To All Concerned,

Just a little article I found that is interesting and glaringly simple. This police chief doesn't believe in the validity of the polygraph. And he doesn't or won't take one. This one just makes you feel like maybe the message is getting through on alot of levels that the polygraph is garbage !!! 

Link: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA070706.5B.newchief.1375d68.ht...

Article:

Hondo's new top cop embroiled in probe 


Web Posted: 07/07/2006 12:00 AM CDT
Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer 

HONDO — A cloud followed Johnny Martinez to work Thursday, his first full day as Hondo's police chief. 
The ex-Department of Public Safety trooper was accused of theft by a resident and later by an anonymous tipster who suggested a city worker gave Martinez a 16-square-foot sheet of metal from city stockpiles. 

An internal review by city staff failed to substantiate the metal was municipal property, but the prosecutor who oversaw a follow-up investigation said he plans to present the case to a Medina County grand jury. 

The worker, Efrain Rodriguez, said he gave the expanded metal netting — often used for barbecue grills — to Martinez from his personal supply. 

But Rodriguez, foreman at the city service department, admitted poor judgment in delivering the metal to Martinez in a city truck, which drew a reprimand from superiors at city hall. 

Martinez said he has no reason to doubt his friend Rodriguez's claim that the metal didn't come from the city. 

"I'm the innocent bystander in this issue," said Martinez, who was sworn in Wednesday. 

A tipster contacted the city one day after the 4-foot-by-4-foot sheet of metal was moved by Martinez from Rodriguez's city truck to the truck of a welder Martinez wanted to cut it. 

The man who alerted officials said Martinez told him in Spanish to say nothing of what he'd seen. 

The metal, intended for use as a gate, was recently recovered from the welder, from whom Martinez never tried to reclaim it. 

Martinez called it "ludicrous" for anyone to suggest he'd jeopardize his 21-year career in law enforcement for a piece of metal valued between $10 and $30. 

He believes ulterior motives prompted a Crime Stoppers call in May — just as he was about to be hired as chief — that revived the issue already resolved by a city staff investigation. 

"It's a cloud that someone has put on me that, thanks to the good Lord, it will be taken care of," said Martinez, 44, who served nine years as a trooper before being hired as chief from among 35 applicants. 

The Crime Stoppers tip was referred by city officials in June to District Attorney Tony Hackebeil, who said he is unhappy with the level of cooperation he's gotten from Martinez and Rodriguez. 

Neither man would take a polygraph test, and Hackebeil said Martinez misled him by saying he'd retained a San Antonio defense attorney — forcing the prosecutor to halt interviews of Martinez. 

Martinez admits he made "a misstatement" about the attorney to Hackebeil, who learned the truth when he called the lawyer's representatives. 

"Here we have a guy who is soon to be the chief of police in Hondo who comes to my office and tells me a bald-faced lie," said Hackebeil of Martinez. 

He said the chief's refusal to take "a lie detector test" sets a bad example for fellow officers. 

Martinez said he distrusts polygraphs and has offered to provide a sworn statement. Rodriguez said he won't take a polygraph because "I don't have to." 

Calling Rodriguez a trusted longtime employee, City Manager Robert Herrera said his assurances that the metal never belonged to the city were sufficient to close the city's inquiry. 

Martinez was the third person chosen for the chief's job. Two other candidates turned the city down before Herrera offered the job to Martinez. 

On the polygraph refusals, Herrera said, "I did encourage them to work to resolve it and clear their names and, if a polygraph would do that for them, they needed to do what's best for them." 

Both sides said remarks by Fred Mendoza, a city maintenance worker, support their cases. 

Interviewed at his home Thursday, Mendoza said that Rodriguez asked him to help move the metal from Rodriguez's truck to a city truck. 

But Hackebeil said Mendoza gave a sworn statement signed June 15 that he helped Rodriguez move the metal from city stocks to the city truck. 

Asked about the discrepancy, Mendoza reiterated the truck-to-truck scenario later Thursday and said of his sworn statement, "I think I read it and it looked OK because I signed it."