Haines Borough Police Dept. (Emily Files)
The union representing Haines municipal employees has filed a grievance against the borough on behalf of police officers. The grievance stems from Assemblyman Tom Morphet’s decision to publicize accusations against the police department at an assembly meeting earlier this month.
Morphet gathered accounts of police interactions he had heard about from four different people. All described negative experiences with Haines officers. The accounts allege the police outed a confidential informant, harassed a mentally handicapped person and used aggressive tactics during traffic stops.
Two accounts included the names of officers.
Morphet first brought the allegations to interim borough manager Brad Ryan. But about a week later, he decided to make them public at an assembly meeting.
“This behavior raises legitimate questions about how the police interact with residents here,” Morphet said at the meeting.
He says he released the accounts publically because he is one of three assembly members under threat of recall and doesn’t know how much time he has left in his position.
“I think I would have waited had there not been a recall,” Morphet said. ” I was afraid that if these went to the borough and the police basically gave their side, there would never be a public accounting of this.”
Police Chief Heath Scott and Sgt. Josh Dryden condemned Morphet’s actions. Scott called it ‘disturbingly inappropriate’ and Dryden said he had contacted the Local 71 Union about what he thought was a violation of his employee rights.
Union Representative Tom Brice agreed.
“In my mind this was a clear violation the second [Morphet] brought these complaints out in public after he had already submitted them for investigation,” Brice said. “It’s not an assembly member’s position to go out and harangue the employees.”
Brice sent out a press release Tuesday announcing that he filed a grievance on behalf of the police officers for violation of the employee’s contract.
Brice says borough code and the bargaining agreement are clear that personnel matters are confidential.
“In America, we all have right to due process,” Brice said. “What that means is that if an employee has complaints lodged against them, they have the right to address those complaints. Using the assembly chambers to attack a department in the manner that occurred on April 11 was just wrong. It’s demoralizing, it’s unethical. And frankly it violates code and contract.”
Morphet disagrees that the complaints he brought to the manager qualify as personnel records. He says the police work for the public in public, and that criticism against them shouldn’t be confined behind closed doors.
“The police have enormous power in our society,” Morphet said. “They wear a badge, they carry guns. I think they’re big guys. They can stand up to a bit of criticism.”
With the filing of a grievance, Brice says the union is asking for a public apology from Morphet, a censure of his actions from the full assembly and possibly training for the assembly on how to deal with personnel issues.
The grievance process starts with discussions between the union and borough manager. If it is not settled, it may move to the mayor and personnel committee. Arbitration is the last resort.
Morphet says he does regret including the names of officers in a couple of the complaints. He says his intention wasn’t to initiate a ‘witch hunt’ against certain officers, but to start a conversation about how police are treating the public.
An officer took away my right to free speech when he said I couldn’t have a small steel wall display outside the library with a sign that said, if you think this is ugly wait till you see the giant steel wall coming to Portage Cove. He said, we get a lot of calls. I don’t like the calls. I don’t know if anyone cares about free speech rights anymore but I do. Is that what we call professional now? Thank goodness we have someone putting a check on these men with police power. And I seriously doubt anyone will move to Haines because we have a large police force that is setting records for pulling people over because as one officer said, it’s how they caught Timothy Mc Veigh. No one is blowing up stuff here.
“No one is blowing up stuff here”. ?????
How do you know?
Are you a cop? Are you a anti-terrorism expert? Are you former military?
NOPE
You are a bored, jobless person with too much time on his hands.
I served my country in more ways than you could ever dream about so listen up Pizza JoJo.
Anything can happen anywhere and burying your head in the sand is a pathetic response to community security.
Let the cops do their job, you keep trying to put up signs or whatever it is you do.
Nobody is putting a check on these officers. They will continue to police how they see fit. Nothing you or that pitiful excuse for a man morphet can do about it.
No disrespect Joe, but Tom isn’t putting a check on the police he’s selling newspapers. Unfortunately he’s using his position on the assembly to do that and using an ongoing recall petition to justify his poor behavior.
If you look at the recent history of the Haines Borough Police you will see a horrible record of police work. 4 or 5 recent Haines Police Officers have lost their license to be police officers. We have had two recent chiefs fired. Police recently ruined Dean Lari’s life, invaded his house, stole his possessions, illegally arrested him and then failed to prosecute for any charges. More or less the worst record of any police force I have ever seen. No police force I am aware of has had as high a percentage of its officers lose their police license. How much crime is there in Hianes, and how many convictions are secured by the poice force?
The last thing we need is a bigger police force.
True Haines has had some bad apples.
Every profession has bad apples.
None of the current cops have lost their “licenses” so you just vilified them because of past actions that weren’t their doing.
Your Lari’s buddy I’m sure and if the state actually had a aggressive prosecutor he would have been convicted. He sold heroin, plain and simple. He’s a piece of crap, you sound like you are as well.
The fact Morphet does not regret including the names of the officers just shows his lack of respect for them. It’s also continues to baffle me that he is still operating our local tabloid newspaper along with holding a seat on our assembly. I was under the understanding this was illegal. He also continues to feature in bold upfront stories all of these about police articles, which is only further disrepect to our officers. I hope others start to see the unprofessionalism that is occuring here in Haines.
It’s not illegal, but it would require the individual to walk an ethical tightrope to ensure he served both interests honestly and fairly. It’s up to each of us to decide if Mr. Morphet has displayed that ability.
Tom’s actions in this matter were both ill advised and inappropriate. To make matters worse he tries to justify this behavior citing an ongoing recall petition that he knows will takes months to wend its way through the process. Even if the petitioners do gather enough signatures there is still the matter of an election even farther in the future. There was no imminent threat to his position on the assembly at the time and therefore no reasonable justification for his misdeed. What he has done is to ensure that the petitioners seeking his removal now have ample evidence of his ability to serve on the assembly.
I heard these so called complaints were a YEAR old and there all along the line of ” the cops weren’t nice to me and they didn’t make special”
Ummm, that’s not their job. You libtards need to mind your own damn business.
Let the police do theirs, we all know you left wing cowards wouldn’t last 2 seconds in a uniform. Boom.
In my opinion, community involvement is critically important to democracy and its important that everyone has a voice; however, I cannot begin to express how disappointed I am with the words and actions of this elected official. It is irresponsible and reckless. The sweeping statements about our police department lead me to believe there is a hidden agenda. They are also an insult to all HPD employees — sworn and civilian — who work hard and put themselves in harms way to keep us safe.
It is heartbreaking to see the amount of damage caused by just a select few…
Good article, Emily.
To the members of HPD, THANK YOU for your service!
The article does not reference the dates of these “complaints” to paint a clearer picture of Mr. Morphet’s timing and motivation…having less to do with the well being of a community and more to do with a witch-hunt, indeed.
Reckless.
Unprofessional.
Dangerous behavior.
This is not community building…quite the opposite, sadly.
I was just commenting on my facebook page how wonderful the haines police were. In several instances where I have had to deal with them they have been nothing but kind and understanding and super helpful! While at work or just passing by! Where are the lists showing the appreciation and support for the officers? If complaints are being made then we should also be able to show the support, not have only one side of a story. I will gladly add my name to that list. In case in hasn’t been shown in my comment I thank the police force here in Haines thank you for doing such a good job!