On March 19, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board suspended or revoked the certifications of four former and current police officers and temporarily denied a recruit’s certification until August 2026.
Known as AZPOST, the board licenses all law enforcement officers in the state and is one of the few agencies in Arizona with the power to discipline police. The 12-member board includes Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, two rural sheriffs, Phoenix City Councilmember Kevin Robinson and Ryan Thornell, director of the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry.
In 2024, AZPOST opened 48 investigations into officers and punished 43 cops, including for putting the muzzle of a gun to a woman’s head, asking two high school girls when they lost their virginity, driving while under the influence, lying to superiors or investigators and needlessly handcuffing an 82-year-old lady.
So far this year, the board has punished nine current and former officers from across Arizona. It has opened investigations into 10, including three ex-Gila River cops for allegedly drunk driving an ATV recklessly around a park with children around, stealing a gun from a traffic fatality scene and pointing their firearms at each other as a joke.
Investigations into the former officers began in January, but the board has already delivered punishment to one: Orlando Ramirez.
Ramirez blew a .248 breathalyzer test — three times the legal limit — on June 10 after recklessly driving an ATV onto a basketball court and volleyball court at a community park “while children were occupying the area,” according to AZPOST compliance specialist Michelle Blanco. He also drove over sidewalks and ran over some bushes before he “got stuck in a sand volleyball court,” according to witnesses who followed him home.
After being arrested for DUI, Ramirez pleaded guilty to one count of reckless driving on Sept. 12. Ramirez’s lawyer, Chad Smith, told the board, “Prior to his termination, Mr. Ramirez had an impeccable service record with the department and this is clearly a lapse in judgment.”
The board suspended Ramirez’s certification for a year and a half, until December 2025.
The board suspended Phoenix police officer Brian Alvarado for six months for submitting time sheets in which he claimed he worked more hours than he actually did. Ronnie Jaques, a former Surprise patrol officer, was given a year-long suspension for using a restricted database to look up someone’s address while on duty. Jaques pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for using the database, which is illegal to use for personal reasons.
The board also revoked the certification of former Pinal County Sheriff’s Deputy Ricardo Garcia, who was sentenced in February to a year in Pima County jail for attempted sexual assault.
The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board opened four new investigations in March.
fsHH (Pixabay), CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
New investigations
At its March meeting, the board opened investigations into four current or former cops. They are:- Jacob Keah-Tigh, a former officer in the Navajo Division of Public Safety who was caught in the agency’s weight room engaging in sexual acts with another employee while working the graveyard ship in May 2022. He resigned a year after the incident.
- Phoenix police officer Manuel Abeyta, who was suspended by the department for six weeks after he was involved in a domestic violence incident. On April 6, 2023, Abeyta’s wife, Maria, said he grabbed her around the throat and slammed her head into a mirror, shattering it. Abeyta said Maria slapped him three or four times, to which he responded by pushing her into the mirror, but he denied putting his hands around her neck. Criminal charges against Abetya were dismissed on June 15 of that year, and prosecution was never pursued against Maria.
- Joshua A. McCluskey, who was fired by the Arizona Department of Public Safety in September 2024 for an incident that took place in April of that year. McCluskey stopped a commercial truck for driving in the left lane but proceeded to bargain with the truck driver to see if he would accept a citation for not wearing a seat belt, which carries a lesser penalty. The confused driver eventually accepted, but the driver’s supervisor refuted the charge because the company uses monitors to ensure their drivers wear seat belts. After seeing the body camera footage, the supervisor contacted DPS internal affairs, and McCluskey was fired shortly after.
- Phoenix police recruit Christian A. Medrano, who allegedly hit a parked car in a church parking lot in Sedona in July 2024 but did not stop to give his information to the vehicle’s owner. Medrano claimed he didn’t notice striking another vehicle. Phoenix police learned Medrano’s registration had been suspended because he did not have car insurance.
