Posted on 12/12/2009 12:01:50 AM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
Bisbee Deputy Police Chief Ed Holly has resigned in the wake of an investigation that uncovered a long list of violations that include harassment, misuse of police equipment and lying to his superiors and investigators. City officials were set to fire Holly, 58, but he resigned during a meeting this week with Bisbee officials where he could have pleaded his case, said City Manager Stephen Pauken. Holly had been with the Bisbee Police Department for 27 years, he said. Violations found during the Cochise County Sheriff's Office investigation include:
• Holly used his Bisbee police vehicle to take his girlfriend to and from Tucson and Phoenix airports on separate occasions. He told his boss that she was a confidential informant who needed protection. • He harassed, threatened and ran an unauthorized background check on a man he thought was interested in his girlfriend. • On several occasions, Holly directed on-duty Bisbee police employees to take him to and from the houses of different women he was dating. • He continued using his city-issued cell phone during a five-month period when he was on medical leave. • Holly lied not only to his bosses but also to a Cochise County sheriff's investigator about his actions.
The city does not plan to pursue civil or criminal charges against Holly for any of his actions, Pauken said. "It would be a little bit like beating a dead horse," Pauken said. "I don't think it's necessary in this context."
An Arizona Daily Star investigation found that Holly made more than $131,000 from 2007 to mid-2009 working border-security overtime shifts in a Department of Homeland Security program called Operation Stonegarden.
During a one-year period from March 2007 to March 2008, timecards show Holly worked an average of nearly 80 hours a week between regular and overtime hours. Bisbee Police Chief Jim Elkins defended the hours worked, but Bisbee Mayor Jack Porter said he wasn't sure Holly worked all the hours. Law enforcement experts said working that many hours is dangerous. Based on the extra income, Holly would have been in line to make much more in retirement checks, but he had signed up for a delayed retirement option plan in 2002, Pauken said. The plan means neither the employee nor employer makes any more contributions.
And despite earning more money in 2007 and 2008 than ever before, thanks to the federal program, those years won't be counted toward the highest three consecutive years of pay that are used to calculate retirement.
His retirement was approved on Thursday by the Bisbee Pension Board, and his monthly check will be $2,400, records show. It would have been an estimated $5,000 a month had he not signed up for the delayed option.
ONLINE EXTRA
The investigation
A Dec. 1 letter from Bisbee police chief Jim Elkins to Bisbee deputy police chief Ed Holly, obtained through a public information request, shows city officials had established six grounds on which to fire Holly: 1) Unlawful use of Arizona criminal justice information system. Holly obtained the name, address and criminal background information on a man he thought was seeing his girlfriend by running the man's driver's license through a records database. He had no law enforcement reason to get this information, the investigation found. With the information in hand, he told his girlfriend he knew where the man lived. 2) Conduct offensive to the public. The letter details three incidents. In the first in November 2008, Holly verbally harassed and intimated a man he thought had given his girlfriend his telephone number. After the man denied the claims, Holly told him "not to mess with me" and that he would be "looking for him." The second incident occurred in July 2008 when, while on police duty, Holly stopped a man who knew that Holly was involved with a woman who was still living with a methamphetamine dealer. Holly told the man "not to be a snitch" in regard to telling others about his relationship with the woman. The third incident happened in occurred in April 2009 when he was abusive, rude and insulting over the phone to a man he had accused of having relations with his girlfriend. 3) Misappropriation of city property. On separate occasions in 2008, Holly used a Bisbee police vehicle to drive a woman he was dating to and from airports in Tucson and Phoenix. Holly told his supervisors that he needed to transport a confidential informant to the airport for her personal safety. But his girlfriend was not an informant. During his medical leave from duty from April - September 2009, Holly continued to use his city-issued cell phone. 4) Misuse and abuse of supervisory authority. On multiple occasions in 2008, Holly directed other on-duty police officers to take him to and from the houses of different women he was dating. 5) Failure to be truthful. In addition to lying about the reasons for taking his patrol vehicle to and from Tucson and Phoenix airports, Holly was deceptive and untruthful during an interview with the Cochise County Sheriff's investigator. 6) Failure to comply with lawful directive from supervisors. Despite receiving instructions from city officials to avoid talking or making contact with city employees during his administrative leave (pending the investigation), Holly twice approached chief Elkins to ask about the status of the investigation.
Bisbee ain’t in Tennessee.
Umm k...
I’m surprised, since you usually almost exclusively only seek out negative stories on Tennessee... you’re like to our state what Chet is to pitbull stories. Just sayin’...
This is bedtime reading compared to Detroit.
When did President Clinton move to Arizona and become a cop?
Bisbee PING!
Better catch the 3:10 to Yuma.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.