Original Article Dismissal of 158 domestic-violence cases blamed on 1 cop Brent Whiting The Arizona Republic Apr. 7, 2005 01:00 PM Glendale police have been forced to scrap 158 domestic-violence cases because the detective assigned to them falsified reports and failed to file the necessary paperwork, officials say. As a result, they say, wrongdoers will go unpunished and their victims will never get their day in court. In the meantime, police are trying to salvage 84 other misdemeanor cases in which the detective, Brad Moore, has been accused of dropping the ball. The cases dated back to at least January 2002. The city now wants to fire Moore, 41, saying he deserves to be stripped of his $55,000-a-year job because he has undermined the credibility of the Glendale Police Department. He's on paid leave pending his appeal of the firing. "You have failed to demonstrate ethics and integrity in the performance of your duties," Police Chief Andrew Kirkland said in a termination notice delivered to Moore. In addition, Moore has placed the city in "a poor position" on liability should Glendale be sued, Kirkland said. Several victims in the cases assigned to Moore have been "re-victimized," one of them four times, the chief added. For his part, Moore has admitted to police supervisors that he "screwed up" and "got into a bad habit," according to internal documents obtained from Glendale under the Arizona Public Records Law. Police said that in a review of 395 cases assigned to Moore since January 2002, 153 of them, or nearly 38 percent, were "submitted through the proper channels." In 242 other cases, Moore filed reports falsely claiming the work had been done and that the cases had been submitted to city prosecutors to be tried as misdemeanors in the Glendale City Court, police said. In fact, 158 cases were left uncompleted and never turned over to prosecutors, police said. These cases cannot be reworked or submitted for prosecution because the one-year statute of limitations has expired, officers said. That leaves 84 cases that remain viable. The cases have been reassigned to other detectives for additional work, officers said. On Jan. 27, Kirkland slapped Moore with a 40-day suspension without pay, which would have allowed the officer to complete 20 years of service and qualify for a pension. On Feb. 3, after further reflection, Kirkland announced his intent to fire the detective. On March 21, Kirkland faced job troubles of his own when City Manager Ed Beasley placed the police chief on paid leave pending an investigation into claims of sexual harassment and other concerns. Kirkland denies any wrongdoing and says he wants a speedy probe to clear his name. Moore, who worked as a drywaller before he joined the Glendale force in August 1985, has been unavailable for comment. Efforts to contact Moore, including a stop at his home, have proven unsuccessful. Connie Phillips, executive director of the Sojourner Center, which operates a shelter for battered women and their families, said Thursday that the accusations involving Moore are "absolutely reprehensible." Domestic-violence victims, in general, view police and the courts as unresponsive to their needs, and Moore's alleged misconduct will do nothing but fortify this perception, Phillips said. "You have to compare this to a police officer who drops the ball in drunken-driving cases," she said. "That is something we wouldn't tolerate. We have to take domestic-violence cases just as seriously." Two things are needed to stop domestic violence, Phillips said. The first is to provide support to victims. The second is to punish the batterer. Neither has been accomplished in the cases involving Moore, she added. Glendale spokeswoman Julie Frisoni declined to release a photo of Moore or to identify the victims in his cases, citing privacy issues and legal advice. Frisconi said that spurred by Moore's case, police have reviewed cases assigned to other domestic-violence detectives and "no discrepancies were found in their procedures." Reach the reporter at brent.whiting@arizonarepublic.com or (602) 444-6937.