How could the executive director of the San Jose police union conduct an alleged opioid-smuggling operation for years right under the noses of the city’s officers?
Residents deserve to know not only whether any cops broke the law but also whether they ignored the actions of their union leader. That’s why San Jose city officials should commission an independent investigation to determine if police in any way enabled or simply ignored the dealing of deadly illegal drugs from their union office.
The behavior of our police — whether it’s on duty or off, whether it’s in San Jose, Oakland, Antioch or any other city — is of great public concern given the enormity of the power and responsibility with which they are entrusted. It’s not just a matter of whether they followed the law, it’s also whether they ensured others did, too. If they suspected a crime was being committed, they had an obligation to report it.
The union’s civilian executive director, Joanne Segovia, faces drug-trafficking charges and 20 years in prison for the decade-long opioid and fentanyl distribution network she allegedly ran through the San Jose Police Officers’ Association’s office and her home.
Federal officials arrested her last week after discovering a drug ring that shipped the opioids from abroad and distributed them throughout the Bay Area and the United States. Segovia allegedly used her office computer and made mention of her connections to law enforcement in her communications with drug suppliers.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s investigation is ongoing, according to Mayor Matt Mahan. But the scope of its probe is unknown and may only be looking for criminal activity.
The union insists that “no other individual associated with the POA is involved, being investigated or suspected by the authorities of knowing or participating in any way in this incident.”
That’s not good enough. The issue for the city should go beyond just criminal activity to whether officers upheld the behavioral standards expected of our police.
Put another way, did the cops ignore what was going on in their union office? How did they let this happen? And did any of the money Segovia received from the alleged drug transactions in any way benefit the officers, their union or the association’s campaign coffers?
The union says it has initiated its own internal investigation according to its policies and laws, “which means we are not permitted to share those results publicly.” That’s all well and good, but police are incapable of policing themselves.
The most recent Bay Area example is the internal investigations of actions by Oakland Sgt. Michael Chung, who left the scene of a vehicle collision in San Francisco without reporting the incident to police there and later discharged a service weapon in an elevator of the Oakland Police Administration Building. An outside review showed that a captain ordered the internal report on the vehicle collision watered down and that the internal probe of the elevator shooting was badly mishandled.
Police have an obligation to adhere to the highest legal and ethical standards. That responsibility extends to their off-duty behavior. The public deserves and San Jose’s officers should welcome a full, independent investigation of how they missed a drug-trafficking scheme right in front of them.
