The city of Coconut Creek is planning an outside review of its police department after a survey of more 100 officers included some anonymous, critical remarks of the police chief’s performance.
City staff were drawing up a contract Friday to hire an outside Human Resources firm run by an attorney to figure it all out, said Coconut Creek Mayor Josh Rydell.
“We’re taking the survey and the comments extraordinarily seriously, I can assure you,” Rydell said.
The survey results showed some officers criticizing Police Chief Butch Arenal, saying the agency wasn’t a healthy environment, and pleading with the city to find new leadership since “we need fresh blood.” They criticized changes such as their work boots, replaced from comfort to ones that will “hold a shine,” and accused the department of favoritism, and having a “stressful and undesirable environment.”
Others said they loved their job and their team, even though commendations were few in the documents released by the city, in response to a public records request.
City Commissioner John Brodie said the outside investigator would see if the comments are only “rumors” or whether there was “any validity” to the employee survey feedback. But “going to the third party is the better way to do it, we want to make sure it’s done the right way,” he said. “We’re not going to self-police.”
The city redacted many police officers’ comments, citing active investigations. Among the officers’ allegations in the survey remarks, within the records released:
- The chief allegedly “blasts a PD-wide email bashing” employees “prior to getting with the person in question to hear their side and get all the facts.”
- “The Chief is disconnected from his officers and police work in general.”
- “The Chief takes professional criticism personally, so nobody can say anything that would reflect as negative without being cast as a disgruntled employee. Which in turn lowers the morale of the department.”
- Another officer claims that if they “give an opinion that doesn’t align with his, (they) are criticized, chastised, and in some cases openly retaliated against. This method ensures that we operate in a vacuum where employees are often unwilling to be honest or open about their ideas for fear that the chief will use his platform to belittle them.”
Through his spokesman, Arenal said in an email statement Friday: “We’re treating the survey results and comments seriously and are committed to addressing all actionable and valid concerns. Patience is required as this process unfolds.”
The city further addressed the plans for the outside review. “Under the guidance of the City Commission, management initiated the staff survey project and is currently working to have the results evaluated by external consultants to address the feedback received,” said City Manager Karen Brooks.
The survey polled all departments within the city, including the fire department and parks and recreation.
Her office last week said 131 officers responded to the survey, or 86%. She wrote in a written statement that the overall results “shows that our employees strongly approve of our work environment and how well we are doing overall.”
She said while the majority of the feedback citywide was positive, “we recognize that there were some comments expressing areas for improvement. … As high priorities the city will be addressing health insurance, compensation and professional/leadership development.”
Arenal was hired in 2015 to lead the agency, after being hired to a job that had not been publicly posted.
At the time, the agency had been under intense scrutiny for high-profile cases, and Arenal was the man who the city wanted to clean it all up.
Those cases included keeping as a working police dog a K-9 with a history of biting non-suspects. The dog was finally pulled from the force after lunging out of a squad car and biting a doughnut shop employee. That same month, officers used a stun gun on an unarmed man, stunning him 10 times within 10 minutes. He died two days later and the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled it a homicide. The case was settled for $750,000 in 2017.
The former chief, Michael Mann, was forced to resign at the city manager’s request because of the stun-gun case.
In a memo to personnel, Mann wrote, “For the good of the department, I think it is time for a change in leadership.”
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash