Records Show Wash. Officers Covered Up Alcohol Purchases With City Credit Card

Nov. 06--YAKIMA, Wash. -- When two Yakima police officers got caught spending nearly $400 in taxpayer funds on beer for themselves, new City Manager Don Cooper faced his first test dealing with a department embroiled in legal and personnel problems.

Cooper, who started work here in September, chose to suspend the officers rather than fire them, as the acting police chief and two police captains had recommended.

In announcing the suspensions, City Hall issued a Oct. 17 news release stating Cooper had determined the officers' violations were "more likely the result of confusion over the policy rather than a specific intent to violate it."

But a review of police investigative records obtained by the Yakima Herald-Republic shows not only that the officers tried to hide the beer purchases, but also why firing them could have been fraught with difficulties.

According to those records, the officers admitted under questioning that they suspected it was against city policy to buy beer or alcohol with city funds during a two-week class in Spokane last summer.

Rather than confirm the policy, they concocted a scheme to persuade waitresses to write off their bar tabs as tips on the receipts to be turned over to the city.

Acting police Chief Greg Copeland and other commanders thought that was deceptive and fraudulent, findings that if upheld would be a death knell for the police officers.

"Honesty issues," Copeland wrote on an internal memo, agreeing with top aides that "Only option is termination."

The city's prohibition against paying for alcohol is contained within the policy governing use of city credit cards. The policy is tucked into the city's voluminous administrative code.

The policy says, "Credit cards should not be used for the purchase of alcohol, and the City will not pay for such purchases, whether related to a business meal or otherwise."

Cooper won't talk about the specifics of the disciplinary action he ordered. But the investigation files suggest firing the officers would have been difficult given the obscurity of the city's no-alcohol policy and contradictions in travel, purchasing and reimbursement policies.

There also is some question whether employees were given the policies when they were hired. And nothing in the case file suggested the two officers ever signed off on having received the policy, as required of all city employees who use city-issued credit cards under a directive issued by then-City Manager Dick Zais in 2006.

The city even lacks a policy prohibiting driving a city-owned vehicle after drinking -- an issue in this case, because that's what the two officers did almost every night they were in Spokane.

Though Cooper is new to Yakima as its city manager, he's no doubt aware of some of the lawsuits and union strife that are a legacy of former police Chief Sam Granato's administration. The dysfunction included infighting between Granato and his command staff, lawsuits alleging the chief engaged in a pattern of retaliatory behavior and a recently healed rift with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.

Cooper said Friday he chose to suspend the officers rather than fire them in part to avoid "unnecessary litigation" and because there are policy problems, which he said he plans to tackle once the city's troublesome 2012 budget is put to bed.

"The policy manual needs to be clarified and simplified," he said.

In the end, Cooper docked the officers the equivalent of a week's pay. He also required them to reimburse the city for the cost of the beer -- about $200 each -- and they were removed as firearms instructors for the department.

The case, however, raises questions about how much was spent not only on beer, but other purchases allowed under current city rules.

Last June, officers Ryan Urlacher and Chad Urwin were sent for the better part of two weeks to a firearms instruction course in Spokane where they shared a $109-a-night room at the Residence Inn.

Altogether they were on the road -- and on the city's dime -- a total of 10 nights at the hotel.

In addition to lodging expenses, they each were given a $61 daily food allowance guaranteed by their union contract. The rate, frequently referred to as a per diem, is based on a formula set by the U.S. General Services Administration.

Unlike some per diem policies in which reimbursements are provided no questions asked, the officers were required to submit receipts after the trip and to sign expense reports.

A police clerk immediately flagged the receipts, noting the officers paid tips with their dinner on 10 different occasions that sometimes exceeded the entire food bill by 200 percent or more. Among the restaurants they visited were Hooters and Boston's Pizza.

For example, on June 20, Urlacher bought a mushroom burger at Hooters for $7.48 with tax, then added a tip of $24.52. Urwin had a cheeseburger for the same price and tacked on a $25 tip.

The next night, Urlacher's order of wings and bleu cheese dressing at the same restaurant came to $12.91 with tax, to which he added a tip of $27.09. Urwin's chicken Philly cheese steak sandwich and cheese sticks came out to $16.94, along with a tip of $20.

Ordered to explain themselves, the officers quickly admitted in interviews with Lt. Tom Foley that much of their "tips" were actually used to pay off their nightly bar tab, according to the investigative records.

They said they persuaded waitresses to keep separate dinner and bar tabs, then had the waitresses put down their bar tabs as tips. No cash changed hands.

The waitresses told Foley it's not unusual for business travelers to separate food and bar tabs, but it was highly unusual to pay off bar tabs as tips.

In separate interviews with Foley, who was acting as an internal investigator, the officers spoke of "rumors" or "unsaid rules" that it was against city policy to buy beer or alcohol with city funds.

Urlacher, a former Washington State Patrol trooper, told Foley that his past experience as a state employee was that per diems did not have to be itemized, that per diems covered alcohol so long as it was off the clock and that the important point was not to max out his allowance.

In fact, just before leaving for Spokane, Urlacher had confirmed via email with a senior police clerk that he and Urwin each had $61 per diems to work with and that they could spend it any way they wanted. Writing off the bar tab as tips was just a way of avoiding a "riff" with a bookkeeper, he said.

"We're still spending within our money, so just don't put any alcohol on there and ... it won't cause any finance lady to have a problem," he explained to Foley.

Urwin, meanwhile, told Foley he knew the purchase of alcohol was "frowned upon."

"It was kind of like, 'Is it allowed?'" he told Foley. "I've heard it's not, but I've never seen it in writing."

Foley was incredulous. According to the transcripts, he bluntly accused the two officers of conspiring to submit false expense reports.

"Obviously, the appearance is that you guys agreed to a plan in which you cover up a purchase of alcohol with a city credit card and then submit false expense reports to disguise that purchase. How do you respond to that?" he asked Urwin.

"I don't know about that," Urwin replied, adding, "I didn't have them put, you know, dessert on there and get a beer. So I'm not trying to hide it. I mean, you're asking me and I'm telling you."

Urlacher, meanwhile, continued to insist there had been no intent to break rules on his part and that he had the right to spend his per diem any way he saw fit.

"I certainly would think about it different now a little bit," he said, adding "Wasn't no grand scheme or anything. Not a rocket scientist."

Urlacher and Urwin did not return calls seeking comment for this story. Sgt. Mike Costello, president of the Yakima Police Patrolman's Association, said the union had no comment.

After reviewing the case, all three of the police department's top commanders -- Copeland and Capts. Jeff Schneider and Rod Light -- recommended to Cooper the officers be fired.

Schneider wrote in his report that he was stunned not only by the officers' poor judgment but also their profligate spending, which he characterized as an arrogant "sense of entitlement."

The chicken dinners really chapped him. On the last day of the course, Urwin on his way out of town for vacation stopped at a place 20 miles north of Spokane called Ram Drive-In and bought four chicken dinners to go. Total cost: $30.41.

Earlier that same morning, Urlacher dropped $32.50 at Starbucks, breaking his previous record of $23.42. He accomplished this in part by buying five 15-ounce bottles of premium Naked-brand fruit juice ($3.25 per bottle) and two bottles of water to go with his usual purchase of either a 16- or 20-ounce mocha frappuccino.

"These purchases are not reasonable, not in conformance with policy, and indefensible," wrote Schneider, who nevertheless made it clear he was ultimately more upset about the tips-for-beer scheme than the overall spending.

"If an officer is willing to lie and deceive simply so they don't have to pay for a couple of beers, what else might they be capable of in more serious situations?"

Capt. Light, meanwhile, said it was clear to him the officers were not genuinely confused about the alcohol policy.

"One can conclude they didn't ask because they didn't want to hear the answer they would get," he said.

Despite his initial agreement that both officers should be fired, Copeland was quoted in the Oct. 17 news release as agreeing with Cooper that the officers were contrite and could be salvaged.

"I'm confident that these ... officers have learned important lessons from these experiences, and I'm pleased that the YPD and the community will continue to benefit from their service."

--Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or [email protected].