Police officers assigned to Orlando International Airport

ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando police officer was fired and reinstated after allegedly trying to cover up an unauthorized chase in 2015. When he returned to work, he was assigned to Orlando International Airport.

9 Investigates' Daralene Jones spent more than one month reviewing internal affairs files for other officers who have citizen complaints or internal affairs investigations in their record and are assigned to work at Orlando International Airport.

Jones uncovered some of the officers have a history of complaints against them prior to being assigned to the airport.

Officer William Escobar was caught on cellphone video, punching a suspect who was in handcuffs in June 2014. It was a highly publicized case that also prompted a civil lawsuit against the officer and the Orlando Police Department.

Escobar cried in November 2015 the day he was acquitted of misdemeanor battery and perjury charges because of the incident. He had already been fired months earlier in February 2015, but he was reinstated in November 2016. Less than one month later, he was transferred to Orlando International Airport. A federal jury had awarded the man $15,500 in September 2016 because he sued the officer over the incident.

Officer Phillip Fugate was also acquitted of battery against a suspect in October 2015. Days later, he too, was transferred to Orlando International Airport.

When the department found Michael Favorit tried to cover up an unauthorized chase, Orlando police Chief John Mina immediately assigned him to the airport in June 2017. He was initially fired, but he appealed and his discipline was modified.

Mina said these assignments are not part of a pattern.

"The majority of our transfers are to the patrol bureau," Mina said. "Some officers are transferred to the airport, based on staffing needs, but transfers are not tied to our discipline process."

City records show that about 76 Orlando police officers are assigned to the airport.

9 Investigates spent weeks creating a spreadsheet, which tracks complaints against those with internal affairs files, along with a summary of the alleged incident and the outcome.

9 Investigates first confirmed its request and paid for the city to produce the internal affairs files for all of the officers in December 2017. But it wasn't until Jan. 17, 2018 -- almost one month after the payment -- that the city notified 9 Investigates that an employee started work to redact and review the files. The first internal affairs file was released the next day. As of Monday, Jones had received and reviewed the internal affairs files for 57 officers, about 75 percent of the officers assigned to the airport.

Of the 57 reviewed so far, 19 officers have at least a dozen complaints in their files involving potential policy violations, some of which include their alleged conduct toward the public -- citizens complaining about rude behavior, questioning how they used police procedures and other standards of conduct.

"There are 803 officers, and many times, some of our proactive officers do need a change of pace. And a transfer to the airport, based on staffing needs will give them an opportunity to work on their customer service skills," Mina said.

Mina said that in general, he receives the most compliments about officers who are assigned to the airport, citing a case in August 2017, when officers responded to a tram at the airport and a passenger suddenly collapsed to the ground. She was in full cardiac arrest. Officer Dave McKinnon responded with an automated external defibrillator, and with assistance from Officer Jake Silverman and Sgt. Chris Becton, they administered CPR for over eight minutes until airport firefighters arrived and transported her to a hospital.

Jones showed her findings to Frank Kruppenbacher, chairman of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority Board, which oversees OIA.

"The airport is not a place where any member of law enforcement should be sent to cool off," Kruppenbacher said. "It's a high-security area, where the most important thing is ensuring the security of the public."

In the 57 files Jones reviewed, she uncovered 585 complaints against those officers. A majority of which -- 312 -- are what the department refers to as supervisory referrals. That means the alleged policy violation is reviewed by a supervisor, and not always referred to internal affairs for a formal review. The two officers with the most complaints of those we reviewed have 52 and 43 complaints, each of which were made before they were transferred to the airport.

Discipline for some officers is unclear in some of the 585 complaints, because although they may include a narrative of the alleged incident, the full case file isn't available. The law allows police agencies to purge records between one to five years after an incident depending on the outcome.

In some cases, 9 Investigates learned that if there is no follow up by the citizen with a notarized complaint the case is simply closed. Only 131 complaints of the 585, prompted formal investigations that led to 15 officers being suspended, but sometimes those were overturned on appeal. A majority were cleared or received a written censure or an oral reprimand.

"Anyone can file a complaint, and many times we have people call in because they're upset because they got pulled over, because they have a broken tail light," Mina said.

OPD told 9 Investigates that it doesn't track the average number of complaints for officers, but stressed those assigned to OIA aren't the only officers with complaints against them. The department provided data to show how many complaints it has received against its officers department-wide, not just those assigned to the airport.

General complaints: These were complaints that came in, and were vetted by IA but never turned into investigations.
2016: 37
2017: 52
2018 (YTD): 7

Supervisory referrals: Complaints that are directed to supervisors for review and they handle the discipline, if appropriate. Supervisors directly contact the complainant and determine if any policies were violated, etc.
2016: 97
2017: 79
2018 (YTD): 2

Formal Investigation: These are the ones you will see as IRs in your documents. This is a formal internal investigation.
2016: 98
2017: 67
2018 (YTD): 2

Kruppenbacher said that he wasn't aware of officers' alleged behavior prior to their assignments at the airport until 9 Investigates brought it to his attention. He told 9 Investigates OIA has a provision in its contract with OPD that allows it to request certain officers be removed from airport duty. But the department is not required to follow that mandate.

Kruppenbacher told 9 Investigates the following:

"They may be very good at maintaining security, which our record would indicate they are. That is different than are they good in dealing with the public. They may be rude, may (have a) rough exterior. That's an issue to the extent they're going to interact with the public. I am concerned if we're putting officers out there that have an issue with being deficient with the public and that's something we need to look at."

Cox Media Group