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Ga. businessman defends giving police guns
By Mary MacDonald
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sandy Springs police have new restrictions on accepting gifts following an independent investigation that revealed high-level commanders and officers had received valuable gifts from a local businessman.
The new policy sets a cash cap on gifts: Officers can take nothing worth more than $25 without permission. The rule replaces guidelines that simply cautioned police not to accept anything they felt could compromise their performance.
The more restrictive policy is modeled after FBI standards. Set in place Tuesday, it applies to all city employees, City Manager John McDonough said. The $25 limit doesn’t apply to food or drink.
“If it was good enough for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it’s good enough here,” McDonough said. “It clearly sets forth what the expectations are.”
The lack of definition in the old rule allowed some high-ranking officers of the 2-year-old Police Department to accept valuable gifts without violating city policy, according to an investigation made public last month.
The report found:
• Former Police Chief Gene Wilson and former special operations Maj. James Moore both accepted gifts of guns from Bruce Weiner, a city resident and chairman of the nonprofit organization Friends of Sandy Springs who owns a storage business. The weapons included several handguns. Both men later returned the gifts.
• About 20 officers received knives from Weiner at the end of a daylong team-building exercise held at his ranch in Madison. The knives, estimated by city officials to be valued at about $100 apiece, were distributed to officers by their lieutenant.
• Then-police Maj. David Bertrand told investigators several department employees had received “potato guns” from Weiner. The device can shoot potatoes over long distances — but serves no police function.
Weiner, a collector and federally licensed firearms dealer, has said he did not have an ulterior motive in giving gifts to the officers. He could not be reached Friday for comment.
In an interview last month, he said he’s contributed about $250,000 to public safety agencies in Sandy Springs.
“I haven’t done anything wrong,” he said in July. “The only thing I’ve done is support the whole city.”
But the widespread acceptance of the gifts by officers and their superiors disturbed Bertrand. He told investigators the taking of gifts had “compromised” the department, an interview transcript states.
Bertrand, 45, became the acting chief of police on July 12, after Wilson resigned. Moore has also resigned his position, and two supervisors have been fired. The upheaval followed investigation findings that the department had developed a culture in which supervisors condoned rule violations and failed to report inappropriate behavior.
Among other things, the investigation by the U.S. Investigative Security Services Agency found officers were directed to leave assigned jobs to take on extra, part-time jobs in traffic enforcement for schools.
This week, Bertrand said officers should use common sense when citizens offer them things.
“They may not ask you for a favor, but at some point, you’re compromising yourself in taking gifts from people,” he said.
Of the new policy, he said: “It’s easier for the officer to make a decision about what they can or cannot do.”
Copyright 2008 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution