Crime & Safety
Eight Months Later, Lt. John Pike Still Employed by UC Davis
The Atlantic ran a story Tuesday that criticized "excessive job protections" for the fact that Lt. Pike is still on paid leave at UC Davis. What do you think of the fact that he's still employed by the university?
Eight months after he on the UC Davis quad, Lt. John Pike is still on paid leave with the university's Police Department.
The incident was captured on video and immediately , putting UC Davis in the spotlight at the height of the Occupy Movement.
The Atlantic ran a story Tuesday in which the writer criticized “excessive job protections” for the fact that Lt. Pike is still on leave. A UCD spokesperson told the Atlantic that the internal affairs process is “a lot more inexorable than anyone realized at the time.”
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The both laid into Lt. Pike, saying that he deserves “primary responsibility," highlighting that he disobeyed direct orders and used a high-level grade of pepper spray not allowed by the UC Davis Police Department.
Findings from independent investigations (like the Kroll and Reynoso Reports) alone are not enough to fire police officers in California according to the Atlantic piece, which you can read in full here:
Find out what's happening in Daviswith free, real-time updates from Patch.
...The folks with the authority to fire are not even allowed to factor in the independent report. Lt. Pike's fate will instead be determined by an internal affairs investigation. Its methods and findings are confidential -- the public never gets to comment on or even read them.
...Can there be any doubt that this system prioritizes the job security of campus police officers above the safety and well being of students, or the need to hold abusive officers accountable? Lt. Pike is still collecting a paycheck after committing the most public of indefensible acts.
The Atlantic story goes on to say that if an officer caught on videotape can stay employed for as long as Lt. Pike has, “imagine the effect of these same job protections on officers whose misdeeds are not captured on videotape.”
Chief Annette Spicuzza was also placed on leave after the incident, but , shortly after the Reynoso and Kroll Reports were released.
What do you think of the fact that Lt. Pike is still a UC Davis employee on paid leave? What do you expect will happen?
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