Brooks' telling response on Tellez firing

APS Supt Winston Brooks has not had a straight up debriefing on the firing of his friend former APS Police Chief Steve Tellez.  Nor is it likely.  It's not the way Brooks rolls.

Instead, he would like everyone to focus on how hard it was for him personally, to do his job; to hold a high ranking public servant accountable for betraying the trust of the people he served.

If the press had had an opportunity to ask Brooks some questions face to face, I doubt that any one of them would have asked him if he was having fun.

“If anybody ever starts to feel good about terminating people, they’re sick. No termination is fun. No termination is gratifying. But you have to sit back and look at what’s best for the district.”

Unfortunately, even if the media "investigators" had had the opportunity to ask Brooks some inconvenient questions, there's no indication they actually would have.

There is a reason the leadership of the APS is hiding the truth about a standards and accountability crisis in the senior most administration.

There is a reason the Caswell findings are being hidden from public knowledge.

There is really only one reason to hide the truth and that is to avoid the consequences of the truth becoming known.

Brooks and the school board need to answer some inconvenient questions about this scandal; in public and on the record.

One such;

What part of the corruption was Steve Tellez' and what part was the culture of the leadership of the APS?

What is it about the administrative oversight over APS'  police force, that made its chief think he would get away with taking ammunition that didn't belong to him?

What is it about the administration of the APS, that led a member of the innermost circle to believe that he could betray the public trust and either not get caught or suffer no real consequences if he was?

I insist that it is the very culture in the leadership of the APS that led him to believe taking the ammo was acceptable or carried no consequence.

In support of which, I submit the findings from a recent (enough) investigation by the Council of the Great City Schools. Their findings included the finding of "a culture of fear of retaliation" against whistle blowers and others who filed complaints or offered testimony against administrators.

When photojournalist Mark Bralley looked into it he found;

In reporting for this post, link, almost everyone associated with APS had a story to tell, but did not want to go on the record for fear of retaliation or retribution. I have never reported an issue where more people were willing to talk yet requested anonymity.

and

Through interviewing several people who have requested anonymity for fear of retaliation or retribution, I am aware of Brooks' temper. These sources have either been shouted at or physically bumped. Brooks uses his body rather than his fists or hands to barge into people.

The APS police force is part and parcel in the culture of fear of retaliation.  It is publicly funded private police force that is accountable only to the leadership of the APS.  The take their orders from senior administrators and school board members.  They are a Praetorian Guard if ever there was.

They are retaliating against whistle blowers and others who create problems for administrators and school board members.  Part of the scandal in 2007, link, was the APS' police force's illegal use of a federal criminal database to do background checks on whistle blowers and a senior administrator's fiancée.

They are insulating administrators and school board members from the consequences of their (even criminal) misconduct.  Where are the findings of the APS Police force's investigation into the criminal misconduct in the leadership of the APS Police force in 2007 and beyond?  I can tell you they were never turned over to the DA, even as statutes of limitation on felony criminal misconduct involving senior APS administrators, expired.

*How can the Journal, KRQE, KOAT and KOB TV report credibly on the cover up of felony criminal misconduct by the leadership of the APS, without first reporting credibly on their refusal to do so for the last seven years?