Quartzsite puts most of its police officers on house arrest

Quartzsite, Arizona July 21, 2011 - Many folks living in Quartzsite say the town is in a state of emergency. Sgt. William Ponce of the Quartzsite Police Officers Association says most of its officers are on administrative leave for telling the truth. Ponce is one of nine officers listed that are or will be placed on administrative leave.

"We are tasked with maintaining peace and order in our community, says Ponce, who is currently on vacation and has yet to receive the administrative leave notice. "And we took an oath as law enforcement officers to uphold the Constitution and follow the laws of the State of Arizona and that's all we want to do. And from what you can see right now, the Chief [Gilbert] himself is not creating peace in the community. He is creating chaos and disruption and only making things worse. And we just want to be able to go to work, do our jobs and not be under duress anymore."

The town's complaint says officers have defamed the town of Quartzsite, Police Chief Jeff Gilbert, its town manager and the town council. Mayor Ed Foster says Police Chief Gilbert worked under directives from some members of the town council, which he termed as "selective enforcement".

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[url=http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread189140/pg1]Mod Edit: No Quote/Plagiarism – Please Review This Link.

It's already been posted on ATS of the video showing rogue cops in Quartzsite arresting Jennifer Jones after accusing the city council of violating open-meeting laws.

The mayor of the town, who was elected last year and was against having Jennifer arrested, believes that members of the city council have been embezzling $250,000 every year since 1991 from the town's public coffers...

It was also apparent that the chief of police, Jeff Gilbert, was working in hand with the city council, trying to arrest the mayor on bogus charges, before the city council, in an emergency, closed-door session, removed the mayor and declared a state of emergency...

Now, nine officers have been placed on house arrest for trying to tell the truth...

The Arizona state police have to come in and arrest the city council and the police chief for breaking the law and open their own investigation in what has been happening...

It just keeps getting better as times passes.
I have been wondering why the state is not involved, very curious why.

reply to post by Mak Manto


This story is a real shame. If anybody has seen the video of the girl being hauled away foir saying something the council didn't like and the mayor being completely ignored is pathetic. Our constitution and bill of rights aren't supposed to let this happen but we see it all the time. When is it going to stop. How long til the town of Quartzite stand up and say no more? What else is it going to take in America for people to speak up and fight back?

Wow makes me wonder if it is something with the name. the mayor here where I work is also Foster. He has just about run off everyone from our police department and has morale so low no one wants to come to work. I know for myself (9 year veteran) this is the first time I have ever dreaded coming to work. So far he has refused any raises for the last 3 years (even though it is court ordered), now makes us pay for our own gas to come to work and go home, and now the state has increased our retirement responsibilities up 2.5%. it’s a crying shame when I have this much time in, working for the biggest police department in the parish, and I have to choose between paying my bills and eating. And i mean eating like PB&J. nothing fancy lol.

reply to post by Mak Manto


WOW, what a mess!

Star and Flag.

With luck the spotlight of the internet will move the state into stepping in and cleaning up the mess.

Ive seen this happen often where I was once an officer. Pretty sad... But who do you tell? It doesnt always hit the media and it doesnt always come to light. The stories I could tell!!!...

This whole thing looks like an episode of the A-Team or something. And it keeps getting better. Good thing no one is jaywalking or the whole of the State Law Enforcement would be down their throats.
We are just little people and should mind our own business.

www.youtube.com...

seeingredaz.wordpress.com...

www.azfamily.com...

www.kswt.com...

www.kswt.com...

reply to post by sempul

Sorry to hear of your situation, however it is slightly different than what is going on in Quartzite. In fact, the mayor of Quartzite was the only one in town trying to bring other people's attention to the issues there. The Chief of Police and members of the city council are the ones that are acting up and out of control.

reply to post by BiggyMcBigPants


ill tell you what? how about we swap Maysons lol. then their chief and ours will be happy lol.

Watching from outside the US it looks to me like every cowboy movie I've ever seen. Corrupt sherrif in league with the saloon owners, gamblers and cattle barons. Innocent people lynched or shot (figuratively speaking in this case, so far), youtube plastered with videos of people exercising their right to open carry as if it's the gunfight at the OK corral.
To me it would seem that the thin veneer of America being a civilized nation was always just that a veneer and in truth you have always lived in the Wild West and the argument about whether cinema and tv violence influences minds I feel is redundant. Of course it does.

It sounds to me like we need to send Bufford Pusser over that way to straighten things out, that's if he was still alive.

This kind of stuff reminds me of the movie Walking Tall. Not the recent one but the old one they showed on TV back in the 70's

Source

reply to post by sempul


Why should taxpayers buy your gas to go to work and go home from work? I buy my gas to drive to and from work

This situation is serious, imo. Time to call in the FBI and to lawyer up big time. Show them you are serious.

How did it ever get to this point?

reply to post by mustangill


I was thinking the exact same thing!

Already posted for what it worth -

ATS - Quartzsite Arizona updates

HA.

They are used to being the big fish in their own little pond.

Now DPS is involved and their swimming in a much bigger pond and their not the big fishies anymore.

Curious to see how this turns out.

Anyone have Walker Texas Rangers deets?
This town needs a dose of Chuck Justice.

Double post please remove

i've been folowing this story closely. How the hell has this debacle gone on for so long. We're talking about removing people's civil rights. Why the eff did the people of that city just lie down and take it? Why did any of those police officers allow themselves to be held hostage in their own homes???