Investigation clears Fife police command staff

An outside investigation concluded that allegations of improper conduct made against Fife Police Chief Brad Blackburn and two members of his command staff either did not happen or could not be proven, according to documents released Thursday.

The nine allegations included complaints of racial or ethnic discrimination in the Fife Police Department and several improper actions by the chief.

Among the complaints made by two Fife police officers was that Blackburn had “engaged in inappropriate relationships with young adult offenders.” The investigative report, sought by The News Tribune since June, determined that accusation was “not sustained.”

Not sustained means “there is insufficient evidence to prove or disprove the allegation,” the report says. Unfounded goes even further; it means an allegation is “false or not factual.”

The investigation, paid for by the city’s insurance pool, took more than 265 hours and included interviews with more than two dozen Fife police employees. It was handled by Prothman Co. of Issaquah, specifically by a retired police chief who now works as a senior consultant and investigator.

City Manager Dave Zabell said Thursday night the police force now has “an opportunity to move forward on more productive things.”

He said Blackburn is working with a consultant in “improving communication throughout the department.”

Justo Gonzalez, Blackburn’s attorney, said the investigation was thorough and complete. “There were no facts to support the allegations.”

More than three pages of the 15-page report with names blacked out deal with accusations regarding the chief’s contact with young offenders.

The report says officers expressed concern when Blackburn was observed by a police surveillance camera “placing his hand on the thigh of an 18-year-old male offender while standing next to a truck.”

In another incident, officers observed Blackburn apparently running his fingers through the hair of a suspect who was crying and handcuffed in the back of a patrol vehicle.

It was unclear how long ago the incidents happened, if at all.

In the report, Blackburn did not state whether he touched the two individuals and seemed surprised it was even brought up.

But he did address questions raised about whether he had friendships with offenders that were not directly related to his duties.

The chief acknowledged he did have a meal with one young man at the Tacoma Mall. Blackburn said he had known the offender’s family for about 10 years and helped him get placed with Child Protective Services when he was abandoned.

Blackburn also acknowledged that he paid another young offender to fix his deck and may have given him a key to the house.

One young man told investigators he met Blackburn when he was between the ages of 10 and 15 after getting in trouble with the law for using drugs and alcohol. Blackburn and the boy’s dad became friends and developed a plan where his father would obtain a sample of his son’s urine and Blackburn would test it for alcohol and drugs.

The report concludes most of the contact Blackburn had with young offenders took place years ago when he was a sergeant and was working with a court community service program.

Dating back to those days, Blackburn told investigators “he has a passion to turn offenders around and get them on the right track.”

The report said Blackburn had latitude under police policy “to determine what associations are appropriate.”

The report also determined:

 • Blackburn and the two other command staff members did not discriminate or retaliate in the denial of bilingual pay to two police officers.

The report says the two officers initially were refused the extra pay because it was believed they didn’t meet requirements. However, both were granted the pay after the concern was brought forward by the Fife Police Guild through bargaining, according to the report.

The charge of discrimination was not sustained. Two charges of retaliation were unfounded and another was not sustained.

 • A member of the command staff (not Blackburn) and a subordinate police employee both denied an accusation that they had a sexual or romantic relationship. The report said the allegation was not sustained.

 • An accusation that Blackburn made rude and harassing comments to female dispatchers was not sustained. Blackburn said he called the dispatch center a “piranha pit” because the employees were difficult to manage. He also said the dispatchers looked like “sausages” when they were wearing new uniforms. The accusation was not sustained.

While Blackburn’s “piranha pit” comment was inappropriate, it was “not made exclusively about one particular race or gender group,” the report said.

Blackburn has been chief of the 60-member Fife Police Department for six years and has worked there for 23 years. He has received accolades for working against drunken driving and collecting donations of toys for needy kids at Christmas.

In 2010, he received media attention for pulling a woman from a burning house in Tacoma.

His department has been rocked by misconduct in the past year. Two veteran officers were investigated and resigned this year, and a third was disciplined.

Detective Roy Shane Farnworth drank while on call last December and drove while under the influence, striking a concrete barrier and totaling his unmarked patrol car in Tacoma, a Sumner police investigation found. Farnworth, an 18-year employee of Fife police, resigned May 5.

Lt. Jeff Westover exposed himself to a subordinate employee on numerous occasions over several years and had sex with her once while both were on duty in the Fife police station, according to an Auburn police investigation.

Westover, a 17-year veteran of the department, resigned Jan. 6.

The City of Fife said in May that Lt. Doug Burrus was suspended for three days without pay after an investigation showed he didn’t follow through on an employee’s complaints that she’d been sexually harassed by a police officer for nearly a decade. Documents released later said that officer was Westover.

The string of investigations is not over. Zabell confirmed this week that Burrus is under investigation again. He wouldn’t say what he’s being investigated for.

Steve Maynard: 253-597-8647 steve.maynard @thenewstribune.com