phoenix uses armed police thugs to intimidate victims of police abuse into accepting lower settlements

this quote by phoenix police officer lane shows the
reason police were used was to intimidate people.
if the intent of the police was to find a fair 
settlement they would have allowed people to
speak to attorneys and the media. the pigs and
city of phoenix never intended to give these people
a fair deal.

      Lane said he would tell people, "If you go 
      to the media, and you go get an attorney, 
      we can't deal with you anymore." 

from:  http://www.arizonarepublic.com/news/articles/1203claims30.html

Phoenix police end officers' clout to negotiate claims 

By Christina Leonard
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 3, 2002



Phoenix police officials have diluted a program aimed 
at saving the department thousands, if not millions, 
of taxpayer dollars by allowing officers to negotiate claims. 

The program's founders believed that apologizing to victims 
of incidents ranging from wrecks to police brutality and 
giving them immediate financial compensation cut out 
expensive litigation. They also said it worked wonders 
for public relations.

But administrators now say it's not right for officers to 
negotiate claims even though leaders of the Police 
Department's Incident Review Unit say their work reduced 
both the volume of claims filed and the amount paid since 
its 1999 launch.

In fiscal 1999, the department paid about $6 million in 
auto- and general-liability claims. That figure dropped 
every year, with the department reporting $1.3 million 
paid out in fiscal 2002, according to July figures. 

Gerald Richard, director of the Police Department's legal 
support division, said the city's Risk Management Department 
is better equipped than police officers to handle claims.

"Here comes someone representing the Police Department 
with a gun on their hip and a badge on their waist and 
saying we would like to talk about a settlement. That's 
not a good thing," he said.

For 21 months, Sgt. David Lane's job was "to make things 
go away" as the head of the Incident Review Unit.

Armed with a gun, a badge and $2,000 cash, Lane was 
on-call 24 hours a day to respond to such potential 
liabilities as accidents involving officers, police 
shootings and dog bites. 

His goal: reduce claims and make the city look good. 

Lane, who is involved in an unrelated civil lawsuit 
against the department that alleges he was unfairly 
reassigned, admitted some of the folks he dealt with 
got raw deals. Still, he believes the system could 
have worked if the department had authorized his unit 
to negotiate with more money.

"The intent of the unit was not to go out and intimidate 
people and scare them," he said. "The intent of the 
unit was to go out and treat people good." 

Successful negotiations

Lane said he handled negotiations in 15 to 20 cases.



Department memos outline several incidents that were 
considered to be successes:

 In March 2000, undercover officers filmed an incident 
that seemed to show a Phoenix police officer throwing 
a man headfirst down stairs and then pushing another 
patron outside a central Phoenix bar. Two officers were 
fired after an internal investigation found they had lied. 

Media pounced on the videotape, showing the scene 
repeatedly. But reporters never interviewed the 
two victims. 

Police say that's because the unit stepped in and the 
two victims "were unavailable for interviews as a 
result of their agreements with the city," according 
to a police memo.

The victims were paid $10,500, which was split between 
the city and the bar's insurance carrier, the memo said. 
City officials estimated they would have paid $100,000 
to $300,000 if the case had gone to a jury.

"Could he (one of the victims) have gotten a lot more 
than that? Absolutely, much, much more," Lane said. 
"He went to Mexico and bought a farm. His whole family 
lives there now. We didn't get any bad press out of it. 
There weren't cameras out there filming this guy's face, 
and it was all bruised and everything . . . We made a 
mistake. We screwed up. We tried to correct it.

"We saved the citizens a lot of money."


 In June 2000, Phoenix officers forced Richard Salinas to 
kneel on the hot asphalt during a stop, and he suffered 
burns to his knees that required skin grafts, a memo said. 
The department admitted fault, and settled the case, 
without an outside attorney, for $25,000. Police say they 
would have paid more than $100,000 if the case had gone 
to court, according to the memo.

Salinas, who said he still suffers from the burns and 
works on his knees as a cement finisher, said that he 
wanted to do what was best for everybody, so he agreed 
to the settlement. But "they were very unfair to say the 
least, and I let them know as such," he said.

Police dog attack

 In July 1999, an unleashed German shepherd police dog 
running alongside its trainer attacked Susan Thomas while 
she was riding a bicycle at the Deer Valley airport. Again, 
the unit built a rapport with the victim, expediting the 
claim process, a memo said.

"As a result, the department received NO media exposure 
regarding the incident," a memo said. "The following week, 
the Chandler police received extensive negative media 
exposure on a dog bite incident involving one of their canines." 
The department did end up paying out $60,000 to the woman, 
but the memo noted "it is impossible to place a dollar value 
on the unit's actions in this case, it was an obvious plus 
for the department's reputation within the community."

Lane said that his unit, which included one sergeant and two 
detectives, generally made the initial contact with the 
injured party. If a police officer crashed into a resident's 
car during a pursuit, or the SWAT team burst into the wrong 
house, Lane said the unit could rent cars, or fix doors and 
windows. The unit negotiated but never directly settled 
claims because the city's Risk Management Department would 
authorize the actual check.

Don't go to media

Lane said he would tell people, "If you go to the media, and 
you go get an attorney, we can't deal with you anymore." 

He added that although some people thought they should 
have gotten more money, he pointed out that attorneys could 
get 25 to 40 percent of any payout.

The negotiations didn't always go as planned, however. In 
one incident in November 1999, Cheryl Klompien called 911 while 
her ex-boyfriend was following her. She told the dispatcher 
he carried a gun.

The dispatcher directed her to a Barnes & Noble at Metrocenter, 
where the boyfriend fired his gun into her car while she 
waited for the officer.

While at the hospital, police told Klompien they did nothing 
wrong, according to a claim against the department. "In a 
carefully scripted charade, (police) advised Cheryl that 
although she had no legitimate claim against the city of 
Phoenix, the city of Phoenix was 'concerned' for her 
well-being and would like to assist in what they knew would 
be difficult financial circumstances," the claim said. 
The police offered her $5,000. An attorney later used that 
visit against the department, claiming the city tried to 
defraud her and violated her constitutional privacy rights. 
She was paid $600,000.

Basis in Los Angeles

The 4-year-old program was initially modeled after one at the 
Los Angeles Sheriff's Office, sheriff's Lt. Ralph Webb said, 
adding that the "vast majority" of people are happy to get their 
damages paid quickly.

"Basically, we're getting bang for the buck," Webb said. 
"The longer you drag the litigation on, the more expensive it 
is. If it's bad today, let's go ahead and settle before the 
price goes up."

Assistant Chief Jack Harris, who oversees the unit, said 
police officers are not claims adjusters, and it would take 
extensive training for them to become experts. 

The Phoenix unit still does help to reduce claims, including 
reviewing policies and training officers. It has implemented 
an early warning system on potential troublemakers and still 
responds to scenes with lawsuit potential.

But now the unit only facilitates needs such as renting cars 
and explaining how to file claims.
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