Apache Junction Police Employees Ignored Call During BBQ

A call about a drunk driver was ignored because on duty officers were having a BBQ on the police station patio.

Five Apache Junction police employees have been disciplined after a call about a drunken driver was ignored because officers on duty were having a barbecue.

Three police dispatchers and an officer received either written or verbal reprimands and the squad's sergeant was suspended for a day, Chief Jerald Monahan said.

The incident happened May 4 when members of Sgt. Clyde Allison's squad gathered for a barbecue on the police station patio.

According to an internal investigation report, a police dispatcher received a call from a citizen about a possible drunk driver. The dispatcher went and told officer Danny Campano in person instead of following policy and dispatching over the radio.

Campano never responded to the call, instead telling a dispatch supervisor to clear the call as if he had gone to the scene.

Campano and the supervisor received written reprimands, and two dispatchers were given verbal warnings for chatting on the computer about the unanswered call and the number of officers on the patio.

Monahan called the barbecue a "team-building'' exercise gone bad. The sergeant received the most serious discipline because he allowed his entire patrol squad to be off the streets at the same time.