Feature Story

Mending Fences:
(The Complete Dominguez Interview)
By PJ Maytag

**As I mentioned in the magazine version in the current issue of The BottomLine, I had to edit the interview due to publishing space constraints. Here is the complete interview—all 4700 words of it.**

As part of a valley wide media blitz by the Palm Springs Police Department The BottomLine was approached a few weeks ago to see if we would be willing to speak with Police Chief David Dominguez. A fortuitous event since at the very moment I was getting set to pursue a chat about the Warm Sands Sex Sting with the Police Chief myself. Funny how the universe does that sometimes.
I had some hard questions for the man at the center of the controversy that has changed, for many, the way we look at our police in Palm Springs. It’s damage control certainly, but you may be surprised at what Palm Springs Police Chief Dominguez has to say about the matter.
If one thing was made clear by our conversation, it is Chief Dominguez is reaching out to our community, even inviting citizens to call him with your concerns. You may contact him through his administrative assistant Renee Montante at 760.323.8126 or renee.montante@palmspringsca.gov.

The BottomLine: Basically I’ll ask the first question. I heard you had a closed-door meeting on Tuesday [July 13]
Palm Springs Police Chief Dominguez: Yeah, we did. I feel it was a very good meeting.

Was it a successful overture towards beginning the healing process between the police and gay community?
Yeah, it’s a couple things. Number one being we have received a tremendous amount of constructive criticism from members of the community, people up and down the street. And it’s always good to receive constructive criticism.
So with that in mind I called to and reached out to a lot of people I know from the Human Rights Commission, Warm Sands Hoteliers, Warm Sands neighborhood, the police advisory board, and all of my management team just to bring them together and talk about what I think, that I have, some pretty good suggestions to strengthen the relations and repair some of the hurt feelings.

Which is a point that brings up my second question: What exactly is the plan of action?
It’s a couple things. I know I have had some long talks with a Sergeant from the LA County Sheriffs Department, whose name is Don Mueller. He is a 21-year veteran law enforcement officer, sergeant, openly gay police staff sergeant. And talked to him in detail about some of the things that we’re experiencing. I met him last year when we hosted the Gay & Lesbian Police Officers Association’s training conference at the Hotel Zoso about a year and a half ago. I got the chance to meet with them and work with their staff and help them get the conference going.
I’ve had some phone conversations, I’ve met with him and he talked a little bit about the process of how we can get by this. And he explained a couple things that are important; that his organization in the LA sheriff dept. went through the same thing, the same type of circumstances—almost ideally the same when they were having the same issues in West Hollywood. They have developed a different method, some alternate guidelines to lewd enforcement and conduct.
Basically it’s a different approach we’re going to take. And we’re going to work with the community and the Warm Sands hoteliers in more of an educational standpoint. We’re working with the areas down there. We drove down there—there are still some areas that need to be better lit.
We need to work with the hoteliers to make sure they let their guests know, not that they are going to be involved in anything, but let the guest, you know…there’s a potential they could be approached from somebody who’s out in that area. I mean I think that, that area for many years has been known for cruising.
And, and then there’s the public education part about it with working with the hoteliers, the city coming up with some information material which would try to discourage this behavior from actually occurring. Also part of that is just having the presence of a marked unit driving through the area from a community police standpoint and just being visible.
He said [Mueller] they have been doing this for the past two years over in West Hollywood and some other areas that they have had these types of problems and he said it has been very successful. He said they came up with this approach after they received the same type of criticism that we did when they did the traditional, you know, undercover operations. So that’s one part of it.
The next part is…the police department has not had any training specifically on LGBT topics in well over 8-9 years. We train in diversity from a very wide standpoint. That diversity training is you know, against gender, against seniors, uh it just covers the mandated training that we have to do as government employees.
And talking to my staff and doing some research there has not been any training specific to that [LGBT topics] and he’s [Mueller] an expert trainer in this category to train all our employees, all our police officers, all our volunteers, all of our civilian employees, all of our dispatchers on this specific topic.
He’s going to talk a little about what it’s like to be a gay police officer and what he went through before he was out when he grew up in law enforcement. So he’ll talk a little about his experiences and a little about his own personal experiences in his gay lifestyle and deliver that information to my staff who hasn’t had that training in well over 8 or 9 years in this depth and detail. I think this is very important for them to understand that.
So we talked about that a little bit in our meeting and got some input from the people who were in attendance.

Can I interrupt you real quick?
Sure go ahead

Can you clarify something for me, namely the fact I thought diversity training every year was a part of every police department’s policy?
It is, it is. But you know it covers anti-Semitism, it covers gender issues, it covers discrimination against seniors, it covers discrimination against people of race, creed and color, the ADA issues, I mean it’s a—the diversity training received annually is so widespread that we don’t have time to specifically address the LGBT issues. 

OK…
You know, and someone who is maybe going through the process of changing their gender—that we know about that.
We do receive it [diversity training] but it’s so wide encompassing that we can’t specifically have a window of opportunity. So we’re scheduling that training, which is going to be mandatory for everyone, including myself, all the way down to all our employees, and we have 160 plus so it’s going to take, you know…

Oh sure
…the specific training.

<Q>Well that’s certainly a step in the right direction. So despite all these plans, does this mean the PSPD is still going to conduct random sex stings?
Well number one, we still do get complaints of—I mean we just had a complaint a couple weeks ago of some potential lewd conduct occurring in our parks. So we had to go and check that. I think the thing to support is, when we get complaints like this, whether it’s prostitution or lewd conduct in a park, we go out and try to verify it. Which we did in this case, we verified it.
So from a standpoint of the Warm Springs area, I think we are going to move away from conducting undercover operations right now. We want to work with the community—we have some volunteers that are going to help us develop these guidelines. And I think they’ll want to take this approach from the Police department.
Certainly if there are complaints in Ruth Hardy Park or Demuth Park where there are families, we’d take the right approach which would be some undercover surveillance and things like that.
But in the Warm Sands area I think we’re going to move away from that. We’re going to try to put this process in place and work very hard to make it successful.

Police Chief Dominguez, I’d like to go over what I believe are the five biggest concerns our community has about this entire incident:
1) The entrapment nature of the sting
2) There seems to be a double standard when heterosexual couples in the downtown parking structure are not being arrested for sex in public in PS.
3) A major reason our community is so outraged: the decision to charge the defendants Indecent Exposure (CPC 314) which carries mandatory sex offender registration instead of the Lewd Act in Public (CPC 647(A)…
Lemme, interrupt you and comment on a couple things, let me comment on the heterosexual part.

OK.
We went back and reviewed all our records and made contact with the owner of the security company where the employee, who was an ex-employee, that talked to the newspaper about the incident in the parking structure. We never got called and on any of those situations we never got called. We have asked, and we already met with the security company, we’ve met with the owners of The Village Pub, the management of the Village Pub to let them know if they see this type of behavior they need to call us—and we’ll do the same type of enforcement. Of course we’ll verify it, but we will treat it with the same kind of enforcement.
That’s the first part, we didn’t have any record of being called. And this security company ex-employee who said that he called the police department—in fact, that was not true—according to owner of the security company that I sat down and talked with.
So on the 314, the indecent exposure, prior to my arrival here and going back—that is the violation on the Penal Code. When people have that type of behavior in public.

But that requires an unwilling participant, which in Warm Sands is basically consensual sex…
Have you read Penal Code 314?

Yes.
OK, I wanted to make sure you had read it because no where in it, nor does it say anything about sex offender lewd conduct, I mean excuse me, nowhere does it say anything about being a sex offender. It talks about the elements of indecent exposure in 314.
Another thing, part two is the law states “upon conviction,” not arrest. So upon conviction they have to register in a database accessible by law enforcement only. That law has been in effect since the early 1970’s.
Neither myself nor the District Attorney, we didn’t create or write that law—I mean that’s legislation that’s been in place before my career was, I’m going on 32 years now.
I can understand that concern and…

Let me interrupt you right here, if I may. So you are saying that, that law enforcement sex offender registration; that there’s no way, in the age of digital information gathering even, it can be accessed by anyone other than law enforcement?
No, the registration for conviction of 314 is—you have to go to your local police department and register, show them you’ve been convicted in a court of law. You have to register and it’s in a database that <I>only<I> is accessible by law enforcement officials. And it‘s not accessible by anyone in the public on the Megan’s Law website or anything like that. I mean, that is the legislation that is in fact. So your citizen if they typed in, you know um…

Yes, but I’ve looked up the sex offenders in my neighborhood…
Right, but these are people that have to register as public sex offenders for, you know, child annoyance, maybe rape or other offenses of interest to public safety. But the way the law is written, the 314 is only registered in the law enforcement database, which only police officials have access to.

So people doing background checks, say perspective employers, can’t figure out a way to get access to that database?
No they don’t.

OK, because I’m just trying to clarify due to the fact that point is of great concern to the defendants in the case
For someone, of course it says on an application, “If you’ve ever been arrested or convicted of a crime,” they’re going to run a check on them through their private companies and do that.
As far as the, you know, uh, the entrapment part, I mean, that’s why we’re moving towards another method of trying to discourage the conduct. Yes, it can be considered entrapment but that’s up to the court process for the defense attorneys to—you know, rule through the court system, if a judge does see it as entrapment. If a judge, as indicate through this process there would be entrapment, then I certainly and everybody would be respect the opinion of the judicial process.

Right…
There’s the other part of some of my staff that made inappropriate conduct—that’s totally unacceptable.

Yes, if you mean inappropriate conduct as in calling someone a “cocksucker;” which for us in the LGBT community is as inflammatory a term as using the N-word to describe a black man during an arrest.
You know I agree with you on that. As soon as I was made note of that I took immediate action.

What exactly happened to the officers in question?
We will conduct an investigation, I mean there’s due process when you have a complaint against a police officer there’s due process. They have to conduct interviews—they have the right to have their attorney present and certainly the appropriate discipline will be handed out. But we’re in the middle of the investigation right now and that’s really all I can comment on right now on that part. 
But I can tell you one thing. Number one since I’ve been the chief here two and a half years, going on three years now, from day one I’ve said as chief of police I expect every police employee to treat everybody with dignity and respect. I want a proactive police department, but we’ll do compassionate policing. From day one I’ve said that, and I’m saying it now.  
The department has had, eight, nine, going on ten years now and has not reached out to the LGBT community—cause these problems were occurring in the past. They’ve made the arrest in the past, the arrests were made for the same offenses, they went through the court system, and I can’t speak knowledgeably about what happened back then, three, four years ago, maybe five, but they were arrested for the same offense—the 314.
As part of our process of policy changes we are looking into our policies, and our procedures making sure they reflect the community. And our employees, for example, some of our policies of saying relative to, you know, responding to a domestic violence situation as “husband and wife,” it should be “spouse and partner.”
We are just looking through our policies making sure that we go through them critically line by line to reflect that we are in a community here that is servicing the gay and lesbian population—that’s very important. Things that we need to correct.

A point that touches upon my last concern among the LGBT community, that namely the negative publicity in LGBT press is damaging tourism—changing the perception of Palm Springs as being “Gay Friendly.”
Let me tell you what were doing on that, and I think our city has done great strides to continue to outreach nationally to the gay and lesbian population. I mean, look at all the improvements on Arenas. I’ve been working closely with our bureau of tourism to get that word out. You know I’ve been accused of being homophobic and I think you can talk to some people that I’ve worked with very closely over the past 31 years, talk to some people I know out in our LGBT community—they’re going to tell you it’s not true. …
But there’s a perception there, and we have to have that reality that we have to be all-inclusive. As a matter of fact, one of the first things I did as Police Chief was contact our psychological administrator who’s in charge of our psychological testing and talk to him about making sure that they screen very closely for any homophobia in the people that we hire in this police department: where they are civilians or police officers. That was very important to me. And we’ve tweaked that testing a little bit to making sure it’s covered.
Now as far as you’ve mentioned the word that the officer used; I’ve apologized on behalf of the men and women of the police department because that does not reflect neither what I want in this police department. It doesn’t reflect the city. Or reflect in the men and women in this community who work for us to make this community pretty safe. I have already made that public apology for that employee’s comment.
The other part, part two is you know we made a mis— we made a— we had some bumps in the road. We could have probably done a better job communicating with the hoteliers on some of the problems that we are facing. And we’ve learned from this.
I’ve been in this business a long time and I know when there’s mistakes of the heart, and then there’s mistakes through the head and nothing was done intentionally targeting, or being biased towards the GLB community. I’m very comfortable saying that. People are going to believe me and understand that, some people will never believe that and I understand that because their minds are already made up.
But some of the things we’re going to put in place to ensure that we continue to operate fair and treat everybody with dignity and respect regardless.
The important thing too is that the Warm Sands area two or three years ago had some real crime problems.

Yeah, I’ve heard that besides the cruising there have been some serious Meth problems in the area.
A big Meth problem. We had high burglary rate problem in the neighborhood surrounding the hoteliers and it was all due to the Meth that was being sold. And people that had, what I describe as being sick, who have an illness because they were addicted to Methamphetamine—we’ve made some huge dents on that. Knock on wood here, but the crime in and around the Warm Sands area has dropped by 50 percent in the past two years. I mean when I got here as police chief we had the highest property crime rate of the valley. That was totally unacceptable—there was no street-level narcotic enforcement. Now we have changed that.
I think we are going to be a better police department for this. I think I’m going to be a better police chief fro this. I think our employees are going to truly understand that when you are out there, you have to be, always remain professional.
But the other part is this is a stressful job. We are human. We make errors. We do acknowledge that and move forward—we learn from the things you do wrong or mistakes and you try to become a better police department.

Well it sounds like you’re trying to grab the bull by its horns here and bridge the gap between our community. I think a lot of people are going to be happy to learn these types of sex sting operations are, hopefully, a thing of the past.
Yeah well the policy I’m going to put on our employees when we do something like that it’s going to come under my authority and I’ll be the decision maker, for a couple reasons.
Number one, which I explained earlier, is we do have on the north end on Palm Canyon there’s a prostitution problem. Sometimes you do have to use undercover operations when some of the prostitutes are coming out of the parks in the county and from outside the county even. We may have to do an undercover operation in that case. Massage parlors—we get a problem here up in the whole valley where what are termed as massage parlors, but technically, when you look closely at some of them, they’re fronts for prostitution rings out of various parts of southern California, which is a high market. There’s a lot of money that can be made in that type of illegal activity.
I can tell you two things: number one, not only am I going to work very hard with our community members, all of them, to repair—and there’s been some damage, I understand that.
I was on Bill Feingold’s show a couple weeks ago and talked about it and talked about the same things. If anyone wants to sit down and talk to me, I’ll go anywhere to talk about it and hear your concerns and complaints. I want to make sure you understand that and the magazine understands that too, and uh, you know, don’t be afraid and call us out really, because we have been called out, because police departments have to be known. We have to be held accountable by the community. I’m a big proponent of the community policing.
I think some of the things that people don’t understand about me is that I spent 15 years in Riverside, I received the National Freedom Award from the NAACP in 2008 for working with the diverse community over there and trying to work towards improving relations with the minority community.
I’ve worked with their LGBT community in Riverside for a long time and that’s what gave me the background in community policing and reaching out. I’m real big on youth intervention. I believe if you work with our youth, the future of our community—the community leaders for tomorrow. We have a great relationship with our schools here, the high school. We raise funds for their athletic department. We’re working very closely with the pastors on the north end because there has been a little disconnect sometimes with some of our police officers and the community in the north end, in the Gateway area. I want to work with them to improve our relationship. I’ve been to their services up there with my wife. We’ve talked to the congregation—there are just a lot of things that I’m doing that people don’t hear about.
And that’s OK; I just want to let you know some of the things that I see for a vision for our police department so we can become better. And I’m a firm believer that our police department is only as good as the community we serve—so I think we have a great police department.

Sounds like you’re taking the right measures, but can I clarify something?
Sure.

So is it my understanding that you did not OK the sex sting operation?
I knew the operation was going to occur. That’s how it had been done in the past—it’s the traditional law enforcement technique for that type of illegal activity. I knew it was to occur and that a plan had been put in place, but I didn’t have direct oversight.
Now, that type of operation, I don’t see that occurring in the Warm Sands area anymore because we are going to go towards this lewd enforcement guidelines that I want to put in place.

Just so you know, no one in the community is arguing with the fact that it is wrong to have sex in public, whether gay or straight…
Decoys, yeah, with the decoy use I can understand the concern. And the part of being convicted of 314. And the other thing too is the media has been saying that it is 24 people. It’s not 24. There are actually 19 cases [of the 314], I mean that’s just a difference of a few numbers but it’s not 24.
There’s 19 cases. There was a couple other people that were arrested for warrants and some other things. Someone had possession of a good amount of narcotics that was in the area.

But did any of the 19 incur drug charges as well?
Not of those 19, but some of the other people—and there was a total of 24 during this three day operation. The other ones were some narcotics, some warrants things like that. I mean we’re going to do this research, get this policy change, this training, working with the bureau of tourism to get the word out—because it has hit other areas—and put some things in place so we can overcome some of the negative feedback and negative press.
The constructive criticism I’ve already heard, and believe me, I’ve heard it loud and clear. And that’s OK, that’s OK. I believe we’re going to be a stronger police department. I’ve sat down, we had representatives I think I mentioned earlier from HRC, the police advisory board, the hoteliers, a City Council member was there [Ginny Foat], my staff and all my command staff and we were all clear. So that part, I think is going to be better for us in the long run.

I have just one more question Chief Dominguez. According to my sources that in several cases captured on the videotape, one of the sting officers simulated masturbating while standing behind a hedge and actually cajoled some of the defendants for up to five minutes in one case to, quote “Show me yours,” before the ensuing exposure and subsequent arrest. Now how is that not entrapment?
Well, I could tell you two things…

I also heard that some of the defendants did say to the undercover officers, “Hey, why don’t you come with me, I have a hotel room and you can show me there,” yet the decoys kept on them and on them until they exposed themselves.
I can’t comment about the cases because those cases are in court I think. But I will when this administrative, Internal Affairs investigation is done, I’m going to look at all the tapes personally and review the report that is provided me for review. To making sure that no policy—uh, well we already have a you know—and ensure that the policies that are in place, that that doesn’t occur.
Now as far as the tapes—I have not looked at them. So I mean if that’s the word that’s coming from the defense attorney or somebody out there, I can’t, I don’t know that, because I can’t comment on these cases the DA is prosecuting.
I don’t know where they are going to go, I mean we had—there was a hearting last month where we were asked to provide 10 years worth of information from a defense attorney. The judge made a ruling that we provide two years worth and we have provided that. You know, ultimately I think when it gets to the next stage of the judicial process that information will come up. And then a defense attorney, if he can prove entrapment through that method then the court will make the proper ruling.

So it’s up to the courts to decide?
It is. But I will be looking at all our processes and policies that deal with undercover operations, whether it’s narcotic related, illegal sex related, uh, prostitution related—things like that. It has spurned me to not have only me but my staff, my upper command staff to conduct a very thorough review of our policies and processes that dictate how we do our police operations and we’re doing that right now.

All right. Well, Chief Dominguez thank you so much for reaching out to us.
And please put in there my number here with Renee, I think you have that number so if anyone wants to call.

So you do want your number published, you’re wide open for…
Absolutely! 760.323.8126. Or if they have a group they would like me to come address a group or talk to a group, I’d be more than happy to and please put that in there.

OK. Well thank you very much. Personally I have to say I’m very impressed by the response. You have a great day sir.
Thanks PJ, try to keep cool OK? Bye.