The City Council likely won't vote on the fate of former Police Chief Hans de Haas by June 16, the date it set last month to decide if he will stay or go.
City Manager David C. Campbell said the council will table the issue until the state Department of Public Safety completes an investigation of de Haas.The department's division of Police Officers Standards & Training (POST) is looking into de Haas' past, which includes allegations that precipitated his January resignation from the helm of the Draper Police Department as well as police-brutality complaints made against him several years ago when he was a police officer in Westminster, Calif. POST is the state agency empowered with approving police officers for public duty.
Ivan C. Orr, director of POST, said this week the agency is midway through its investigation and is trying to gain access to de Haas' sealed personnel records in Westminster, where in the late 1970s he was accused of police brutality on two occasions but formally cleared of wrongdoing, though he subsequently resigned from the Southern California city's police squad.
"At this time we're trying to get access to the closed file so we can see actually what did occur," said Orr. "There are some indications there were some other things that went on that concern us."
Orr declined to elaborate.
He said the POST investigation was sparked by public disclosure of allegations in Draper against de Haas and by his "resignation under pressure." De Haas, at the unanimous request of the City Council, agreed to resign in January after he was asked to answer several accusations, including misappropriation of evidence, illegal search and seizure and unauthorized possession of explosives.
He was rehired quietly in April after he produced tape recordings of conversations he said proved city officials had broken the terms of his resignation pact by talking about him. But after public outcry, the City Council put the reinstatement on hold, pending the results of an investigation by Campbell. POST started its investigation shortly thereafter.
Draper in the meantime may contract with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's office for takeover of the small town's police department. A proposed arrangement between Draper and the county would essentially turn the department over to Sheriff Aaron Kennard, who has said he would staff it with seven full-time deputies, the same coverage the city police department now provides.
Kennard has said Draper police officers would be given preference for the jobs. The arrangement would eliminate the Draper police-chief position, though de Haas - if the POST investigation finds him suitable for certification - could apply to be a deputy sheriff.
Campbell said the county takeover will be addressed at the council's Tuesday, June 16, meeting. The move is recommended by Campbell, a former Salt Lake City police officer and former police chief of West Valley City. It would save the city some $60,000 annually.
De Haas has denied any wrongdoing in Draper and has said he welcomes the investigation, with which Orr said he has been cooperative.
"I would hope we would find all the allegations are untrue and that we could clear him of any of the allegations," he said, adding that several factors could prevent POST from approving de Haas, whose certification automatically lapsed when he was taken off the Draper payroll.
"There are a number of things that could affect that . . . not only criminal wrongdoing but any behavior or pattern of behavior that would disrupt, diminish or affect public trust in law enforcement."
He said that officers once certified for police duty lose their certification when they leave a department, but typically regain it with little fanfare.
"In this case because there are so many allegations it made it something we needed to look at further," he said.