Venice on the web
A semi-regular column

Who let the dogs out?
So I'm flipping channels on the tube last Thursday night and suddenly there's former police chief Joe Slapp blasting at his successor, Jim Hanks. Slapp was quoted on SNN by reporter David Karsh as stating that he has not stepped foot in to the Venice Police Department since his retirement due to embarrassment over how Hanks has run the department. Karsh quoted Slapp as stating that he had read the so-called Avery Report [complete report -- PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat Reader] several times and that Slapp felt it was an accurate assessment of the department.

Karsh's report went on to give a brief but glowing overview of Slapp's career -- Slapp discovered a cure for cancer while on duty, once saved a litter of puppies from being devoured by a dragon, that kind of crap.

Karsh never mentioned that Slapp himself was pulled from the police department and moved to city hall ("promoted") due to threatened insurrection in the ranks (Slapp's fall from grace can be found in detail in this lengthy story from December, 2002). Karsh never mentioned that once at city hall, Slapp arrested Venice Taxpayers League prez Herb Levine, then 75, at a city council meeting for calling then-City Manager George Hunt a liar [full story and audio of the arrest]. Karsh failed to mention that after a massive investigation on Levine that was launched by Slapp, an investigation that rivaled the city's last homicide investigation in man-hours, the State Attorney's Office dropped the charges against Levine stating there was no crime. Karsh failed to mention that a disgraced Joe Slapp retired "for health reasons" within days of the State Attorney's decision.

Karsh also failed to mention that Slapp participated in the cover up of PuterGate, where a city employee, Charles 'Steve' Randall, managed to embezzle $12,000 from the city using bogus invoices from his own secret company (the whole story on that -- paper trail, invoices, etc. are all online on this web site and have been for over two years). Thanks largely to Slapp, Randall still works for the city, despite the fact that even then-City Manager George Hunt had admitted publicly that the scheme was illegal. Currently, a complaint against Randall is winding its way through the Florida Commission on Ethics.

Karsh also failed to mention that when Slapp was originally "promoted" to his city hall job, Slapp continued to micromanage the police department, effectively stripping Hanks of any power to run his own department. Slapp made a number of decisions aimed at undermining morale and Hanks' authority. Little things like ripping the laptops out of all of the police cars so that the men had to revert to writing arrest and field reports on 1970's style forms. Karsh didn't tell you stuff like that.

Hanks was micromanaged, Slapp is embarrassed
Things were so bad that Hanks couldn't even get the grass cut around the police department -- the city's public works couldn't fit it in to their already overloaded schedule and a private contractor was let go by Slapp right after Hanks had hired him. Slapp had the computer department put monitoring software in the PD so that Slapp could rummage through Hanks' computer files and watch Hanks' computer, keystroke for keystroke.

In short, Slapp made it a priority that every day that Hanks was chief would be a day of living hell for the new chief.

And now Slapp is embarrassed. Slapp is calling for Hanks' resignation. Slapp won't step foot into the police department because his sense of police honor is shattered.

Oh, that's rich.

This is akin to a pot calling the ocean black. An even better analogy would be Jeffrey Dahmer calling a pest controller a murderer.

This whole report of Karsh's couldn't have been worse if it had been scripted by Slapp himself. Watching the TV news report and already knowing the full story, my jaw was dropping with incredulity.

I'm all for a good rip and tear job on a lame or corrupt public official, heck you can find plenty of stories like that on this web site. Facts, background and context are important, vitally important, especially when your words are as harsh as mine and Karsh's can be. But in all my years of writing, both here and for radio news, I have never seen such a poor job of research and reporting. Karsh's recent series of reports on the Venice Police Department are easily the worst pieces of journalism that I have ever seen in my life.

Hunt joins the fray for the Frick and Frack reunion tour
In a follow-up story that started into SNN's news rotation on the evening of March 5th, Karsh dragged the Frack to Slapp's Frick into the sunlight to join the fray. Interviewing George Hunt at what appears to be the downtown gazebo, Karsh managed to get a few intelligible phrases out of Hunt. If Hunt is the best Karsh could do to get credible substantiation, he's really scraping the bottom of the barrel to try to save this story.

Hilariously, Hunt stated that Jim Hanks needed to retire with dignity, and he needed to do it now. Hunt then appeared to ramble a bit, but then made this remarkable statement: that Hunt and Hanks had an agreement that Hanks would retire four days ago on March 1, as that would be when he had 30 years in with the city.

Karsh took Hunt at face value and never fact-checked Hunt's statements, which is not a good thing to do: while in office, Hunt was notorious for giving fake facts.

I immediately called Hanks, who seemed genuinely amused: "What the heck is he talking about? I only have 28 years in right now. Retiring after 30 years sounds like a good idea though, but on March 1st? That date doesn't sound right, I'd have to look."

As to any agreement Hunt and Hanks had on a specific date to retire, Hanks stated that it never happened: "I have no clue what George is talking about. Did he really say that? You're not just pulling my leg here?"

"He really said that."

"He really said that. Hmmm. Very strange. I have no idea what the man is talking about, and I only have 28 years in right now anyway. That's just strange."

More stuff Karsh didn't tell you
The so-called Avery Report that Karsh has been waving around was compiled in April of 2003, some four months after Slapp resigned in the wake of the Levine fiasco. Karsh's report for SNN fails to put the report into any historical context, and it tends to make it look like it was a finished piece of work.

The Avery Report that Karsh is waving around (and that is linked to in the first paragraph of this story) was an initial preliminary study, a summary of real and perceived ills in the department. It contained every single quote from PD employees that the Avery folks could gather, good or bad. Anything and everything everyone said went into the report, whether substantiated or not. It was designed to be a master list of all complaints that all employees had, the reason being that the report was to be used as the basis for a series of sensitivity training session modules, modules that were to be developed as the training sessions continued.

Nevermind that H. Vogel, Avery and Associates had never dealt with a law enforcement agency before and had admitted that they had no clue as to how such an agency operated -- Hanks had to loan college text books to the organization in order to help them get a clue. Nevermind that the  Avery folks didn't know that much of the ground they would be covering is mandated by the FDLE as part of law enforcement certification and that whatever the Avery folks did would not count towards the required FDLE credits. Nevermind that only two of the modules were completed and that Hunt decided to drop the program in midstream before the rest of the planned modules could be carried out. Nevermind that, as a result, there was no final Avery Report, in spite of Mayor Dean Calamaras' statements to the contrary in printed news reports. Those were all just facts that got in the way of Karsh's rabid attack, and judging from Karsh's handling of this story, facts are not things that get in his way, he just brushes them aside and plows on.

Karsh and SNN are painting the report out as conclusions that Avery and Associates came to. Nothing could be further from the truth. Avery and Associates passed no judgments in the report, they came to no conclusions, they merely listed every single complaint that every single employee made to them, then compiled the complaints into the report.

Lessee, what else? Oh yeah, here's a gem of a fact that Karsh stepped on and never cleaned off of his shoe: the initial report came out during heated union negotiations between two police unions and the city, negotiations that were already a year overdue and that had caused such bad feelings that the cops eventually threatened to picket city hall. That's an incredibly crucial fact that Karsh overlooked -- union negotiations in any organization, especially a governmental one, will cause a war zone atmosphere.

The Venice PD has to deal with three different unions, one for civilian employees, one for line officers and one for police supervisors (sergeants and above). The two unions that represented the cops were competing for city hall attention, so not only was the PD at war with city hall, there was a warlike atmosphere between the line officers and their supervisors over issues like overtime allocation, industry substandard pay, health insurance benefit costs and the like. Top that off with the fact that at city hall, Hunt was barking out orders to Marty Black (who was on paper the city's negotiator along with City Attorney Bob Anderson) to the effect that the cops get nothing, they can walk if they want to. This was one really ugly, bloody battle that was getting ready to rip the city apart.

But Karsh didn't mention any of that.

For me, the icing on the cake were other Avery Reports that Karsh didn't mention. Like the one done for the city's computer department. Now, here's a department that has already fired two whistleblowers, has been riddled with accusations of incompetence and impropriety and has a department head that has admittedly illegally funneled $12,000 of city money into his own account.

The Avery Report for the city's computer department glowed.

"Our people are telling us they have a strong sense of well-being and are very satisfied with their work and work environment," the computer department report states.  Randall is described as a man who is a "working manager; he walks the talk." Hunt was described as a "good leader," and the report went so far as to state that then-Assistant City Manager Jane O'Connor should be given more power.

Hunt resigned in January of this year in a well-publicized fall from grace, O'connor left the city's employ in February, both of them departing amidst allegations of witness tampering in an ongoing federal EPA criminal investigation into the city's wastewater department.

As for me, all I had to do was skim the Avery Report for the computer department to come up with one conclusion: the Avery folks were absotively, posilutely ignorant about the social and political climate that they were writing about. Not even a glimmer of a clue.

If it bleeds, it leads
Equally clueless, SNN's Karsh comes along, picks up a copy of the preliminary report, gets quotes from a disgraced Joe Slapp and voila: here's a great investigative news story. So it lacked any investigation, still it sounds shocking. The old TV news mantra, "If it bleeds, it leads" ruled the day, and Hanks' blood was pouring all over the TV screen on this one.

Another source for Karsh in his SNN report was Detective Mike Treanor, a Slapp acolyte and someone who is currently threatening to sue Hanks and/or the city over allegations that he was improperly investigated internally by the PD. Treanor once showed up on my doorstep playing with his badge and handcuffs to ask me, among other things, who my sources were for some of my stories on the web. This happened about a year and a half ago, right in the middle of the Levine arrest situation. At that time, Treanor tried to tell me that since I didn't work for a formal news agency, I didn't have First Amendment protections. I told him then that if he wanted my sources, he was free to try to get a judge to force the names out of me.

About a week ago, and coincidentally right in front of Karsh, Treanor made a point of turning to me and stating, "If you even think of mentioning my name on that web site, I will come after you legally." I'm still not clear on whether he was threatening to arrest me or sue me, but I'll assume for the moment that Treanor would never stoop to use his badge improperly. Perhaps unwisely, I told Treanor to kiss my ---. Not the most professional thing to do, but I had had it with his Gestapo tactics.

So Treanor is threatening to sue both me and the chief. I presently consider myself in good company.

Treanor's unexpected tantrum happened as I was leaving the PD after a meeting with police officials, including Hanks and Deputy Chief Dan McGoogan. At that meeting, the officials were handing me much of the information that was used for this story. Basically they were trying to get somebody to sit down and listen to their version of events surrounding the Avery report and Karsh's unexpected body slams.

Treanor has other reasons to be unhappy. During Hunt's latter days as city manager, Treanor was virtually set to be promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, a move that had many in the PD convinced that all hope was gone as far as regaining any departmental autonomy from city hall. Hunt's resignation put that promotion in limbo, possibly permanently.

Not everything is shiny and happy, but my phone just glows
This is not to say that everything is shiny and happy at the Venice PD. It ain't. There are some problems, some serious ones. On the one hand you have a police chief who has never been allowed to be police chief. Ever since Hanks' appointment as chief, he has had to deal with micromanagement, first from Slapp, then from Hunt after Slapp retired. Hanks admits to Slapp's authoritarian overlording, but states that Hunt's micromanagement was spotty. On the other hand, you have a holdout of Slapp/Hunt followers who are now left in a power vacuum by their protectors' departures from power. There's an ugly civil war going on in the PD right now, and with Hanks seriously wounded by Karsh's reports on SNN, it's a coin toss to see who comes out on top.

Some weird stuff has happened over the past two years of Hanks' tenure. As chronicled elsewhere on this site, Slapp once tried to get video cameras placed into a men's room in city hall. Something new that I just found out -- according to one highly placed police source, Slapp and Hunt once requested phone tapping and body wire recording equipment from the PD, this allegedly in an attempt to discover who was leaking information to the media about goings on in city hall and in the city's wastewater division. I was one of the targets to be surveilled in such a manner, according to the source. Slapp and Hunt were reportedly denied access to the equipment, however the pair could easily have gone out and purchased the equipment privately, so I may never know if they tapped my phone.

Karsh and Avery: amateurish and dangerous fluff
While the Avery Report can be dismissed as a piece of amateur fluff and Karsh's reports can be likewise tossed for being badly, if at all, researched, Hanks is not blameless in all of this. If I had any criticism of Hanks, it would be that he arguably should have taken a stronger stand against Slapp once Slapp moved over to city hall. Instead, Hanks stumbled along, trying to figure out a way to navigate through hostile waters and deliberately conflicting guidelines that had only one purpose: to trap and snare the new police chief. One thing I'll say about Slapp: the man is fearless. Hanks on the other hand is a man riddled with fear and self-doubt. Faced with the duplicitous double onslaught of Hunt and Slapp, Hanks caved at crucial moments, moments when he should have jumped out and counter-attacked. The failure on Hanks' part to lash out at appropriate times left him vulnerable to attacks like the present one from Karsh and Slapp.

Slapp, during his stay at city hall, continued to run the department, bypassing Hanks and giving orders straight to the troops, often through Mike Treanor. According to Hanks, Slapp told Hanks that the new chief had no power to hire, fire, promote, transfer, discipline, etc., that all of those decisions were to come straight from Slapp. Memos provided to me by Hanks give a strong indication that Hanks is being truthful in describing Slapp's draconian, authoritarian and dictatorial style. I've known Slapp for some 16 years, this all fits what I know about him, there isn't a doubt in my mind that Hanks is telling the truth about all of this.

Moreover, Slapp had done everything, EVERYTHING, he could to undermine Hanks over the last two years. Pulling the laptops from the police cruisers is an example. The Billy Masters affair was another. Remember that one? Oh this one's a beaut, absolutely brilliant, this is Slapp at his Machiavellian best: a flameout between two officers over personal issues led to their being disciplined by Hanks, only to have Slapp publicly blow the incident out into the media with criticisms of how Hanks had handled the situation.

Well, that was the official version, anyway, what the press was told. The real story is somewhat different.

Here's the ultimate irony:

1.) Some of the trouble had started while Slapp was still chief, but it didn't blow out until a year after Slapp had moved his digs over to city hall; Slapp, as Emergency Services Director, handled the initial investigation and punishments, although all that would later be credited publicly to Hanks;
2.) While Slapp made the original decision as to discipline, which was credited to Hanks, he then countermanded his own decision, blamed the original decision on Hanks, then publicly accused Hanks of mismanaging the whole affair;
3.) Slapp then used the ensuing publicity as a way to publicly humiliate Hanks, all the while ordering Hanks to take the heat -- this in an apparent attempt to show that the police department couldn't survive unless Slapp was placed back at the helm.

Pure evil genius. And it worked, sort of. Hanks was humiliated and seriously weakened and Slapp's control of the department was cemented. The downside for Slapp was that he still didn't get to move back to the PD to resume his role as chief.

So now Slapp is on the tube, given a soapbox by an unwitting TV reporter to spew his hateful sermons on how a proper police chief should act. Ya gotta love the irony here. All along, Slapp managed to secretly pull strings and screw up the police department from a distance, and now he gets to publicly blame Hanks, playing a perfect Iago to Hanks' Macbeth. It's a classic, the perfect backstab. 10.0, 10.0, 9.8, 9.9, 10.0.

Last laugh
Hanks may still have the last laugh, both over Slapp and Hunt. City council and newly appointed City Manager Marty Black are well aware of Slapp's manipulative machinations and all of this history. Moreover, Slapp still has Levine to deal with -- Levine's still intent on suing the former police chief for false arrest and civil rights violations from Slapp's arrest of the VTL prez in September of 2002. I keep hearing that the lawsuit is ready to file any day now, although I've been hearing that for months. Still, when Slapp gets served with those papers, all hell will be breaking loose.

As for Karsh? I tried to give him a lot of this history, I reached out to him to give him a list of resources on where he could get more materials on the history of all of this. I was rebuffed with statements like, "Hey, I'm a professional reporter" and "this is a professional investigative report."

He used the word 'professional' a lot.

Eh.....

Photos on this page are from screenshots of Karsh's SNN report, used under guise of the Fair Use Exemption to U.S. copyright laws.