Kelso cop alleges captain sought inside info on his critics
Thursday, November 27, 2008 5:30 PM PST
By Amy M.E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleA Kelso police officer has filed a $50,000 claim against the city, alleging that a superior officer who’s vying for the police chief job asked her to “tattle” on his detractors in the department.
Wednesday, an attorney appointed to defend the city by the Washington Cities Insurance Authority disclosed details from the claim filed by Officer Bebe McFall regarding Capt. Vern Thompson. The city placed Thompson on paid administrative leave Friday while his alleged conduct is investigated by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.
According to attorney Mike Bolasina of the Seattle law firm Stafford Frey Cooper, the claim alleges Thompson, a 26-year veteran of the department, asked McFall to tell him who was spreading rumors about him. In exchange, Thompson allegedly told McFall that if he became chief and she made it to one of the top three candidates on the sergeant’s list, he would have no problem promoting her to sergeant, Bolasina said.
“She said it was clear that Capt. Thompson was attempting to bribe her,” the attorney said.
Thompson could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
In October, city officials told The Daily News that Thompson and Capt. Andy Hamilton were the two finalists in the search to replace Chief Wayne Nelson, who retires in March. The Council was scheduled to interview Thompson and Hamilton, but the police guild voted to ask the city to wait until a new city manager was appointed before hiring a new chief.
Guild members believed the chief selection process had been biased toward hiring one of the two captains and that the city had not conducted a thorough search, the guild president said. About 30 candidates from around the nation had applied for the job, which pays nearly $100,000 a year.
“We felt the process was not a legitimate process,” guild president Kirk Wiper said in late October. “There were several tangible differences in the way the two candidates had been treated that led us to believe it would not be an equitable process.”
Wiper declined to say whether the guild thought the selection process favored Thompson or Hamilton.
McFall’s claim alleges that after the guild vote Thompson asked McFall to report about who in the department was bad-mouthing him, which made McFall uncomfortable. The claim said, “Bebe McFall is in the union and understood (Thompson’s) statement as a threat, and that if she didn’t support him in the union meetings, he would know about it.”
McFall’s claim alleges that Thompson continued to try to elicit a response from her until she told him she would not be his “tattletale” and that she would not be “that girl,” Bolasina said.
The claim states that Thompson’s actions caused McFall severe emotional distress, and that Thompson committed discrimination, Bolasina said.
Wednesday, Interim City Manager Denny Richards said the city will interview five or six candidates for police chief Dec. 18, and that Thompson “absolutely” is on the list.
Richards would not name the three outside candidates to be interviewed, saying, “They don’t want that out there because it’ll get back to their boss and they’ll get fired.”
Related articles:
Breaking news version of this story (Nov. 26)
Kelso police captain placed on administrative leave (Nov. 24)
Outgoing manager won't pick Kelso police chief (Oct. 21)
Kelso narrows police chief search to two (Oct. 20)
viper wrote on Nov 27, 2008 7:21 AM:
that darn Greed will get you caught everytime hope they find someone honest , but that might be hard from what they have to chose from. it not just this city it this way all over the country stab each other in the back to get what they want just glad they caught it now and not later "
bobe374 wrote on Nov 27, 2008 1:58 PM:
Hang in there Vern, the truth always comes out. "
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