Fresno Leaders Ask Police Auditor For Help

More fallout to the shocking arrest of a former Deputy Police Chief in Fresno on drug charges. After Keith Foster’s arrest, Fresno’s mayor and city manager went to the police auditor looking for help.

City leaders are facing a tough job as they try to re-gain the community’s trust and they hope the auditor’s recommendations presented in the report will show they’re doing everything they can to move forward. 

In the Office of Independent Review, Police Auditor Richard Rasmussen states the allegations against former Deputy Chief Keith Foster indicate procedural weaknesses may exist within the Fresno Police Department that allowed Foster’s personal failure to go undetected.

Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin said "We requested an independent review to do an analysis of all the personnel policies in the department and specifically looking at promotion techniques, and other things related to personnel in the department."

One recommendation calls for an independent inspection of the department on a unit by unit basis and an assessment of officer’s financial information to evaluate whether or not they might be susceptible to behavior down the line that could get them in trouble.

Police Chief Jerry Dyer welcomes the recommendations but doesn’t think they could have prevented the allegations against Foster.

"I ask myself is there something I could’ve done better to prevent this from occurring and sometimes the answer is simply that people are gonna make decisions people wouldn’t think they would," Chief Dyer said.

Another recommendation is ethics training on officer’s obligations on policies and procedures. Chief Dyer said some of the practices already exist and he hopes Fresno residents will once again trust the police department.

"This is one individual that made some bad decisions and the men and women of the police department should not pay for that," Chief Dyer said.