Police chief under fire for retaliating against her men

February 2, 2012

Chief Lisa Solomon

By KAREN VELIE and DANIEL BLACKBURN

(UPDATE: Officer Jon Tatro filed a lawsuit Friday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court.)

A Paso Robles police officer, who says his numerous attempts to force the chief to run the department in a legal and productive manner were rebuffed, filed a claim against the city in December and plans to follow up with a lawsuit.

Officer Jon Tatro, an officer and union steward, had complained to Chief Lisa Solomon and city management that command staff had mandated that each officer write at least 10 tickets a month, and preferably 14 or more, in order to avoid disciplinary action, according to the lawsuit and interviews with several officers.

“A ticket a day will keep the sergeant away,” several officers said was a common phrase used in the department.

In addition to the quota system, officers were told the tickets they wrote had to be for hazardous moving violations, such as speeding, running a red light, or stop sign or right of way issues — offenses that could result in high ticket revenues.

In March, after city officials took no action on Tatro’s complaints, he went to the Paso Robles branch of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court in full uniform with his gun. He informed court personnel about the illegal ticket quotas and asked to talk to a judge.

Paso Robles court personnel forwarded his request to Susan Matherly, the court executive officer.

“I called him back and did not believe he was a police office,” Matherly said. “I thought he was someone impersonating an officer.”

Matherly then called Captain Robert Burtin to inform the police department about the imposter, she said.

Shortly afterwards, department command staff allegedly retaliated against Tatro by initiating an internal affairs investigation into his attempt to talk to a judge, the claim says.

The suit also criticizes command staff for retaliating against the officer by removing him from job responsibilities that would further his career and giving the officer unwarranted reprimanding.

CalCoastNews interviewed more than a half dozen current and former officers and department employees, many of whom have asked to remain unnamed to protect them from retaliation or because of pending lawsuits. All of the officers told similar stories of alleged illegal quotas, dangerous police policies and command staff retaliation.

The officers contend Solomon has enacted new department policies that promote writing traffic tickets while serving the public in “safe mode.”

Her policies include only allowing one officer to respond to an incident in code three, speeding with sirens and lights. At the same time, if an officer responds to an incident such as a rape or an assault they are not permitted, according to policy, to engage the suspect until backup arrives, officers said.

In one instance last year, an officer responded to a call that a man had been bitten by his pit bull and was trying to break down his sister’s bedroom door so that the dog could attack her also, former officer Dave Hernandez said.

The officer permitted to use code three arrived first, heard screams from the house and stepped out of his car. The dog bolted from the house and attempted to attack the officer, who responded by shooting and killing the dog.

Department command staff questioned the officer for approaching the house before backup arrived, Hernandez said. The incident resulted in new polices being put into action prohibiting single officer responses, Hernandez said.

“So if I go to a house and see someone being attacked, I do not go in until backup arrives,” Hernandez said. “We signed up to put our lives on the line for others and now we have to wait, even if we hear shots and screaming.”

Hernandez said he asked supervisors if they were sued for failing to respond, would the department protect them, and was told yes.

In a strange twist, the department has also awarded officers for not risking injury by allowing fleeing suspects to get away.

For example, an officer recently received an accommodation for not chasing a suspect.

“I just read and approved this case,” the commendation written by Sgt. Dave Bouffard says. “It is the case where you stopped a suspicious subject riding a bike at night without a light.

“During your contact with him the subject pulled a meth pipe out of his pocket by accident. Once he realized this, he took off running. You weighed all of the factors, severity of the crime, time of night, available cover units, and quickly decided not to chase the subject.

“This was an excellent decision on your part and I want to commend you for that decision not to chase the subject. Any pursuit has inherit (sic) dangers to the officers who are involved in them. During foot chases, especially at night, there is the risk of an injury incurred while involved in a foot chase in the dark for relatively low level crimes.

On the bottom of the commendation, Solomon wrote in pen, “Good judgment and decision making in a rapidly evolving situation, thanks.”

City council members and the mayor did not respond or refused to answer questions about the claim.

City Attorney Iris Lang said that Paso Robles staff does not inform city council members of claims against the city. City officials in San Luis Obispo County’s other six cities said they inform the city council of major credible lawsuits that could be substantial.

Retaliation lawsuit:

TatroClaimC


Loading...
262 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Are you kidding me, the Chief awards and commends police officers for not doing their job and punishes them when they do, really. Then crime goes up and in rides Sheriff Parkinson to clean house for a while. Chief Lisa and Sheriff Parkinson and their spouses (Lisa’s husband worked for Parkinson in the SLO Police Dept – this is a whole another story) are good friends socially, support and covers each others and thanks to Parkinson Lisa’s husband is again employed. Cronyism hard at work for their benefits at the cost of the taxpayers. Shame on all of you who take the oath and then turn corrupt. Karma will be served!


I was looking for that Pioneer Day Parade Picture with her, the Sherifff, and the reporter on horseback. It mysteriously disappeared.


I just looked and I also couldn’t find the picture.


I did, however, find a photo of a local channel 9 anchor man who was demonstrating the two reasons Lisa Solomon became police chief.


http://tinyurl.com/7ebosf9


Code 3 is not speeding with red lights and siren. Speeding is not part of the equation only a tool to clear traffic. A speed over the posted limit is permissable if the conditions are safe.

I agree that Soloman does have some problems although I think at times CCN is sensationalizing this story for their benefit.


Oh, look! Chief Lisa has a Twitter account.


What in the world are they thinking, letting her have a portal to the public like a twitter account?


https://twitter.com/prpdchief


Twits for the Twitter !


Could be worse.


Think about it.


Loads of public officials have twitter acounts, including the president and presidential candidates. They generally use them to promote their own good deeds and to notify the public of what they consider to be newsworthy items. What’s the point?


Lisa Solomon has clearly shown she does not have good judgment. It is ill-advised for a government body to allow people with poor judgment to have official twitter accounts because, once that twit is launched, you can never get it back.


She is speaking for the PRPD and the City of Paso Robles. This is the same woman who grabbed a subordinate’s hoo-hoo in a hot tub, which was filled with other subordinates.


Please scan her twitter accounts and tell us what she has posted that was inappropriate. My guess is that she wasn’t even the person posting to twitter. It was probably an admin person in the PRPD who posted innocuous information and updates. The paranoia level is really ramped up around here. I could see this kind of stuff if someone was in hot water for posting inappropriate material on a social media site, but that has never been an issue. Maybe someone should attack the city for letting her have a business card and stationery.


The thing about not having good judgment is the problems can occur from it at any time.


She is erratic and uses terrible judgment. She probably (well, hopefully) went a long time before she grabbed a subordinate’s hoo-hoo in the hot-tub. Doesn’t mean she can be trusted to be around naked subordinates in a hot-tub, does it?


Good job doing some real reporting Cal Coast News! Make no mistake, stories like this not only interest local readers but keep them visiting your site.


“Make all checks payable” to Tatro…. We can’t even get a road paved in this town!


The Chief came in our her back and will probably leave the same way.


All of these news stories begs the question:


What does Solomon have on App that prevents him from commenting on the accusations?


Is this a legitament question?


My guess: PR’s legal counsel, Yang and Seitz, have almost certainly told him to say nothing. If App speaks out, he may be compromising any reimbursement from the city if a civil-suit judgment goes against him.


Very likely: App is in it up to his hips and doesn’t want to submarine his own chances of getting out of this unscathed.


I think it goes back to how Solomon moved up the ranks. How in the heck did she ever move past the rank of sergeant? As someone else noted it all has to do with “connections.” Fairly unseemly “connections” in some cases it would seem. Now that she has failed as chief, all the crap is coming out and it will look very bad on those who enabled her rise. I think it will beg the question about their own competency. In other words App doesn’t want his job to be put in jeopardy.


It was I who suggested “connections.”


Yes, if the Chief goes down, that automatically calls into question the judgement of her superiors. After all, it was they who hired her. If she cannot be trusted to do her job right, how can they be trusted to do theirs?


So, if the residents of Paso are smart, they will go through the whole bunch of them with a scythe. This affair could prove to be very costly and troublesome to the people of Paso. They need to make sure that they get them all and make a clean sweep of things.


She obviously “connected” with a Lieutenant in the past. She had his baby. That kind of relationship in a Police Department is taboo. And she is still there just blows me away.


VERY LEGITIMATE QUESTION !!!


Good LAPD Officers just won a $2 Million law suits for citation quotas

I rather the taxpayers pay this money to theses officers than to the salaries of the chief, mayor or city council members.

I think the money to these fine officers is worth it to restore public trust

Maybe the public will resent LE less and the criminals more for a change.


The path is clear, you officers sue them, its your duty and you desrve the compensations.

On this law suit, I don’t believe taxpayers will not blame or resent you.


Rather than pay the officers for lawsuits, they should get rid of the Chief and offer her job to one of them. The others move up with promotions. Offer them carrots and watch them drop their lawsuits.


I dunno…the officers are pretty unsettled at this point, after Solomon’s “leadership.”


I HOPE maybe one reason Solomon isn’t gone is because the city is looking for an interim chief.


This would be my dream solution:


They find an interim chief who specializes in helping damaged departments get back on track, THEN one of the current PRPD officers becomes chief.


It’s going to take a special person to clean up Solomon’s mess and get her staff back on track. They have been dehumanized and demoralized, abused and harassed to a significant level.


It will take awhile for them to reclaim who they were, and the kind of officers they were, before the damage occurred.


City attorney Iris Lang said that in Paso Robles staff does not inform city council members of claims against the city, a practice that is not common regarding serious lawsuits in other municipalities in the county, city officials from the county’s other six cities said.

Correction: City officials in San Luis Obispo County’s other six cities said they inform the city council of major credible lawsuits that could be substantial.”


I can tell you that in the SLOCo local area government where I worked, the board was informed of “major credible lawsuits.” It was in closed session, but they were informed and it was discussed.


Maybe she is saying she doesn’t report such matters to her clients? Hmmmm.


Thought closed session also includes a topic for threat of litigation, so if there is trouble brewing or a matter could go sideways the elected officials are informed. Just does pass the smell test to me to say your employer is in the dark and the government is kept on a “need to know” basis.


Iris Yang works for the attorney firm that represented the City of Bell. Remember their outrageous salaries mess?


Can this get any worse.


She USED to work for the group that represented Bell. That law firm was dissolved. Yang has been city attorney for PR for about a decade. She convinced the PR City Council to retain the NEW law firm for which she works.


You are correct about the mess. Yang’s former law firm signed off on ALL of the financial crimes committed by the City of Bell.


If the PR undergoes a state audit, I think the residents may bed heartbroken to find out what kind financial improprieties have occurred over the last decade–at least. Why else would they keep Yang after the City of Bell scandal?


As a point of clarification, according to the Calif State Bar Yang continues to be a partner with Best, Best and Krieger and that firm was the firm who “…was criticized for not doing enough to restrain allegedly lawless behavior from the town’s former administrator and other officials”. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/06/city-of-bell-hires-a-permanent-city-attorney.html


Now the City of Paso Robles is having similar problems restraining “allegedly lawless behavior”.


City of Bell decided to change counsel and maybe so too should Paso Robles.


When are the next elections for city council?


My point exactly


Yang was with MHA when she went to work for city of paso robles


MccDonough, Holland and Allen are no longer is business.


Yang then became partner at Best, Best and Krieger and city of paso robles then substituted Best, Best and Krieger. Same attorney, different law office.


Best, Best and Krieger represented the City of Bell


City of Bell dumped Best, Best and Krieger as counsel after the “alleged lawless behavior”


Yang remains a partner with BB&K


McDonough, Holland and Allen never represented City of Bell.


Thanks for the corrections, guys. I got my legal firms confuuuuuused.


That didn’t take long. More lawsuits will follow. Disability will be claimed. Severence will be paid. Deals will be made. Rivers of money from Paso tax paying sheeple will enrich the publicly employed protected class.


Geez Lou, I realize that YOU are a MENTAL MIDGET, but let’s get real here…Are YOU saying that the Officer DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE COMPENSATED for the loss he’s suffered at the hands of some very cut throat & ruthless individuals? The Officer deserves EVERYTHING he can get PLUS he needs to have his job re instated if THAT’S what HE wants….