Jim Walsh, The Arizona Republic
APACHE JUNCTION, Arizona - Police Chief Robert Warner became the first casualty of a highly critical police audit when the City Council accepted his resignation Tuesday and agreed to a buyout package.
The buyout calls for Warner to receive two months’ pay, or $20,170, plus sick pay and vacation time that amounted to $12,278. In return, he agreed not to sue the city.
City Manager George Hoffman announced plans to borrow an interim chief from the Phoenix Police Department until a replacement is named after a nationwide search. The city expects the interim to be in the post for six to eight months.
Warner’s departure has been anticipated since the scathing police audit, released in November, criticized the department for mismanagement and unprofessionalism.
The audit recommended appointment of an assistant city manager to supervise the department if there was no change in police management and said a complete overhaul is needed.
“The safety of police officers and residents in an agency with so much friction is a major concern,” a consultant concluded.
The audit found officers are rarely disciplined, and that informal “inquiries” had largely replaced formal internal affairs investigations. The city has called in the state Department of Public Safety to investigate a detective’s allegation that a peer manipulated a database to inflate arrest statistics.