City refuses to turn over investigation into officer misconduct
YAKIMA, Wash. — A Yakima police officer is accused of misconduct and put on paid leave. City officials won’t turn over reports explaining why.
After learning earlier this month that Sgt. Erik Hildebrand had been placed on leave, the Yakima Herald-Republic filed a public records request March 9 seeking a copy of the police department’s internal investigation of the officer.
But city officials refuse to release it, saying an exemption in the state Public Records Act allows them to retain records in an active investigation.
Police say their investigation is done and the allegations have been substantiated. But city attorneys say an investigation isn’t complete until the acting city manager decides what kind of disciplinary action will be imposed.
"The investigation isn’t done until there’s a decision reached," City Attorney Jeff Cutter said. "The whole process is an investigation."
Toby Nixon, president of the non-partisan Washington Coalition for Open Government and a former Republican state representative, says the city is asking for trouble.
"They are misinterpreting the exemption," he said Friday, adding, "They’re just exposing themselves to a lawsuit."
Nixon said the exemption cited by the city applies only to protect someone’s privacy or to information that may harm an investigation.
"You don’t want a criminal going through reports trying to glean information. That’s just not going to happen here," Nixon said.
Documents may also be withheld for privacy reasons, he said, but only under a two-prong legal test in which a release would be "highly offensive to a reasonable person" and if the subject at hand is not a legitimate concern to the public.
"It fails the ‘legitimate concern’ prong right off the bat," Nixon said. "Clearly the public cares about good police work."
It was the fourth time since 2010 that the city has delayed releasing reports substantiating officer misconduct. That includes the case last fall of two officers who spent nearly $400 on beer while attending training in Spokane and covered it up on expense reports. The city released details only after both officers had been ordered suspended without pay by then-city manager Don Cooper.
Nixon’s stance on the state’s records law jibes with that of Tim Ford, the open records ombudsman for the state Attorney General’s Office.
Ford was not available for comment Friday. But he has previously said it is a well settled point of law that police reports are public once an investigation is finished and referred to prosecutors.
"If their investigation is concluded and the city manager is not asking for a new investigation (and) all that’s left is the decision to terminate, that doesn’t fit within the exemption," Ford said in September, when city officials delayed releasing records on the two officers who purchased the beer.
Hildebrand is a 15-year veteran of the police department whose most recent assignment has been supervising its gang unit. His base salary is $85,424 a year, not counting overtime and specialty pay.
Police commanders, including acting police Chief Greg Copeland, said Hildebrand was put on paid leave March 5and that reports substantiating misconduct have been forwarded to the acting city manager’s office for review.
But exactly what prompted the action remains a mystery.
"I can’t tell you about the details of the internal" investigation, Capt. Jeff Schneider said. "The ones that could result in serious discipline are handled by the city manager."
Schneider said the officer has a hearing scheduled before Acting City Manager Michael Morales later this month, but added that could be postponed.
A full history of Hildebrand’s disciplinary history was not immediately available late last week, but records show two previous run-ins with management in recent years.
In March 2010 he received a verbal reprimand from then-Chief Sam Granato for neglect of duty and failing to work a full shift. An investigation revealed he left work early at least eight times to play soccer.
Last year, he faced a more serious investigation after a complaint surfaced that he got a room for himself and a young woman on Memorial Day at the Yakima Inn on North First Street.
The complaint came from the inn’s manager, who said she had previously given police free access to rooms to conduct surveillance, but this time no other officers were involved and that Hildebrand and the woman were alone for two hours in a room in which the curtains remained closed, according to an internal investigation report.
According to the report, Hildebrand told investigators he got the room for an impromptu drug sting but aborted the operation due to a lack of backup that day.
In their report, commanders questioned Hildebrand’s story, noting "many discrepancies " and "significant concerns."
The commander who handled the investigation, Lt. Tom Foley, wrote in the report the central issue was whether Hildebrand used his police credentials to get a room for "personal purposes, i.e. a sexual rendezvous."
Although Foley concluded there was not enough evidence to disprove Hilde-brand’s story — the woman involved was never located — he made his feelings known in a report to Copeland.
"I find the totality of the situation highly suspicious," he wrote. "His actions were incredibly stupid, especially for a police supervisor."
Hildebrand was given a written reprimand for violating the department’s officer safety policies.
The internal investigation report into the Memorial Day incident was released after the Herald-Republic filed a request in October with the city for all investigations of complaints against Yakima police that had been upheld. It was not clear why the city waited until Thursday to release it.