MARK SPINNER
Stephen Lemons
After Mark Spencer's PLEA gig is up, he could always apply to be a producer at KPHO.
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I have praised Channel 5 KPHO's reporters and producers in the past. I consider them colleagues.
In fact, in 2010, New Times went so far as to award KPHO newshound Morgan Loew and producer Gilbert Zermeno "Best TV Journalists" for their hard-hitting pieces on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
Still, I'm befuddled by the station's persistent pro-PLEA spin (PLEA being the powerful Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, a police union that represents the rank-and-file in the Phoenix Police Department).
PLEA is at constant war with PPD management, particularly Public Safety Manager (read: Police Chief) Jack Harris. This is obvious, from PLEA's Web site and from PLEA president Mark Spencer's obsession with taking down Harris. That PLEA has allies at KPHO is evidenced by KPHO's occasional aping of PLEA's line on the PPD.
Without casting too many aspersions on the work of Channel 5 journalist Donna Rossi, a former cop and currently a Fourth Estater, I found her recent segment on a satisfaction survey taken by the Phoenix Police Sergeants and Lieutenants Association, the union representing Phoenix cops of those ranks, to be bizarre.
At least, I did after I read the report itself, which's linked at the Web sites for KPHO and PLEA.
PLEA put its usual anti-management slant on the document, calling it a "no confidence" vote for PPD honchos. And, truthfully, there's much in the doc, particularly in the written responses, that suggests that the relationship between sergeants and lieutenants and the command staff ain't what it should be.
"What in your opinion is the single biggest challenge facing the Phoenix Police Department?" asks the survey at one point.
Answers run the gamut, from "we need a new Fourth Floor" (the Fourth Floor being where the PPD command staff rule) to "morale" to "a lack of leadership" to "corruption within the department."
One commenter opines, "No one has faith in the chief."
Rossi repeated some of the negative comments, along with news that nearly 70 percent of the more than 150 respondents were satisfied or very satisfied as employees of the department. Almost 87 percent of respondents agreed that the department was committed to providing quality service.
However, Rossi ignored negative reactions regarding PLEA and its president. For instance, one survey-taker listed "Mark Spencer" as the PPD's "single biggest challenge."
This same respondent, when asked what he or she would like to see done to address this "challenge," said in regard to Spencer: "Fire him."
Weirdly, Rossi reported that the "fire him" comment was about Harris, not Spencer.
Perhaps some confusion can be forgiven. Mark Hafkey, president of the Sergeants and Lieutenants Association, told me that the information posted at KPHO and PLEA came from a "data dump" based on replies from his association's members and was not a finished report. He also related that the information was taken from his association's offices without permission and later posted to PLEA's Web site.
Plus, he confirmed what appears obvious, based on the raw data: The "fire him" comment refers to Spencer.
Rossi said her sources told her that the PPSLA was trying to keep the report "under wraps." Hafkey denied this, saying the final report will be issued after a labor-management conference between PPD management and the PPSLA.
In an e-mail to PPSLA members sent January 27, one quoted in part by Rossi, Hafkey admits that the survey suggested "significant dissatisfaction." Because of the preliminary results, Hafkey told his members of the planned labor-management conference to hash out concerns. He promised more info would be distributed following the conference.
Hardly evidence of a cover-up.
Currently, according to Hafkey, the powwow's scheduled on two dates, February 25 and March 10.
In her piece, Rossi says she contacted the PPSLA but received no response. Hafkey told me he had gotten a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment the day of Rossi's story but was tied up in a federally mandated disaster-response training course. By the time he was ready to react, the piece had run.
Hafkey said the PPSLA will seek a retraction from KPHO.
Also, he said the union is looking into what other action might be taken regarding the document believed stolen from PPSLA offices.
I called and e-mailed Rossi regarding the matter but didn't hear back from her for hours. So I published a version of this article on my Feathered Bastard blog, where I noted that Rossi had not called or e-mailed back.
The next day, she reached out to me via Facebook, claiming not to have received my e-mail or my phone mail, though I have proof of both communications.
She didn't reply to my inquiries concerning her segment on the PPSLA story.
If Rossi and KPHO do a retraction, particularly on the "fire him" quote, that would be good journalism. They may also want to point out that the document they reference specifically asks "dissatisfied" respondents the reasons for their opinions.
In other words, the PPSLA was actively seeking critical assessments of the department.
Will KPHO do a story on the many derisive comments PLEA and Spencer received in the survey — which the station made a huge deal about?
To the "single biggest challenge" question, one respondent states "PLEA's negative attacks." Another cites "the constant attacks of PLEA on the PPD supervisors." Yet another notes "the negative spin some [of] the unions are putting on these issues to enumerate the deficiencies of/with Jack Harris."
