Interim Mayor: Police audit should be wide-ranging, defends cops and chief

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – A proposed audit of the San Diego Police Department
should be wide-ranging and could take 18 months to complete, Interim Mayor Todd
Gloria said Thursday.

Police Chief William Lansdowne said Saturday he wants an audit of his
agency in the wake of new allegations of sexual impropriety by two officers.

Christopher Hays, 30, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to a pair of felony
false imprisonment counts and three misdemeanor sexual battery allegations.
Hays, who has resigned, faces up to three years and eight months in prison if
convicted.

A woman alleges a second officer, whose name has not been released
because he hasn't been charged, groped her and exposed himself, Lansdowne said.
He said the woman at first thought it was Hays, but a subsequent investigation
discovered that it was another officer who patrols South Bay neighborhoods.

At his weekly media briefing, Gloria said the proposed audit will go to
the City Council for authorization. Council members will want to evaluate the
various options and costs before selecting an auditor, he said.

“This audit will be thorough, it will be substantial, and it will be
transparent,” Gloria said. “This, of course, will come at some cost. No
matter the cost, there is no price to high to pay to ensure the public's trust
in our police department.”

The interim mayor, who will be succeeded by Mayor-elect Kevin Faulconer
on March 3, reiterated that the SDPD has more than 1,700 “dedicated, hard-
working men and women who care deeply about our city,” and only a few bad
apples.

He said he wants the officers to know he stands behind them as long as
they follow the law. He said he strongly supports Lansdowne as chief.

The audit will show if the actions of the two police officers
demonstrates a “systemic” problem in the SDPD, which suffers from chronic
under-staffing, Gloria said.

The recent allegations come a couple of years after another officer,
Anthony Arevalos, was convicted of demanding sexual favors from female drunken
driving suspects he pulled over in the Gaslamp Quarter. Arevalos is now behind
bars, and the city has been coughing up hundreds of thousands of dollars to his
victims to settle civil lawsuits.

Lansdowne announced a policy change Wednesday that will require two
officers to take women to jail.