State audit finds deficiencies in King City

A state audit into investigation and discipline policies at the King City Police Department has been completed, following a request by Assemblymember Luis Alejo last year.

The request came after six police officers, including two former police chiefs, were arrested for their involvement in a towing scheme targeting undocumented immigrants in 2014.

“The tow thing was ugly,” said King City resident Scott Travison. “In my personal opinion that just wasn’t right how that came down.”

Now, two years after the towing scandal, a new chief is sitting at the desk and an audit looking into King City Police Department’s policies and protocols is complete.

“If you look at the City’s response to the vast majority of it, we agree,” said King City Police Chief Bob Masterson.

The audit discovered a number of deficiencies within the department and the city which need to be changed to restore public trust. Problems were found in the department’s complaint process, towing policies, management of citations and officers.

“I didn’t see anything in the audit that was terribly unreasonable,” said Masterson. “It’s something that we can take a look at, and march forward with, and proceed with.”

“In requesting the audit, our goal was not to criticize the department, but rather to provide it with a plan of action to improve how it operates and serves the community,” Alejo said. “Clearly, as demonstrated by the audit, there is work to do but I am confident if all these recommendations are heeded, King City will be in a position to finally restore trust to the community.”

The audit’s key recommendations include:

• Strengthening its complaint resolution process and increasing public awareness of protocols for filing complaints.

• Developing a process for conducting quarterly reviews of its traffic citation statistics and ensure consistency in enforcement.

• Updating its towing policy and documenting patrol directives it provides officers.

• Creating a formal community engagement plan.

• Establishing consistent screening criteria for hiring officers to identify issues that may lead to conflicts of interest

Alejo’s office said King City leaders have agreed to comply with the recommendations

“I think more transparency. I don’t see where that would be a problem,” said Travison. “I don’t see where that would make things worse.”

Chief Masterson said he will tackle the recommendations one by one, but since he’s only been on the job for about a week, he does not have a concrete plan in place yet.

“It’s a non-crisis situation, so let’s take the time to fully evaluate before we make decisions,” said Masterson. “I want to make sure that I’m heading down the right road, not just any road.”

The chief said he plans on using a couple of different agencies to flesh out some of the recommendations.”

“There are best practices that we can obtain from Peace Officers Standards in Training,” said Masterson.