Several problems exposed by investigation of SLPD

SOAP LAKE - An audit of the Soap Lake Police Department revealed some major issues involving evidence handling, officer training and integrity.

The investigation was initiated by Soap Lake Mayor Raymond Gravelle and conducted last month by Moses Lake Police Capt. Dave Ruffin with assistance from the Grant County Sheriff's Office and the Royal City Police Department.

"This started off more or less as a routine audit," Gravelle said on Friday. "I knew there were some inconsistencies in the handling of evidence, but there were other discoveries made during the audit that expanded it to an investigation."

Evidence handling

Ruffin's 44-page report details the department's long history of improper handling of physical evidence. Auditors found unsecured storage areas and inadequate or absent records linking evidence items with corresponding case numbers.

A 13-year-old sexual assault kit and blood vials, for instance, were discovered with no case number reference alongside food inside a refrigerator in the chief's office. According to the report, "One of the evidence items was actually stuck to the inside refrigerator surface and had to be pried loose" during the audit.

Guns, ammunition, pornographic magazines and drug evidence was often not properly marked or packaged. Drugs were at times found in bags that had been left open or cut, with nothing indicating which officer filed the evidence or what the initial weight of the drugs were when seized. In one instance, six marijuana plants were missing from the evidence system entirely, the report stated.

The report also relates how officer Dustin Slabach once brought seized marijuana home at the end of his shift and, the following day, reported to the chief the that his dog had eaten the drugs. Slabach reportedly received a letter of reprimand for the incident.

Hiring and training

According to the report, former Soap Lake Police Chief Jim Dorris - whose resignation for health reasons took effect Saturday - failed to perform sufficient background checks on officer candidates.

"Chief Dorris says he obtains fingerprints for the new hires, but he never does this for officers who lateral transfer from another department," Ruffin writes. "In reality, Officer (Justin) Bedford, Officer (Jason) Allenton and Officer (Jared) Fulbright were all hired by Soap Lake after they were fired from their previous agencies. They all had a break in service from their previous department before Chief Dorris hired them. As far as Chief Dorris knows, these officers have criminal history precluding them from being police officers."

Dorris also reportedly failed to oversee adequate training for new officers.

For example, when Slabach was hired five years ago, he was apparently provided a single week of training by a fellow officer who was not certified as a field training officer (FTO). Field training programs typically last about 14 weeks, but Ruffin states that "according to the chief's training summary ... Officer Slabach attended 200 hours of the FTO program."

Several Soap Lake officers, both past and present, told Ruffin in interviews that they received far fewer than the state required 24 hours of annual training while employed with the department, even while Dorris reported them as having clocked far more than the requisite training time.

The report alleges several other instances of mismanagement and improper activity on the part of Dorris, including that he did not routinely review officer reports for completeness or content; didn't check weights of narcotics placed in the evidence vault; failed to maintain an accurate evidence log; improperly seized property from a Soap Lake resident; and possibly modified the dates and other contents of reports.

Implications

In a preamble to the report, Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee called the information "shocking" and said it will have a major impact on his ability to prosecute current or future Soap Lake cases.

"The people of Soap Lake deserve to have a properly trained and professional police force, but this report shows conclusively that they currently do not," he stated.

In an email last week, Lee said he's released the report to defenders regarding current and past cases that could be influenced by the information.

"(The report) will certainly have an impact on current and active cases originating from an SLPD investigation," he stated. "We will have to wait and see what the impact is on past cases."

Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones couldn't say on Friday whether, in the wake of the report and the recent resignations of Dorris and officer Bedford, his office would step in to oversee the city's law enforcement.

"The City of Soap Lake still has a police department, and while it may be a department of one, I'm not at liberty to give any statement regarding the functioning of the Soap Lake Police Department," he said; adding the city is currently looking at several options for its future law enforcement.

In fact, Gravelle said he's currently looking into the cost of getting temporary assistance with law enforcement coverage, and plans to address the city's future options at Wednesday's council meeting. Possibilities include hiring a new chief and rebuilding Soap Lake's department or contracting police services through the county or Ephrata.

"I am in discussions with both of those agencies," Gravelle said. "If there is any interest from citizens and council members I will call special session and have presentations from those agencies to give an idea of what those might look like."

For now, Gravelle is overseeing reserve officer Rowdy Yates, who was recently moved to full-time emergency hire status, and Slabach, who's "ability to be an effective officer has not been compromised," Gravelle said.

"If we move in the direction of getting a new chief, that will be the responsibility of the new chief, to make sure (Slabach) is brought up to training standards," Gravelle said. "We have and will be taking the appropriate actions to make corrections to bring the Soap Lake Police Department up to the professional standards that it needs to be."