Original Article El Mirage police 'dysfunctional' Audit finds department inundated with flaws Louie Villalobos The Arizona Republic Mar. 9, 2006 12:00 AM The El Mirage Police Department is undergoing a complete overhaul in the wake of a scathing audit that says the "dysfunctional" department was not able to adequately protect residents for years. The audit, which was commissioned by the city, covered the past five fiscal years and found deficiencies in just about every way the department serves the public. Included on the list is the police force's extremely low crime-clearance rate, handling of evidence so poor that it may derail criminal cases and a haphazard patrolling system. In all, the auditors said they have "not seen such a dysfunctional police department as the El Mirage Police Department." The study was done by Carroll Buracker & Associates, which is based in Virginia and has studied more than 200 police agencies nationwide. It's just the kind of report El Mirage officials were hoping for when they asked for the audit, City Manager B.J. Cornwall said. "This is definitely a tool to make us better," he said. El Mirage, a rapidly growing West Valley city, has about 30,000 residents and about 55 employees. Forty-six of those are sworn officers. The audit will be discussed at today's City Council meeting, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. at El Mirage Elementary School, 13500 N. El Mirage Road. Lifelong resident Archie Galindo, 67, said he plans to attend. He wasn't surprised by the audit's finding. It only put on paper some of the things residents have been saying for years, Galindo said. "It seems like there is no police in El Mirage," he said. Part of the department's problem was a lack of accountability, said Carroll Buracker, president of the auditing firm. The police chief had reported to the City Council rather than the city manager. That meant "laypeople" with little public safety experience were in charge, Buracker said. Police Chief Richard Yost, who was in command for all the years that were audited, resigned in July. He was not available for comment this week. Two lieutenants also have left. Cornwall is still looking for a permanent new replacement. The department is now under the city manager's supervision, which is standard practice for municipalities. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has sent over experienced personnel to run the force, and there have been many changes. Buracker and his team wrote in the audit that they had never seen a system for processing property and evidence more disorganized. The audit discovered that evidence was stored in bins with no documentation. In some cases, powder thought to be cocaine was kept with no labeling. Money was missing, and there was no way to determine the quantity of drugs being stored. This all means evidence is suspect and can be questioned during trials, Buracker said. Acting Chief Brian Beamish said he has completely changed how evidence is handled. Now, items are kept in a sheriff's warehouse, where it can be tracked and cataloged. The audit also found that El Mirage did not have an established system for patrolling. Officers decided for themselves where to go. As a result, officers each responded to an average of 483 calls in 2004, well below the recommended 550 to 650. The audit also found that all patrol officers were scheduled to work on Wednesdays even though Saturday was the busiest day. Officers were scheduled this way to make sure each had a weekend day off, which the auditors called an "inefficient" way to patrol a city. Buracker suggested 13 changes to the patrol division. Many have been implemented, Cornwall said. Beamish said the department now has established beats and has spread out officers to better cover a full week. Like the police officers, detectives picked their own workload and which cases to investigate. As a result, the department had a crime clearance rate of 5 percent in 2002 and topped out at 16.1percent in 2004. That's far below the national average, the audit said. Detectives also worked schedules that had them off by 4 p.m. on weekdays and gave them three-day weekends. Buracker said residents reporting crimes told him they would go weeks, sometimes months, before hearing from detectives. The detectives also worked for about one year without an assigned supervisor. They now have a supervisor, Beamish said. "They're moving away from being a small-town police department," he added.