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Lets put it this way. Cops think they are above the law. And these letters from the police certinally show that is a true statement.
And Tempe Police Chief Ralph Tranter is the leader of this groups
that thinks the police are above the law!
September 13, 2007 - 12:21AM Angry e-mails fuel fight over K-9 arrest Nick Martin, Christian Richardson, Tribune A group of Arizona police chiefs blasted the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday for the way it handled the arrest of a Chandler cop in an animal-cruelty case. Hours later, the sheriff’s office blasted right back. The debate over Chandler Sgt. Tom Lovejoy’s arrest reached perhaps its highest level yet with the exchange, which played out entirely through e-mails to the news media. It began midafternoon when the Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police issued a statement saying Lovejoy should have only been cited and released, rather than being arrested and booked into the county jail as he was last week. The statement called a full arrest “excessive” and “unnecessary.” Lovejoy left his police dog, Bandit, in the back of a heated squad car for close to 13 hours one day in August and found it dead that night. “The Chiefs of Police are not taking a position on the charging of Sgt. Lovejoy, but rather the circumstances surrounding his arrest and booking into the Maricopa County Jail,” said the statement from the group, which is led by former Tempe Chief Ralph Tranter. It marked the second time in less than a week police from other agencies criticized the sheriff’s office over the case. Last week, the Chandler police union accused the sheriff’s office of using the arrest for media attention. Wednesday night, about five hours after the police chiefs’ statement was released, a top sheriff’s office spokesman fired back, calling it “an attempt to shift the public’s focus away from the Chandler officer by blaming Sheriff (Joe) Arpaio for overreacting to the situation.” Capt. Paul Chagolla, who sent the release, said Arpaio was “outraged” by the criticism and believed it was an “attempt to make him the bad guy.” In an interview, Arpaio questioned whether the chiefs were asking for officers to be treated differently than the general public. “Are policemen above the law?” Arpaio said. “Is that what they’re saying?” The exchange also came a day after the sheriff’s office released the details of its investigation to the media. The report showed Lovejoy and two fellow officers washed the vehicle down with bleach and water and had the dog cremated days before the sheriff’s office began its investigation. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge, Lovejoy could pay a $2,500 fine and spend six months in a jail run by Arpaio. |