Is officer too rude for Edmonds?

EDMONDS — David Delap and his son looked to Edmonds police Officer Russ Faiferlick for assistance in May when Faiferlick served legal papers in a domestic dispute involving the son and his former girlfriend.

Instead, Delap, a 55-year Edmonds resident, said that when they asked Faiferlick about the upcoming court date and legal proceedings, the officer turned angry and confrontational. Delap was so troubled by the officer's attitude that he filed a complaint.

"I truly feel this individual needs some counseling help," Delap wrote. "I am very concerned (Faiferlick) has a firearm. I would not be able to forgive myself if I didn't bring this to your attention."

As a result of the complaint, Faiferlick, 54, was told to attend an eight-hour class on communication skills, Edmonds Police Chief David Stern said.

But city records indicate the complaint wasn't an isolated one.

Since 1996, complaints against Faiferlick for rudeness make up one-fourth of all complaints to the 53-officer Police Department about officers' demeanors. Inappropriate demeanor may include a lack of respect toward or understanding of residents, or an abrupt or excessively authoritarian manner — what some police refer to as being "badge heavy."

From 1996 through October 2003, the department received 195 complaints, 91 of which raised issues of officer rudeness or inappropriate attitude.

Faiferlick was the subject of 23 of those complaints; seven were sustained after department inquiries. Other sustained complaints against Faiferlick included driving too fast and leaving a prisoner unattended in a courtroom.

Faiferlick declined to comment for this story.

Over the same period, two other Edmonds officers each had four sustained complaints. Most officers have one or none, according to department records.

In Lynnwood, which has 67 officers, the Police Department has received 81 complaints since 1997, and of those, only 11 were for rudeness. Two were sustained.

"We don't tolerate treating people poorly," Lynnwood Deputy Police Chief Karen Manser said.

Manser said her department uses a system of progressive discipline that has resulted in firing officers for chronic poor performance.

Experts in police discipline say complaints from the public about officer demeanor are by far the most common complaints. In Seattle, for instance, 41 percent of complaints received last year alleged officer rudeness, said Sam Pailca, the director of the Office of Professional Accountability for the Seattle Police Department.

Pailca said the complaints often reflect the difficult work police officers perform. Officers frequently intervene in tense or dangerous situations. Force or aggression may be needed to control a situation. And, Pailca said, members of the public may be drunk or under the influence of drugs, and/or belligerent.

"People in encounters with police are often not happy about it," she said.

Nevertheless, Pailca said, repeated complaints about one officer that raise the same issue may indicate the department needs to step up its performance reviews and supervision.

"When departments impose corrective action, they need to follow through," she said.

Stern said that though the department takes seriously complaints about officer demeanor, they aren't generally regarded with as much concern as complaints that allege officer corruption or brutality. Those complaints face a more intensive review process, Stern said.

The less serious complaints, he said, typically are investigated by an officer's supervisor, who talks to the complaining person, contacts any witnesses, reviews related documents and interviews the officer.

In the case of Faiferlick, department records show that five sustained complaints in 2000 triggered department attempts to address Faiferlick's behavior.

A July 2000 disciplinary letter to Faiferlick from Assistant Chief Al Compaan notes previous attempts to remedy Faiferlick's behavior and describes a pattern of behavior familiar to the department: "As you should be aware, complaints alleging rudeness on your part have been an unfortunate common denominator over the years."

The letter states that the department had taken disciplinary action in 1995 and in February 2000, which included drawing up performance plans for Faiferlick designed to "correct rudeness."

Compaan's letter warns that if Faiferlick doesn't improve, further discipline is likely, "up to and including termination."

Faiferlick was removed from the traffic unit as part of the disciplinary action. Compaan also recommended that he lose one week's pay.

But then-Chief Robin Hickok reduced the sanction to two days without pay and added that if Faiferlick voluntarily sought counseling and had no sustained complaints for the remainder of 2000, he would not lose any pay.

Since then, 11 other complaints alleging rudeness by Faiferlick have been investigated by the department. Only the one brought by Delap was sustained.

The Edmonds police manual states: "Officers shall, at all times, be courteous to the public. They shall be orderly, attentive, and shall exercise patience and discretion when dealing with the public."

Stern, who took over the force in October 2001, said that though rudeness may have been a problem for Faiferlick in the past, the department "took corrective action, and the complaints have moderated significantly."

Stern said he did not impose more-stringent discipline after the May incident because there had been no sustained complaints against Faiferlick since 2000.

Faiferlick, who joined the Edmonds force in 1989, since October has worked as a detective, an assignment that Stern said is temporary and one through which a number of officers rotate. Faiferlick previously had worked as a patrol officer and a motorcycle traffic-unit officer.

Stern said the Police Department imposes progressive discipline for substantiated complaints against officers, from a verbal reprimand up to loss of pay or termination.

Department records show that an Edmonds officer assigned to Stevens Hospital security duty resigned, rather than be terminated, this year after an internal-affairs investigation confirmed he had accessed pornographic Internet sites on a hospital computer.

"If you're asking, do we deal with it (allegations of misconduct), or do we tolerate and support it, I think the record is clear that we deal with it," Stern said.

But the chief said that any officer represents a significant investment of the city's time and money. The goal in disciplining officers, he said, is to correct problem behavior, not to punish it.

Longtime Edmonds residents Debbie and Phil Weber complained about Faiferlick in January after the officer stopped their 14-year-old son and two friends, who were sliding down a muddy hill adjacent to the Yost Memorial Park swimming pool.

By the time the encounter was over, Debbie Weber said, the kids were near tears and convinced they were going to jail. Faiferlick, she said, swore at them and used abusive language when she tried to intervene.

"It doesn't surprise me at all that there have been other complaints," she said.

Stern said the Webers showed no concern that their son was destroying public property by sliding on the grass. He said a department inquiry found that Faiferlick had not acted inappropriately in the encounter.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com