Oakdale police audit due soon

A long-awaited management audit of the Oakdale Police Department should be made public next week, Mayor Carmen Sarrack said Thursday.

The City Council approved the $50,000 study in June after many of the 21 union police officers cast a vote saying they had "no confidence" in Police Chief Bill Sullivan.

The study, conducted by the Police Executive Research Foundation (PERF), should be posted on the city's website as early as Monday, the mayor said.

"We don't want to hide it," he said.

Sarrack said he doesn't know what the audit -- the first one in Oakdale in 20 years -- will reveal, but he doesn't expect any surprises. Communication at the Police Department has improved since last spring's upheaval, he said.

"We'll sit down and try to implement what the recommendations might say," he said.

Sullivan was caught in a storm of allegations from current and former cops last spring after the vote by members of Law Enforcement Labor Service Local 197 and Sullivan's firing of a police officer.

Isaac Kaufman, general counsel for the union, said Thursday that from the union's standpoint many of the problems remain.

"I think it would be safe to say the level of discontent among the officers is roughly the same," he said. "It's the union's hope that whatever the content of that report or audit that the department will be transparent about it and share those results with the officers and general public."

Attempts to reach Sullivan for comment were unsuccessful. But last spring he said that he requested the audit to clear up allegations that he was managing the department with a heavy hand. Sullivan, 53, was critical of the anonymous no-confidence vote, saying that officers should have confronted him personally. He attributed some of the rancor to younger officers who bristle at supervision.

Sullivan also said he fully supported the audit, which he said could result in "significant improvements" in his department. "I told the supervisors that I want absolute frankness. We need to know the truth," he said.

PERF interviewed all five members of the City Council, several police officers and possibly some community groups, Sarrack said.

The audit will be made available about three months later than the city had hoped, but neither Sarrack nor Kaufman said that worried them and that the delay could have resulted from practical challenges of gathering information.

Kaufman said the union hasn't addressed any officer complaints in recent months "that would stand out substantially different from what we've already identified."

Sullivan oversees about 30 sworn officers in Oakdale, where he's been chief since 1988. Before that, he was police chief in Emmetsburg, Iowa, for four years.