. Still, not bad for Andrew Goodrich, who inexplicably (or perfectly explicable if you believe in the FPD Culture of Corruption) remains the face of Fullerton on police matters.
Naturally some of the commenters on the ensuing thread wonder aloud when the Goodrich & Co. are going to release the image of former FPD cop Albert Rincon, who sexually assaulted women in the back seat of his patrol car, with the full knowledge of his superiors in the department.
Oh, that’s right. Former police chief, city councilman and current recall target Pat McKinley has explained all: “it’s just touching. Not a good thing, but not a dangerous thing.” So despite a $350,000 settlement (to date) Rincon is not really a danger to anybody.
But if that sets the bar for behavior then it looks like their suspect falls well withing the bounds of propriety established by McKinley.
It’s been a year since the election of 2010. But let’s take a moment to reflect upon those who were endorsed by the public safety unions in Fullerton:
Right. Bankhead, McKinley and Roland Chi. What a crew!
Bankhead, the brain shift-slip octogenarian; McKinkley, the bad cop who littered the Fullerton Police Department with thugs, goons, pickpockets, pill-popping con men, sexual predators, perjurers, and of course murderers; and Roland Chi, the food poisoner from Garden Grove who only escaped prosecution by handing over his DNA to the DA.
Like the unionistas themselves, huge pension recipients Bankhead and McKinley could be safely counted on to curry favor with labor; and oh, they tried so hard after the brazen Kelly Thomas murder at the hands of six Fullerton cops to protect their campaign benefactors. Roland Chi was just a contemptible scofflaw who never should have come out from behind the rancid squid display in the first place.
And all three were safe bets to impose the annual and illegal 10% tax on your water, a tax that goes to pay their own pensions!
And folks this is why we need a recall!
Word on the street is that the Three Desiccated Dinosaurs are arranging a little theater for tonight’s Council meeting.
It seems that they are jes’ goldarn sick and tired of being told what horses’ asses they are. Well, I say if the horseshoe fits, wear it.
Anyhow it looks like the old boys are organizing a display of affection directed to themselves by their cronies in the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, etc., in order to suck up the 30 minutes now allocated for public comment by Mayor HeeHaw.
Well, alrightee, then. Since the Three Blind Mice need to gin up a claque to shower praise on the indefensible this is really sort of pathetic. They must be alarmed by the fact that nobody in Fullerton under 65 years old supports their miserable misrule.
So get there early and get your speaker’s forms turned in. And get ready for some real fun!
It’s scary that the Three Dithering Dinosaurs are in charge of an entire city. Or at least say they’re in charge.
In its annual Scariest People in OC feature, I notice some familiar names. Yep. Don Bankhead, Dick Jones, and Pat McKinley are near the top of the list. Right after the nut job who murdered eight people in a Seal Beach salon and right behind their own police department!
Well, I guess that’s some sort of achievement although my guess is nobody will be reading about it on the anti-recall website.
We have already documented dime store psychologist Pat McKinley’s pompous blather about how it was necessary to use nunchucks on pro-life protesters because of their super-human resistance to pain.
And for McKinley, pain is the name of the game. When you want to try out a new toy from your chamber of horrors, well, hell, you’re going to need justification. So why not cook up some psychological mumbo-jumbo?
Someone with a little bit of real psychological training might suspect that Pat McKinley has an unhealthy obsession with the application of pain. Judging by the actions of cops he hand-picked to patrol the streets of downtown Fullerton, I think it’s fair to say that sometime between 1993 and 2009 the problem spread like contagion in McKinley’s police department. Was it his game plan, or was he just not paying attention. The signals he was sending his boys was clear enough.
We have seen the videos and read the accounts. Then there’s this:
What is it about some cops? They just feel compelled to act out roles for which they have no qualifications. It’s not enough just to chase ’em and catch ’em. Oh, no. We have to be regaled with legal mumbo jumbo and psychological drivel to explain our own moral inferiority.
Take the classic case of Mr. Pat McKinley, formerly of the LAPD Riot Squad, Fullerton’s police chief from 1993-2008, and now councilmember. We have heard about him sharing, oops, no selling, his in-depth knowledge of the criminal mind here.
But this is by no means recent behavior for McKinley, under whose “leadership” the FPD descended into an undeniable culture of corruption.
Here is an LA Times article from 1991, shared by a commenter. It’s about a lawsuit involving the use of martial arts nunchakus on anti-abortion protesters. From the article:
Nunchakus consist of two 12-inch lengths of hard plastic connected by four inches of nylon cord that officers clamp tightly around the limbs of demonstrators to force them to move.
The Operation Rescue lawsuit alleged that officers selectively “tortured” up to 500 protesters at demonstrations in 1989 and 1990 as the activists attempted to block the doors of clinics in Los Angeles.
In all, more than 30 people filed medical claims against the city for injuries allegedly suffered during arrests. Three of the protesters testified that they suffered nerve damage and broken limbs.
Our old friend Pat McKinley is quoted from a 1989 declaration to a judge urging him not to outlaw the use of the martial arts implement on pro-life protesters:
“Pain for many of the demonstrators is a catharsis for past failures to take action against abortion,” McKinley said. “Therefore, they have an unusual capacity to withstand pain. Some appear as a young child welcoming punishment for past transgressions. With this unique ability to withstand pain comes possibility of injury since a great degree of pain is required to induce compliance by arrest.”
Well, thanks for that in-depth analysis Pat, based on zero years psychological training. Notice how in one sentence he manages to psycho-analyze, demean, and then dehumanize the protesters, too. Just about like the cop apologists have tried to do with Kelly Thomas, the allegedly souped-up super tramp.
But really what this is all about is McKinley’s desire to justify torturing protesters. Why? Because it will make his job easier. And anyway, it’s for their own good, see?
As he blandly looks into a TV camera and tells his constituents that he has nothing to apologize for, consider this laundry list of offenses and incompetency only the most narcissistic, self-aware-less jackass could overlook:
Kelly Mejia iPad theft accusation
Todd Major ripping of Police Explorers and taxpayers to support his pill habit.
Kenton Hampton beating up, falsely arresting, and falsely testifying against Veth Mam. Civil suit on the way. Frank Nguyen lied on the stand, too.
Ditto Kenton Hampton and Edward Quinonez – at least no perjury. Yet.
Ditto allegations against Cary Tong against a college student.
Allegations that Vincent Mater encouraged a jail suicide and then smashed his DAR to try to conceal evidence.
The false identification of Emmanuel Martinez by Miguel Siliceo and his subsequent wrongful five-month imprisonment (with $30,000 bail – five grand higher than Jay Cicinelli’s).
Hiring sex criminal Albert Rincon and ignoring numerous complaints from women he abused. Habitually turned off his DAR against department policy. Several hundred thousand dollar settlement recently agreed to.
FPOA president John Cross detaining and beating up an innocent motorist. Slap on wrist.
Hiring a one-eyed cop, Jay Cicinelli, as a favor to an LAPD crony after that cop had been deemed unfit by the Chief of the LAPD.
Six FPD cops murdering, or aiding in the murder of a mentally ill homeless man Kelly Thomas. Cimimal charges, civil rights charges, civil suits on the way.
Cops he hired conspired to get their stories straight, were coached by supervisors, and were put back on the streets the next day.
Department spokeman and union officer Andrew Goodrich spinning false tales about the Thomas murder to mislead the public and the City Council.
Etc., etc.
Of course this is just some of the stuff we know about. As Michael Gennaco says, “there is more. There always is.”
Remember that these people and actions were foisted upon Fullerton by rudderless FPD that allowed Pat McKinley to spend his time “inventing” a police vest and slaving over his She Bear tome. And nothing for McKinley to apologize for.
Given his denial and inflated sense of self, it seems to me he is in serious need of some psycho-analysis himself. But the real kind, not the kind he dispenses to women who buy his book.
Watch this video clip of Fullerton City Councilman Bruce Whitaker explaining to David Nazar the lies, half-truths and distortions he’s been getting from his own employees about the Kelly Thomas murder.
Whitaker understands what we have understood all along: the Fullerton Police Department and its spokesman, union boss Andrew Goodrich, had no interest in telling anybody what really happened to the homeless victim Thomas on that hot July night in the Fullerton Transportation Center. The falsified reports, the return of the murderers to the street, and the lies peddled by Goodrich all point to one inescapable conclusion: the police department, stalled, lied, and temporized waiting for the scandal to go away.
Yes, Bruce, it must be really exasperating for an elected official to be stonewalled and sandbagged by a bunch of goons and thugs dressed up like policemen, and also by your City Manager and City Attorney who have handed over legal and managerial oversight of the police department to the cops themselves; and even more exasperating to know that the Three Dessicated Dinosaurs are committed to participate in protecting the crooked Culture of Corruption status quo.