Call for resignation of Chief Tony Almaraz!
Over the 4th of July holiday, I reported a shocking shake-down on Highway I-15 in Las Vegas, instigated by a corrupt Nevada Highway Patrol officer by the name of Del Padre (Badge # 691).
Post: 07/04/10
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/07/nevada-highway-patrolofficer-del-padre.html
In sum, Officer Del Padre engaged in an illegal stop, harassed and insulted a motorist, and seized a vehicle in Violation of the motorist's rights.
In addition, Del Padre attempted to destroy incriminating evidence - after-the-fact - to avoid recrimination later.
I noted in the post my intention to contact Chief Tony Almaraz of the Highway Patrol with the specific aim of triggering disciplinary action - and ultimately - to hasten along the release of the illegally-seized vehicle.
When I initially e-mailed Chief Tony Almaraz, he responded the day after the holdays (Tuesday July 6th) with a promise that an officer would be in touch shortly to launch an investigation.
I was hopeful that Chief Almaraz - vested with the public trust - would follow through so that the ugly incident would be resolved as quickly as possible.
The motorist in question was experiencing ill health and was left stranded with limited funds in Vegas.
Unfortunately, Chief Tony Almaraz did not follow through on his word.
In spite of the fact I stressed the urgency of the request, Chief Almaraz neglected to get back in touch "shortly" as promised.
Three days later, I was forced to zip off a follow-up e-mail, and enlighten Almaraz about that fact.
To jolt him out of his complacency, I included a link on a damaging article I wrote about his incompetence, which ended up right next to his career profile on the Internet under a caption for the Nevada Highway Patrol.
Post: 07/08/10
http://ijulian.blogspot.com/2010/07/chief-tony-almarazdeceitful-illegal.html
Uh-huh!
That got a rise out of the Chief!
Within two hours, he fired off an e-mail, to assure me that prior to my communication that morning, two officers had been assigned to the case.
"They informed me (Sgt. Haycox & Sgt. Snow) that they have already contacted you," he asserted in so many words.
Lies!
A review of the e-mail stamps verify that their communications were zipped off at approximately the same time as his panicky disjointed message to me (more on that issue later).
I wasn't born yesterday, Chief!
Sgt. Haycox's e-mail was basically a hasty note in which he outlined the steps to file a complaint against State Trooper Del Padre, and legal notice that no investigation could commence until the paperwork was lodged with the Nevada Highway Patrol, etc. etc.
I proceeded to download the complaint form, draft the complaint issues for the victim, and prepare it for submission to the Nevada Highway Patrol for investigation.
At this point, I should note that - in spite of the fact I asked for the address and/or contact number for Internal Affairs as well - neither Sgt. Haycox nor Chief Tony Almaraz provided the information.
In fact, over the past week, I made a request for the Internal Affairs info three tmes, but as of this date (July 13th) the information has not been forthcoming.
Is it a State secret?
Afraid of something, gentlemen?
Meanwhile, the issue of the release of the vehicle was conveniently side-stepped by Sgt. Haycox and Chief Tony Almaraz.
Surely, the complaint issues against Officer Del Padre, didn't need to be resolved before the SUV could be released to its registered owner?
Subsequently, I zipped off an e-mail to Sgt Haycox and Chief Tony Almaraz, with a demand that they prepare the proper documenation so that the victim could pick up his vehicle.
At this point, Sgt. Haycox set forth a couple of options in a follow-up e-mail, which he asserted would resolve the issue.
As it turns out, Sgt. Haycox was simply engaging in a lot of smoke-and-mirrors maneuvers.
Was this a mean-spirited attempt to punish the motorist for filing a complaint against a fellow officer?
When the evenets of the past week are reviewed, the answer rings out loud and clear.
Yes!
For example, in his instructions, Sgt Haycox assured the motorist they could drop into the Nevada Highway Patrol's "South Command" office and arrange for a release of the "hold" with the appropriate doucments.
If the victim was not in possession of that paperwork, Sgt. Haycox noted that - in the alternative - the motorist could go to the DMV and obtain a "Drive Away" permit so the vehicle could be driven on to the victim's home state without further incident.
Because the Nevada Highway Partrol was out-of-the-way, and the motorist was without his vehicle, he elected to go to the DMV (which required one simple trip on a bus without any complications).
At the DMV, the motorist was able to secure the "Drive Away" permit.
On that occasion, there was a Divine Intervention, which I shall discuss later in a follow-up post.
Meanwhile, the motorist returned to their Hotel - hopeful that the following morning - they would be able to secure their vehicle.
Today - the motorist e-mailed an update on the status of the "Drive Away" permit to Officer Haycox, so he would be aware that all the documents were in order.
In that e-mail, he also noted that he was proceeding down to the tow yard to pick up his vehicle.
Although Officer Haycox had hours to do so, he never responded to that e-mail, so the motorist proceeded to the tow yard confident that all his paperwork was in order.
After sweating in a hundred-degree weather in the mid-day sun for a couple of hours or so, the motorist - who was suffering shortness of breath and not feeling too well - finally arrived at the Highway Patrol's impound unit at South Strip Towing (3255 Pollux Ave / Las Vegas NV 891020).
When the exhausted individual produced the "Drive Away" permit, a snotty little clerk in the employ of South Strip Towing, snarled at the motorist that his permit was not sufficient.
"You need a pass from the Nevada Highway Patrol," she barked at him.
The tourist tried to explain that the "Drive Away" permit was already sanctioned by Officer Haycox.
At this point, another disgruntled motorist, spoke up.
"I got the same run-around from these people and the Nevada Highway Patrol. It sucks. I had to come down here twice, take a day off work. And it has cost me. I am furious."
Then, the irate young lady lamented that in spite of the fact it was public knowledge that this tow truck facility engaged in shocking mean-spirited conduct on a regular basis, the Nevada Highway Patrol has not taken any action to correct the situation or consider turning over the account to kind decent operators who have a little more compassion and understanding and professionalism.
In spite of the obvious misunderstanding, the clerk refused to permit the motorist to borrow their phone, so he could speak to a Nevada Highway Patrol officer regarding Sgt. Haycox's directive.
"I don't have a vehicle. I am ill. I am just about ready to collapse in this heat. Can't you help me, please," he begged.
No way, Jose!
At this point, the nasty employee basically laughed at the both of them from the comfort of her glassed-in crawl space.
Then, after claiming there was no manager on the premises to speak to, the cold fish went and hid in the back of the small trailer and continued to make fun of the desperate motorists grumbling about the outrage of it all.
One motorist was kind enough to lend the tourist her cell phone so he could call the Nevada Highway Patrol himself.
Once he got a dispatch person on the line, though, the ditzy Nevada Highway Patrol employee showed little remorse about the obvious misunderstanding and escalating crisis.
At the request of the frustrated victim, she did contact Sgt. Haycox, but he refused to speak to the stressed-out tourist on the telephone.
"You have to come down to South Command for a release, Sir," was the message he uttered up to dispatch to pass along.
Sgt. Haycox demonstrated by his actions that he could care less that the motorist was about to collapse, was suffering from heat exhaustion, and was in desperate need of assistance.
To add to the lunacy (and cruelty) of it all, it should be noted that when the motorist asked for instructions on how to get to South Command to obtain the release document, she proceeded to give instructions for the highway route.
What a sorry excuse for a human being!
"Miss, I don't have a vehicle. Please don't give me freeway instructions," he pleaded.
Was she really THAT stupid?
Or, was it a deliberate slap in the face to humiliate the victim further?
"Are you going take a cab, then," she continued in the blink-of-an-eye.
"No, I don't have any money for a taxi," he replied in desperation.
Do these dummies think that money grows on trees?
Because of the illegal seizure of the vehicle on July 4th, the motorist was forced to extend Hotel accommodation a few days, and ended up - as a result - depleting funds.
Did she show any compassion at this juncture?
No.
When the motorist expressed his dismay that the Nevada Highway Patrol was supposed to protect and serve - and that inferred that she was failing to meet that mandate - she remained silent!
Did she apologize to the victim at any point?
Hell, no!
It shocks the sensibilities to imagine that a Highway Patrol Officer would act in such a cold heartless fashion and ignore a citizen's emergency needs!
Chief Tony Almaraz proved to be a slippery piece of work, too.
In recent days, for example, he established to me - by virtue of his sloppy unprofessional conduct - that he is uneducated, an ineffective community leader, incompetent, and not qualified to head up the Nevada Highway Patrol.
For starters, he has difficulty expressing himself in plain English!
For instance, it is obvious from the following excerpt from one of his e-mails, that Chief Almaraz lacks the ability to construct a simple grammatically-sound sentence in the language of the land.
Example
(July 8th e-mail excerpt written by Chief Tony Almaraz)
"I was informed by my command staff in Las Vegas that you have been in fact, contacted reference your complaint against Trp. DelPadre"
Huh?
His failure to correct the glaring English glitch hints at an additional lack of skills.
Doesn't the Chief know how to conduct a grammar check or use the spell check tool?
Then, there is the question of actual performance, and the ablity to take appropriate action to expedite solutions to problems when called for, and so forth and so on.
For instance, it took three days for Chief Tony Almaraz and his bum-boy Sgt. Haycox, to inform the motorist in question that a trip to the DMV - and application for a "Drive Away" permit - would expedite the release of the vehicle.
Because of the Chief's negligence (and incompetence) in that regard, the vehicle sat in storage un-necessarily for three days racking up storage fees!
In view of the aforementioned facts, it is evident that Chief Tony Almaraz has a problem responding to emergency situations, assigning intelligent personnel to resolve important citizen complaints when they arise, or even exercise any leadership ability when the situation cries out for it.
Essentially, Chief Tony Almaraz is unqualified for the role of head honcho at the Nevada Highway Patrol.
As I noted earlier, Chief Tony Almaraz only bothered to step into the fray, when it came to his attention that I am a journalist with thousands of readers on the internet and in a position to expose his incompetence, negligence, and corruption to the public at large and various media outlets who follow my "feeds".
That's a shocking commentary on the Nevada Highway Patrol and Chief Almaraz, if you ask me.
For the foregoing reasons, I urge the resignation of Chief Tony Almaraz, with the ultimate aim of purging the Law Enforcement Agency of a corrupt element that flies in the face of Justice and morality.
Amen!
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