Reliable sources provide me with some interesting information regarding AJ Blake's reinstatement. Apparently an assignment is being made for him to work as a patrol officer in the Eastern Division under Sergeant Trey Davis.
There are several interesting dimensions to this assignment.
First, the Eastern Division has some serious crime conditions to address. Its officers face danger with their assignments potentially every day. Trust and morale and teamwork are paramount to keep officers out of trouble in a high-crime environment. The problem is that, based on all I have read and heard, no one wants to work with Blake. They don't trust the situation; and are demoralized by it.
Second, the city assumes certain liabilities with this situation, given what we know about Blake; and also given the nature of his assignment and the legitimate questions about how this will work out in terms of teamwork. If anything bad happens, the city is potentially liable from a legal standpoint, because it should have known better.
Third, the patrol function within the police department is extremely important. What does it say about our leadership's concern for the patrol function when an assignment such as this is made?
But the fourth dimension is perhaps the most interesting.
I am told that Blake's new sergeant, Trey Davis, is a black officer who has had some history with the GPD fiasco.
Back in January when Scott Sanders was acquitted, Jerry Bledsoe posted a comment to my blog. It was about Trey Davis:
Scott Sanders’ acquittal doesn’t mean that troubles are over for him
and his former sergeant, Tom Fox. Both are still facing internal investigations
that have gone on now for more than three years. Tim Bellamy inserted a
hand-picked black detective, Trey Davis, back into Internal Affairs to be
involved in the resolution of these investigations. Davis was the IA detective who put Cathy Vance through an ordeal in
an attempt to get her to admit that Sanders had forced her to record black
community leaders for malicious purposes. During that inquisition he asked her
what was wrong with an officer or police department employee supplying
confidential documents or information to a friend or acquaintance, even if that
person is boasting of associations with drug dealers. At the time Davis was
putting Vance through this ordeal, Bellamy and Capt. Gary Hastings (now asst.
chief) knew that no black community leaders had been under surveillance or
deliberately recorded. It is normal for an IA detective to attend all criminal trials of
police officers. The IA sergeant sat in on portions of Sanders’ trial, as did
another IA detective. But Davis was in the courtroom all week. I
am told that Trey Davis made unfavorable findings against Scott Sanders
and Tom Fox during the internal investigations that took place.
However, I am told the work was deemed to be of low quality, and his
findings were ultimately reversed. It took over three years to bring their internal investigation to a close. But compare that with the internal GPD processes leading all the way to Morgan's reinstatement of A.J. Blake. That required only about nine months! Note the contrast. Part of the reason for the delays in the Sanders/Fox investigation, I am told, is because
various parties internally had to go back and forth repeatedly because of Trey Davis'
work on the Sanders/Fox case. I am further told, by the way, that there have been two stellar officers within Internal Affairs,
Mike Loy and Jane Allen, who did their job properly and handled the
Sanders/Fox investigations with integrity and professionalism. In
any case, it is apparently now Trey Davis-- the same guy who put Cathy
Vance, Scott Sanders and Tom Fox unnecessarily through some very
difficult circumstances-- who is now AJ Blake's boss in the eastern
patrol division.
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