Austin @ Large: Austin at Large

Apparently, among the many virtues Toby Futrell has fostered at City Hall is the gift of prophecy. Chronicle readers may have been puzzled by a letter that appeared in "Postmarks" last week from Assistant City Manager Laura Huffman in response to a story that appeared in that same issue about the ongoing Mala Sangre saga and the investigation of APD Assistant Chief Jimmy Chapman. (Not to tattle too much, but yes, the letter was intended by the city manager to be a pre-emptive strike.) Basically, this gamesmanship from City Hall was consistent with what Futrell, Huffman, and APD Chief Stan Knee have been telling us all along about Mala Sangre:

1) It didn't happen. (Knee, to our Jordan Smith in 2001: "I want to say this cloud is almost mythical in nature.")

2) We know it didn't happen because it has been thoroughly investigated. (Futrell, to Smith in 2001: "But we have looked at this at least three times on all different levels, our lawyers, the Department of Justice, and it's just one of these ghosts. ... It's been reviewed multiple times.")

3) The current charge against Chapman -- that he lied in his sworn deposition in Detective Jeff White's whistle-blower case about what he did, or didn't do, to influence APD's own Mala Sangre probe -- is also being thoroughly reviewed by an outside investigator. (Huffman, in last week's letter: "This investigation is designed to do one thing: establish the facts of the matter. ... If the investigation discovers criminal wrongdoing, the information will be turned over to the District Attorney's Office.")

4) This is the same way everyone gets treated. (Huffman, again: "Assistant Chief Chapman will be afforded the same rights as any citizen of this country.")

In my experience, not every citizen of this country -- and, more to the point, not every APD officer accused of wrongdoing -- gets a personal intercession in advance from City Hall to the editors of The Austin Chronicle. Having said that, we know Mala Sangre is a very confusing story, made more confusing by the inevitable layers of meta-scandal that have accrued during years of alleged cover-up. But we think we understand what's at issue here just fine, which is why we're investing so much energy in covering Mala Sangre. We are not convinced by Knee, Futrell, and Huffman's reassurances that everything is fine and under control -- and we don't think the citizens should be, either.

---

What Never Happened -- Was Reviewed

The current chapter of Mala Sangre, a story that's now eight years old, involves charges that are four times removed from the initial allegations of APD misconduct. As Smith reports this week (see p.20), Chapman is alleged to have lied about actions that may have interfered with APD's internal review of those charges, along with other inconsistencies between his sworn testimony in the White case and Knee's own deposition. Yes, this is dry and confusing and Whitewater-esque stuff -- particularly since the McGuffin in the current narrative, a set of phone records, originally were part of another, ostensibly unrelated APD scandal (not the first time that developments in other cases have broken news about Mala Sangre).

But let us not forget what Mala Sangre was really all about: Allegations that APD officers used and sold drugs, protected drug traffickers, and were themselves protected by top department brass -- during the operation, then when the joint task-force narcotics investigation was mysteriously and unjustifiably shut down in 1997, then in the years since. While the alleged malefactors remain unpunished and in positions of power, both at APD and elsewhere, their accusers allege a repeated pattern of retaliation; White is the fifth officer to file a whistle-blower suit over Mala Sangre. The city settled earlier suits out of court without admitting wrongdoing. White's case appears to have longer legs.

"Almost mythical" is not a strong enough dismissal for charges of this magnitude -- especially since Mala Sangre has, in fact, not been thoroughly investigated. That is, after all, the central charge: that APD pulled the plug on Mala Sangre when it was just about to assemble indictable cases against APD officers. Therefore, the U.S. attorney's office in San Antonio told us in 2001, it had no evidence with which to pursue the original drug and conspiracy charges, even though Mala Sangre investigators (both APD and federal) thought the accusations were anything but mythical.

But let's assume that those original allegations have been vetted as thoroughly as possible. What about the obstruction-of-justice allegations that are now at the heart of Mala Sangre, of which the most recent claims against Chapman are just the latest turn? That's what needs investigating now, and perhaps Chief Knee's outside investigator will do the job, just as Huffman says. But it took five whistle-blower suits, years of internal conflict, and now two years of Chronicle (and, belatedly, Statesman) reporting on Mala Sangre for APD and City Hall to get the message that even if those charges are also "mythical," they deserve credible review.

---

Toxic Taint

Any internal APD probe has been, by definition, compromised, not because of what the players have allegedly done, but who they are. Jimmy Chapman heads the chain of command that handles major investigations -- including complaints of criminal wrongdoing against APD officers. And the allegations against him, charges that predate his deposition in White's lawsuit, include claims that he tampered with those investigations, both external (the Mala Sangre operation itself) and internal. Yet until last week, he had not even been put on restricted duty to avoid the appearance of a conflict, and the city went out of its way to avoid addressing the obvious fact that Chapman has been accused of a crime. Even if the preceding years of "rumors" and "mythology" are as vaporous as City Hall implies, the use of words like "perjury" is hardly void of credibility here; it would seem to be supported by Knee's own testimony. But even now, as Smith reports this week, the public does not know if a criminal investigation is under way or even planned.

No, other officers are not treated this way; they get put on leave immediately and their cases are investigated like other potential crimes. We have reported on such cases routinely, and our understanding of that protocol has been repeatedly confirmed by observers both within and without the department. And Mala Sangre is not the only case that's given fodder to complaints that APD plays favorites and punishes some officers while protecting others. But even were that not true, given Chapman's position, and the volatility of the Mala Sangre charges, he should be given exceptional treatment -- exceptionally rigorous treatment. (That is, he could have been put on leave, and an independent investigation initiated, back when the first Mala Sangre suits were filed.) The credibility of the Austin Police Department depends on it.

Compare City Hall's handling of this case with another recent media-fueled scandal. The evidence of wrongdoing in Mala Sangre is no more "mythical" than the evidence of toxic pollution in Barton Springs. Yet, the second the Statesman made its Springs case, Futrell closed the pool, rounded up a bunch of outside experts, and spent months reviewing the claims, even though she and all her staff repeatedly argued that the pool was safe and the Statesman was full of residue. She and Knee should take the same approach with Mala Sangre, lest the bad blood poison Austin's civic waters for future generations.