So How Many Brady Cops Does Fullerton Have?
Posted by Joe Sipowicz in Behind Closed Doors, Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, No News Is Bad News, Pat McPension, The Crime Beat, Union Goons, Watch Your Wallet on January 26, 2012
Which is worse, ignorance or apathy?
Yesterday we published a post about a Fullerton cop named Vince Mater who had been identified in court documents as a “Brady” cop, a policeman whose veracity is so doubtful that the DA doesn’t dare put him on the witness stand.
And that got me thinking: are there other Brady cops on our payroll, and if so, how many?
I don’t know, and I can’t even find out. For some reason it’s a real big secret that’s carefully guarded. Of course it takes legal action by a defense attorney to get anything more than a cop’s name, rank and serial number. That’s the police state we have permitted to be erected about us, and that’s a helluvan erection.
On the other hand, simply knowing the actual total wouldn’t violate the sanctity of our Heroes. But, could it be that there are so many Brady cops the entire cop-superstructure would be threatened if the true number were made public? (Now we wouldn’t want the cops to lose public confidence in the police, would we?). Why isn’t it fair to speculate if we won’t be told?
What are the costs of having Brady cops on a police force, both in terms of civil judgments and inability to convict dangerous criminals? Who knows? My guess is that somebody like Pat McKinley, Don Bankhead or Dick Jones doesn’t know. Or care. After all none of these “esteemed” councilmen seems to care that a serial sex predator was knowingly left on the FPD.
Anyway, it sure makes you stop and think about it in light of the recent revelations of bad behavior by Fullerton’s boys and girls in blue. Could any of these fine, upstanding citizens be Brady cops? Could any Brady cops currently be on paid administrative leave, or even charged with a capital crime?
What is a Brady Cop? And What Did Vince Mater Do to Become One?
Posted by Travis Kiger in Law 'N Disorder, Setting The Bar Low, The Crime Beat on January 25, 2012
A Brady Officer is a cop with a sustained record for knowingly lying in an official capacity. A Brady cop’s testimony in court is almost worthless, which makes you wonder why a police department such as Fullerton would bother to employ one.
But on to the story. Remember that odd Fullerton jail suicide of Dean Francis Gochenour last year?
The word out of the FPD at the time was that a jail officer by the name of Vince Mater had broken apart his audio recorder and smashed the chip containing a recording in the immediate aftermath of the suicide. Whatever was captured on that recording before and during the arrestee’s suicide, we’ll never know.
Dean Gochenour died in the Fullerton City Jail on April 14, 2011
A few months later, Officer Mater was quietly fired.
Well, now we’ve found new state court docs revealing that the DA had also declared Mater to be a “Brady officer.”
We don’t know how Officer Mater earned his status as certified liar, but if it was so bad that even the FPD couldn’t look the other way, well…it must have been pretty bad. And Mater used to be a detective, so it’s safe to assume that he was demoted/reassigned to jailer as a result of his Brady status (or whatever he did to earn it). Of course, demoted is not the same as fired, which is what the fate of any bad cop should have been.
Mater’s name did appear in an OC Register story in November 2010 about the wrongful incarceration of Emanuel Martinez at the hands of the FPD, in which Mater was johnny-on-the-spot with a gang tag that helped send the wrong guy to jail.
Fast forward to 2011, when the FPD ends up with a dead guy in jail, a smashed recorder, another cop on paid leave and presumably another set of lawsuits. All because the FPD knowingly kept yet another bad cop employed instead of firing him.
Oh, and one more thing: for all the City’s talk of transparency and its employment of several highly-compensated Public Information Officers, all of this information was kept from the public until…well, today.
An Eye for an Eye? The Anatomy of a Beat Down
Posted by admin in Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, Pat McPension, The Crime Beat on January 24, 2012
We are in receipt of this video from Kelly’s Army. Is Ron Thomas correct about the actions of FPD Corporal Jay Cicinelli? I don’t know. You be the judge.
We Get Mail: Oh Yeah. We’re Keeping Up The Pressure
Posted by The Fullerton Harpoon in A Step in the Right Direction, About Us on January 24, 2012
We just received this e-mail from a nice lady who recognizes the contribution of FFFF and Kelly’s Army in regards to the way the Fullerton police interacts with mentally ill folks.
Subject: keep up the pressure
I would like to thank you and Ron Thomas for all your efforts. I am the mother of a mentally ill son who just recently (Dec 4, 2011) had contact with Fullerton PD due to his illness and the way it was manage was amazing and human. They actually contacted his father for assistance with him and to get a better understanding of his history. I truly believe this is a result of the actions Ron Thomas and you are making. Thank you doesn’t even begin to cover it. Although I personally am not a citizen of Fullerton, I want you to know that I think what you are doing matters and hopefully spreads to get the kind of changes that are need when Police are dealing with mentally ill people. I know I am becomming more active in those changes in the small ways that I can. Keep up the pressure and the good work. This is one mother who thinks you are heroes.
Caption This!
Posted by admin in The Fullerton Recall on January 24, 2012
Here’s Fullerton City Manager Joe Felz hanging out with the recall crew while the signatures were being counted last week.
Thanks for the photo, Ricky.
Open Season on the She-Bear
Posted by The Fullerton Shadow in Dead heads, Ed Royce, Pat McPension, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on January 23, 2012
I’ve decided to re-run this post every few weeks from now until Pat McKinley is recalled. I want every woman in Fullerton to take a look at the twisted mess our former police chief is.
- The Fullerton Shadow
Yesterday, the She-Bear, ex-Fullerton Police Chief and current city council embarrassment, Pat McKinley, lumbered into Brea. His mission was to help the sweet ladies of the Soroptimist’s local defend themselves in dangerous situations.
Of course when he signed up for the gig, his hosts were probably unaware that as police chief of Fullerton he hired a serial sexual predator, Albert Rincon, who, even after numerous incidents of assault victim complaints, was permitted by McKinley to keep patrolling the streets of Fullerton. We know what he was patrolling for. Rincon’s MO was to falsely arrest, handcuff, then grope his victims in the backseat of an FPD patrol car.
Naturally, some womenfolk took umbrage at McKinley’s bald-faced hypocrisy, and showed up to ask the questions McKinley had been hoping like hell nobody would ever ask. To say that She-Bear stepped in his own poop would be the understatement of the year. He’s not going to be able to scrape this off his shoe anytime soon. Here’s some of the video:
He said what??!! “Those ladies weren’t people like this”??!! So now Pat McKinley gets to pick and choose which women deserve sexual battery at the hands of his hand-picked police officers?
And somehow this creep keeps a straight face as he urges women to use their “she bear” instincts to avoid the type of pervert cop he kept on the street, despite the fact that bent cops like Albert Rincon are armed with tasers and guns and are amply protected by the tarnished badges incompetents like McKinley not only give them, but let them keep.
The final insult? According to McKinley, Rincon didn’t sexually assault anybody. It was only “inappropriate touching.” Not a good thing, but “it ain’t a dangerous thing.” Well that may be a novel defense for rapists in the future!
I don’t know about you, but I say it’s time for this dangerous sadist to go.
Don Bankhead The Perpetual Politician
Posted by Jan Florys Dog in "Dick" Ackerman, Dead heads, Don Bankhead, I Ain't a Swallerin' That, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low on January 22, 2012
Here’s a clip of the Channel 4 coverage of the Recall signatures submission.
It’s entertaining and sort of sad at the same time. The sad part is the sight of the lonely “no recall” sign in Don Bankhead’s front yard, and of course the interview with Bankhead who seems completely lost, as usual. His wishful thinking about bad signatures is really sort of pathetic, and you might even begin to feel a sort of pity for the old fool. But of course he loses potential sympathy by claiming to rely on the experience of those with more campaign experience that he. The inference is clear enough: Good Ol’ Don is just an amateur, citizen-type elected representative: an innocent octogenarian babe in the woods.
Yes, I am the king!
But wait a minute! Let’s back up that bus and check out Lunkhead’s electoral experience:
1988 – Fullerton City Council
1990 – County Sheriff
1992 – FCC
1994 – recall from FCC (June)
1994 – election to a different seat FCC (November)
1998 – FCC
2000 – California State Assembly Republican Primary
2002 – FCC
2006 – FCC
2010 – FCC
That’s ten elections in 23 years!
Jebus O’ Jebus. Bankhead is addicted to running for public office. He craves it like a cheap junkie craves black tar heroin. This June’s recall election will mark his eleventh election. Now it might be a bit unfair to count recall elections in the mix, but, nevertheless I humbly submit that there is no one in OC more with more political experience than Bankhead. And I don’t mean that in a good way.
Doc HeeHaw Ain’t Skeered Of No Change
Posted by The Fullerton Harpoon in Dick Jones, Redevelopment, Repuglicanism, Setting The Bar Low, Watch Your Wallet on January 21, 2012
Here’s everyone’s favorite Fullerton council yokel F. “Dick” Jones robbing folks who are forced to listen of three minutes of their lives – precious time they’ll never get back. True there are none of the usual vertiginous rants about make-believe central Asian countries, Hitler, syphilis, or Galveston’s Red Light District; but I challenge you to follow a single thread woven into this rhetorical demolition derby.
I especially liked the irony of the Angry Big Gummint swerve there in the middle of the speech from this biggest of all Big Gummint boobs. Being afraid of change? Was that supposed to be some kind of joke?
And he doesn’t know the difference between a storm drain and a sewer? Really?
We now know Dr. Heehaw won’t pay twelve bucks for a car wash; and of course we already know this jackass is utterly clueless about why over 17,500 of his fellow Fullerton voters signed up to recall him.
The Wisdom of Hollis Dugan
Posted by admin in "Dick" Ackerman, Dick Jones, Don Bankhead, Pat McPension on January 21, 2012
Today, we received this insightful comment from long-time FFFF blogger Hollis Dugan that I made a post all by itself. Here ya go:
I have been watching the goings on from both sides of this since last summer and I have some thoughts. I guess I could make this several separate comments but here goes:
Battle Prep: It is obvious to me the other side is outmatched. Before anyone thinks this is a biased view, allow me to explain. Dave Ellis, sleaze bag extraordinaire, is used to ambushing unsuspecting politicos with his street fight tactics and getting some success. Go in to a fight that the opponents think has some rules of congeniality and decorum and Dave just blows them out with under handed tactics, lies tied to good timing (the last minute accusation type mailers) and he catches people off guard and rolls them.
In this case Dave has met up with some experienced ninja warrior street fighters. Dave’s usual tricks are bush league compared to what this crowd is already used to after battles with the local police union, the Ackerwoman v. Norby race, Sidhu/unions v. Nelson etc. This crew is battle tested and motivated to fight to the death because it is what they believe. Dave Ellis is a hired gun who cares zero about Fullerton or its issues. Dave will do only when paid and he has nothing at stake.
Recall Signatures: The anti recall group just cant get their head around the idea that 17,000+ people signed the petitions therefore, a ton of the sigs must be faulty. I’m sure it has never occurred to the that A) All newly registered voter sigs on a recall are 100% by nature. Having registered probably a few thousand new voters over the last 5 months, the recallers really need to get 8500 valid sigs from their remaining 15,500 sigs. B) It clearly has not occurred to the anti recall fools that with modern technology voter signatures can be verified and purged as collected. In other words, if all those volunteers appointed one among their ranks to verify sigs as they were collected over the last 5 months or so, the validity rate is going to be through the roof, not the other way around. Think this didnt happen? Please re-read above. This crew is battle tested and street savvy. Count on it (pun intended).
Withdrawl cards: Nothing screams failure louder than the return of 145 cards after several thousand dollars were spent on the Hail Mary play from the anti recall group. Earth to Dave Ellis: in order to withdraw a sig one must have signed the petition in the first place.
The only people who would have signed the petition were those that felt it was worth their time to challenge the three subjects of the petition. No doubt the signers could have had their own reason to want any of the three out of office or used one of those reasons offered by the sig gatherers.
Regardless of why each person signed the petition one thing we know for sure is the anti recall effort didnt even attempt to show the petition signers their original reason for signing was invalid. Rather than debunk some lie being perpetrated by the recall sig gatherers the anti recall crew chose to attack Tony Bushala. I ask, is there anyone who signed the petition based on their fondness for Mr. Bushala’s good citizenship?
In other words, the other side failed to consider intelligent people could very well agree with everything on the mailers disparaging Mr. Bushala and still think the three old guys need to be recalled. Best case scenario the anti recallers may have ruined Mr. Bushala’s run at city council but how the hell was that going to help their cause?
No one was going to withdraw their sig because their original reason for signing it was never addressed.
Excuses: I am amazed that at every step including Bankhead on the tv last night, the three old coots are constantly believing that this just cant be real. Don said on channel 4 last night that he has been told by “experts” a lot of the signatures will not be valid. McKinley said on national tv the cops may still get out of this because they have a good lawyer. Jones had seen worse injuries in Viet Nam than Kelly’s and just couldn’t imagine how he could have died.
These guys are going to go to the finish line having no idea what happened before, what is happening now or how it happened at all. They are all going to be former council members before they ever figure out what their role was in their own undoing.
It’s like they say, ignorance is bliss. It is also painful to watch.
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