Updated 6/5/2019 at 4:35pm to include statement from City of Arlington
ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF News) — A formal complaint filed to the Arlington City Manager’s office alleges Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson used a racial slur during a November manager’s meeting.
The complaint, which was filed on March 22nd by Arlington Municipal Patrolman Association President Chris Ceballos, alleges Johnson used the N-word while telling a story about an incident involving a black woman from his early days as an officer at another department.
In the complaint, it states that the intent of the word’s usage is not known, but Ceballos writes “as policy states, the subjective intent of the speaker or actor is not relevant in the determination of whether the standard of conduct is violated.”
Speaking with WBAP/KLIF, however, Ceballos said the word’s usage revolved around a story where a black woman had the N-word written on her car. Ceballos said several officers in that meeting told AMPA they were offended by Chief Johnson’s usage of the word, so he called another meeting a week later, where he apologized.
“As the way the current policy is written, it is our opinion he violated the current policy,” Ceballos said.
Lieutenant Chris Cook spoke on Chief Johnson’s behalf after he declined an interview and confirmed the alleged incident did happen at the meeting, which he said was originally geared to discuss elevating the department’s response to hate-related incidents. Cook characterized it as a description of a police report from Johnson’s early days as a patrol officer as a means to express how challenging it was to respond to a racial incident as a young officer.
“Hindsight’s always 20/20. Could you have said it a different way? Possibly, we could acknowledge that,” Cook said. “But because of the audience in the room, which was high level police commanders and supervisors, he felt that sharing that story about how helpless he felt that he couldn’t give the level of service he wanted to when he was just a young patrol officer would help guide the conversation about how important this topic is.”
Double Standard and a Policy Change
Ceballos said he filed the complaint for two reasons: to urge the city to change its policy, and to hold Chief Johnson to the same standard any other officer would be held to.
“If an officer makes a mistake, he or she doesn’t get the opportunity to give an apology,” Ceballos said. “They get disciplined, whether they apologize or not.”
The complaint references a separate incident from June of 2018 where Chief Johnson testified during an arbitration hearing of another officer who was accused of violating the same policy. The officer was accused of profiling black and Hispanic women, with the officer reportedly saying to another officer, “there also aren’t a lot of black or Hispanic females that are worth a s*** around here.”
According to the complaint, Johnson testified against the officer, saying the intent behind the statement did not matter.
“It doesn’t matter what the employee meant by it,” Johnson reportedly said in his testimony. “The statement should be taken on face value, common sense approach, plain language approach.”
When asked again at the hearing about the officer’s intent, Johnson replied by saying the policy says intent is not necessary.
“I think his comment creates, has the potential to create, the same harm, whether a citizen was standing next to him or not,” Johnson added in his testimony, according to the complaint.
The officer received a 16-hour suspension, which was later reduced to eight hours after arbitration. Ceballos called the situation a double standard.
“Everything that he testified to in the earlier case can be applied to what he said in November of 2018,” Ceballos said. “He should be held just like any other officer, to the same accountability that we all are held to.”
Cook said the two situations should not be compared.
“I’m sure anyone that hears the framework of the Chief recalling what was in an offense report is vastly different from this other case where comments were made,” Cook said. “I think anyone can see through that”
Ceballos, who has been with Arlington PD nearly 24 years, said intent should be relevant when investigating violation of this city policy. He said if the policy was different, Chief Johnson’s alleged usage of the N-word may not be deemed a punishable offense.
However, the question of accountability and double standard remains.
“All officers are held to a certain standard and accountability,” Ceballos said. “And so should anyone else, regardless of their rank.”
He added he does not believe this is an isolated incident, citing other examples of inconsistencies with accountability, involving a deputy chief and assistant chief.
“We believe there is a huge disparity in how they discipline supervisors compared to how they discipline officers,” he said. “It’s well known throughout the department, and I would say it has to affect the morale.”
Delayed Investigation
Ceballos said he filed the complaint in March, and has sent three e-mails asking about the status of the investigation.
He said the first two received replies saying the they were still gathering information. But the third, which he said was sent roughly two weeks ago, went unanswered.
“It could take up to 60 days or so. However in this case, I don’t think it would take that long,” Ceballos said. “If Chief Johnson did say the word and hold a second meeting to apologize, he would state that he did and probably state his reason why. And they would just have to determine if he did violate that policy.”
Deputy City Manger Gilbert Perales’ office is overseeing the investigation, but Perales declined an interview.
“The City’s investigation into a complaint filed at the end of March is still ongoing,” the city said in a statement. “It is not our policy to discuss personnel matters.”
Ceballos said he does not know if the officers who reported Chief Johnson’s alleged slur and were offended by it have been contacted as part of that investigation.
He also said the complaint was not filed to Arlington Police Internal Affairs because the officers in that division report directly to Johnson and are not allowed to investigate him.
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