Santa Maria police officers shot each other

1. How shallow can you be to be concerned about the “check” system, which is basically a popularity contest?

2. When have I ever been dishonest?

3. You look at the outcome of the intervention between the SMPD, SWAT and detectives take-down of the one man, Mr. Ceballo, who stayed with his vehicle to respond to the police’s attempts to pull over him over? What happened to the two who ran away? Which would you rather be, alive or dead? Make your choice accordingly.

4. According to the 2010 census, 37.6% of California residents are hispanic/latino; about 48% of Santa Maria residents are hispanic/latino. Yet there are repeated complaints against the SMPD for profiling latino/hispanic drivers at their “sobriety checkpoints.” Until just a few months ago (when the law was changed), during a sobriety checkpoint the police could impound any vehicle whose driver was not licensed, even if the driver was sober. This results in $148.60 going to the SMPD for each vehicle towed by the towing company. The City of Bell was notorious for the city’s police having a quote of cars they had to impound because it raised the city’s income.

5. The SMPD’s management has been investigated before for, including other things, discrimination. SMPD officers were quoted as saying hearing the chief, Macagni, calling hispanic/latinos “wetbacks,” African-Americans “*iggers,” and Michael Jackson a “monkey.”

Quote from the Santa Maria Sun, “A department divided: Officers express concerns about low police morale and a perceived failure of leadership in the Santa Maria Police Department by Kristen Flagg.

“several of the officers interviewed complained that the chief’s past use of racist language sets a bad example for junior officers and creates an oppressive environment for minorities within the organization, though no one claimed that the chief treated white officers more favorably than he did those of color.

A Hispanic officer herself, Giese said she’d heard Macagni use terms like “stupid wetbacks” and “damned Mexicans” long before he became chief.

Giese remembered one recent comment in particular allegedly made by the chief at a farewell party for an African-American officer who was transferring to another police department: “Macagni shows up and says, ‘If for any reason things don’t go well there, you always have a job here, even if it’s as my driver.'”

At first, when asked if he has ever made derogatory remarks toward different races, Macagni declined to answer the question.

“You know it’s wrong, you know it’s absolutely wrong to even ask these questions,” he said, “because it’s none of your business. It’s a personnel issue.”

The chief later addressed the question.

“Over my 30 years here, the language and culture has changed,” he said. “In 2006, racist and derogatory language is unacceptable, and we have policies and procedures to address them.

“Now, over my 30 years, have I made inappropriate comments? Yes,” Macagni continued. “Anybody who says that they haven’t would not be being honest. But things are changed, and we’re dealing with them.”

Scott Vales left the Santa Maria Police Department when Macagni was still commander.

“In a nutshell, I saw Chief Macagni’s ascension to power and I just saw the way he treated people, and he’s a demeaning boss. He’s demeaning to his subordinates,” said Vales, who now works for the Irvine Police Department.

Vales also said he has heard Macagni use the term “wetback.”

“You know, my children are Hispanic and bilingual and bicultural, and there are some things he said that hurt,” Vales said. “How can you have a chief that uses terms that are derogatory terms and then turn around and expect your subordinates not to do the same?”

Spears said he has heard the chief use similar language throughout his years on the beat, including at a police briefing when he compared Michael Jackson to a monkey.

“The problem is that the chief makes these comments in normal conversation. This is not a joke. There’s been times he’s been making these comments referring to folks as niggers, wetbacks, chinks … .” Spears said.”

An internal investigation was attempted, but met with resistance. Those who worked for the City refused to participate in the investigation, and the police in the department followed their lead.

When a third-party was brought in to investigated, 67% of the police responded. Isn’t that amazing. Among other findings, the majority of the police polled indicated things were worse in the department than they were 5 years previously, and that they didn’t believe anything would change until the management changed.

They had no gripes about the $$$ issues. It was clearly the management they saw as being the problem.

Now, you take a racist police chief, who was at the scene of the Ceballo shooting by police officers, in a city where there have been numerous complaints of racial profiling at the sobriety checks, with a police chief who freely uses vile racial epithets to describe members of different racial groups in SM, and you tell me whether you think there might be racial issues behind the chief’s refusal to give a straight story about the shooting in SM?