Shameful: Fountain Valley Police Captain Makes Excuses for Bad Police Officers

Sometimes I wonder if it's worth making complaints to police departments about their police officers.

They will excuse the behavior of their police, without regard for the fact that members of the audience think that they can get away with certain things.

I attended the April  3, 2018 Fountain Valley City Council meeting to urge the city council to file an amicus brief with the Department of Justice lawsuit against the state of California.

It did not look good at the outset. The city council had informed the audience that they were prepared to sit back and do nothing, let other cities and counties take the lead on their own.

I arrived with other fellow Trump supporters in the city and from the region throughout Southern California showed up. Most of them spoke out and then went to West Covina right away.

I had to stay longer in order to give my public comment.

Before I got to speak, a man in the audience stood in front of me and prevented me from seeing the podium, the city council, and the speaker at the city council:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AWi6HOIdpY&feature=youtu.be&t=43m

At the 43 minute mark, as you can see above, one member of the audience stood up and blocked me and others from seeing the speaker and the city council.

I asked him to sit down. He refused. I went up to the police officers, and I asked Sergeant Spangler badge #200 to do something about the guy.

He refused, after looking at Captain Sheppard #220 , who apparently wasn't interested in actually doing anything at all.

After I spoke at Public Comment, I spoke with Sergeant Spangler to ask why he didn't do anything about the guy who stood in front of me and others in the city council chambers blocking our view.

He blew me off, then walked away. One of the deputies with him blocked me briefly before I could speak with Captain Sheppard


Then I spoke with Captain Sheppard.

Sheppard was a smart-ass, refused to answer my questions.

Finally, I contacted Captain Mike Simko for the Fountain Valley police department and filed a formal complaint.

Here is the text of it:

Today’s Date: April 7, 2018

Your Name: Arthur Schaper

Your Home Address" 20415 Anza Ave #21, Torrance, CA 90503

Your Home Telephone Number: (310) 793-8647

Alternative Telephone Number: None

Date of Occurrence: April 3, 2018

Location of Occurrence: 

City Hall
10200 Slater Avenue
Fountain Valley, CA 92507

Captain Mike Simko:

I am disgusted and very disappointed with the inconsistent and disrespectful behavior of two of your department's officers, who were serving as sergeant at arms and/or public safety detail in the Fountain Valley City Council chambers at the April 3, 2018 City Council meeting

Captain Sheppard Badge #220

Sergeant Spangler Badge #200

On April 3, 2018, I was attending the Fountain Valley City Council meeting.

About 43 minutes into the video below, which I was recording at the city council meeting, one man stood up in front of me, blocking my views and the view of other people at the city council meeting by standing up in the front row.

You can see the incident in the video below:

https://youtu.be/4AWi6HOIdpY?t=43m

fountain valley No Sanctuary State youtu.be

The black man next to me stood up in the middle of one person's public comment, so that I could not see the speaker. I asked him to sit down, and he refused.

I then approached Sergeant Spangler and asked him to have the black man sit down. He looked to Captain Sheppard, and they did nothing.

I sat down briefly and asked the black man to sit down again. He did not.

Someone in the next row behind me asked him to sit down as well, and nothing happened.

Afterwards, I asked the city council if I would be allowed to stand, too.

Then Sergeant Spangler approached me and told me to stop being disruptive. I was shocked and disappointed. He did nothing when one man was disrupting the meeting, preventing me from seeing the speaker (to record on my YouTube channel).

But then he tells me that I am disruptive. This is selective enforcement, and it is not acceptable.

After I spoke at public comment, I asked to speak With Sergeant Spangler.

He told me that I was being disruptive, but then I reminded him twice that the black man who stood in front of me and others was preventing us from seeing the speaker and the city council. He then suggested that the man standing in front of me, preventing me and others from seeing the person spdeaking at the podium as not disruptive. That is not true. During city proceedings, it is out of order for members of the audience to stand while members of the public are addressing the city council during public comment, and certainly they are not permitted to block others from seeking the city council and speakers.

Spangler just walked away from me and said "This conversation is done."

I then asked to speak with Captain Sheppard. He was rude and arrogant, refused to explain the conduct of his men or himself in failing to keep decorum in the city council chambers.

The conduct of these officers was unbecoming and unprofessional. Captain Sheppard was particularly disrespectful, not taking my concerns seriously and refusing to answer me. These officers had a responsibility to ensure that everyone in the city council chambers abide by the rules of decorum, which includes not standing and blocking others in the chambers from seeing the events and comments of people on the dais or at the podium.

I have never seen such petty conduct from police officers before, and they should be duly reprimanded or not assigned to the city council chambers in the future.

Here is the video of  my interaction with the two police officers cited above.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjWEmNcH_UQ

Bad Cops in Fountain Valley www.youtube.com Bad Cops in Fountain Valley

I do not have the name of the third officer, the one who accompanied Sergeant Spangler when I questioned him, but he deliberately blocked me from approaching Captain Sheppard, too. 

Again, this disrespectful conduct is unacceptable and has no place in a city council meeting or in any place within a municipality.

I want them summarily reprimanded and no longer assigned to the Fountain Valley City Council chambers.

Thank you for your time and attention to this matter:

Sincerely

Arthur Schaper

SIGNATURE PAGE:

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE A COMPLAINT AGAINST A POLICE OFFICER FOR ANY IMPROPER POLICE CONDUCT. CALIFORNIA LAW REQUIRES THIS AGENCY TO HAVE A PROCEDURE TO INVESTIGATE CIVILIANS’ COMPLAINTS. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO A WRITTEN DESCRIPTION OF THIS PROCEDURE. THIS AGENCY MAY FIND AFTER INVESTIGATION THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO WARRANT ACTION ON YOUR COMPLAINT; EVEN IF THAT IS THE CASE, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE THE COMPLAINT AND HAVE IT INVESTIGATED IF YOU BELIEVE AN OFFICER BEHAVED IMPROPERLY. CIVILIAN COMPLAINTS AND ANY REPORTS OR FINDING RELATING TO COMPLAINTS MUST BE RETAINED BY THIS AGENCY FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. IT IS AGAINST THE LAW TO MAKE A COMPLAINT THAT YOU KNOW TO BE FALSE. IF YOU MAKE A COMPLAINT AGAINST AN OFFICER KNOWING THAT IT IS FALSE, YOU CAN BE PROSECUTED ON A MISDEMEANOR CHARGE. I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTOOD THE ABOVE STATEMENT. 

Complainant: Arthur Schaper

Date: April 7, 2018

Finally, Captain Simko contacted me.

He asked me if I had been a victim of discrimination. I simply responded that I thought the police would not say anything to him because he was black.

He asked me if I wanted to add anything to my complaint beyond what I had written what was in the video.

I reminded him that Sergeant Spangler told me that I could have moved my seat. Not acceptable, because there were no seats for me to move to.

The point remained--that man standing and blocking me and others needed to sit down.

For the next ten minutes, the Captain led me through the video that I had recorded

He wanted to focus on the fact that I had shouted at the city council for doing nothing about the guy standing in front of me. He wanted to focus on the fact that I had made comments quietly into the camera disparaging the remarks of the person at the podium.

I was incredulous!

This is how the Fountain Valley police department behaves.

It's time to hold this disrespectful police officers accountable.

Contact the Fountain Valley police department, and tell them to do their job, and have the two--now three police officers reprimanded:

Fountain Valley Police Department:

(714) 593-4400

lawrence.doan@fountainvalley.org

Captain Mike Simko:

(714) 593-4528

Email: mike.simko@fountainvalley.org

Here are the emails for the Fountain Valley City Council:

Michael.Vo@fountainvalley.org;

Steve.Nagel@fountainvalley.org;

Larry.Crandall@fountainvalley.org;

John.Collins@fountainvalley.org;

Cheryl.Brothers@fountainvalley.org

This selective enforcement from police officers has to stop, and we need to let cities and police departments know that their disregard is unacceptable.

The People vs. Sanctuary State: April 3rd, 2018

I wanted to pay special attention to this day.

Tuesday, April 3rd was quite a whirlwind of a day for me. I intended to attend four public meetings, and I made it to everyone of them. The network of American patriots all over Southern California is doubling down hard against the sanctuary state lawlessness foisted upon us by Kevin De Leon and his Democratic cohorts.

The state of California has turned into a violent, left-wing laughingstock. Aside from elite politicians making due to enrich themselves and protect themselves behind forced concrete and gated walls, the rest of the state is mired in poverty, insecurity, degradation, and total loss. The poverty rates are skyrocketing, along with the crime rates. The political class in Sacramento gets rich off of big contracts and consultant fees. Labor unions and overfed bureaucrats run the show to their own benefit.

Only because of the outrageous revelations of sexual abuse and harassment have we seen lawmakers finally forced out of office. Even then, however, it took months and massive pressure from grassroots activists in the media and on the street to get rid of these abusers. What's worse ... one of the #MeToo champions, Cristina Garcia, turned out to be an abuser in turn.

Today, we the people can't wait any longer for a semblance of sanity to return to Sacramento and to our state. The overrun lawlessness has endangered one life after another, entire cities, businesses, too. The very nature of the rule of law is in total jeopardy.

The state has no right to put law enforcement in an impossible bind. Elected officials, too, face a growing dilemma on the immigration front. Do they commit to protecting communities from rampant violent thugs who are in the country, or not? Do business owners follow through on ICE requests, or do they push aside ICE demands and face federal prosecution?

Los Alamitos officially challenged this outrage law with their own ordinance. SB 54 is clearly violating federal law as well as the Founding Charter, and they stepped out and declared that they would not comply with a rogue state ordinance.

Now more Californians are taking the fight against this lawlessness all over the state.

For me, on April 3rd, I appeared in four public jurisdictions.

First, I went to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The meetings have become easier for me to navigate, considering that they have now set up electronic counters for members of the public to sign in and comment. Pretty impressive.

In the past, the Board allowed audience members to comment as much as they pleased. Now they have limited public comment to six minutes total. Unreal. I can speak for one minute on six items, or a total of three minutes on two items, etc. This is a joke. These politicians have no interest in listening to the public, especially since they have become more openly engaged in pushing back at the arrogant, arbitrary nature of their "representatives."

I cannot stand to call them "supervisors". They do not supervise me! They work for me, or at least they are supposed to work for me ...

The biggest issue before the Board on illegal immigration connected with the 2020 census question touching on citizenship. The Trump Administration, and every administration prior, has a responsibility to ensure that citizens--not illegals--are counted. The state of California has inordinate Congressional representation because of the massive influx of illegal aliens in the state. They should not be voting (although they are now, since the automatic motor-voter law does not screen out non-citizens with drivers licenses not getting on the voter rolls.

This is a travesty, and I support the Trump Administration taking this commonsense step on the 2020 census. Sadly, the entire Board (minus Mark Ridley-Thomas, who was absent) decided that their need for big federal dollars far exceeded the proper respect and domain for the voter franchise. Even Kathryn Barger caved and went along with the proposed amicus brief, but argued that it had nothing to do with "documented or undocumented."

Give me a break!

Another agenda item talked about a bill rights for all students to an Arts Education ... and it included a reference against discrimination "regardless of legal status." Outrageous. What about American students? What about young children born in this country? The LA County Board of Supervisors took an oath of office to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, not to protect illegal aliens. I mentioned to the Board that "We the People" refers to citizens, not just to any kind of resident, whether limited or life-long. Chanell Temple and I attended the meeting to voice our demands for citizens' needs to come first, not illegal aliens.

We then visited the Board members' offices on the 4th floor. They sit safely behind locked doors and security. As soon as we showed up, along with Chanell's friend Everett, we recorded how the politicians have the secure offices and elite security, yet they don't care one whit for the protection and well-being of the citizenry throughout the county. It's really creepy to see what has become of Los Angeles County. This region of California was beautiful, vibrant, and diverse.

Now it has become overrun with third world economic migrants from Latin America, while middle class homeowners and small business owners are getting chased out of their homes and state.

Despite losing time to speak before the Board of Supervisors, there was one small benefit: I left the Board of Supervisors at 12:30 with plenty of time to get to San Juan Capistrano and rest up for the next three events.

The San Juan Capistrano city council also discussed opting out/condemning SB 54, the sanctuary state law. It was pretty evident from the outset that we had support on the council and within the audience. There were naysayers and critics of the move, but everyone of us got to speak. The Mayor enforced clear decorum throughout the meeting as best as he could.

One person in the audience had contacted Robin Hvidston prior to the city council, and her efforts had ensured that one of the councilmembers would bring up the topic for discussion. That's what I call representative government.

There was one Indivisible/Brown Supremacist in the audience, a common staple at events throughout Orange County. I asked him plainly if he had a door that he locked at night, or if there were walls around his home. He refused to answer me. There were other young people with signs that read "Sanctuary for All" and "Support SB 54." What a sad sight. I wonder if these young people understand the full consequences of their perverse commitment to open borders at the expense of the rule of law. Our government should never have entered into the business of benevolence to begin with, and now the sovereignty of our country hangs in dire balance because of this misapplied emotional approach to the rule of law.

Most of the comments on the Resolution item supported the council's decision. Of course, there were SJC residents who didn't want the city getting into this politically fraught issue, but what choice did any of them have? The state of California made the brazen, disastrous decision of turning public safety into a political issue, putting the demands of illegal aliens and their enablers ahead of the rule of law and law-abiding, taxpaying citizens.

After comments from the public, the council spoke.

I was really pleased that one of the city councilmembers informed the public that he was an immigration attorney. He actually sympathized with the plight of those who immigrate legally to the United States. They pay huge sums of money while filling out reams of paperwork. He cared about the rule of law!

Another city councilman, who is running for Congress, admitted that the city and the state should be protecting people, not making it easier for lawless criminals to run around in our state and get away with murder and other crimes. The only dissenting vote was the mayor, who first shared that the city should not take any kind of stand on the immigration and "Sanctuary State" situations to begin with. Since he recognized that these charged political issues would become a mainstay in future meetings, he exposed his left-wing tilt and commented "This is why the Republican Party is a minority in the state of California."

Actually, the Republican Party is a minority because the rule of law has slipped away, especially on immigration, as more government subsidizes poverty and dependence while allowing Big Labor to bully individual citizens and business owners. California invites welfarism, dependence, and illegal immigration on top of everything else. There is no surprise to anyone why California has turned into a third-world shithole.

The San Juan Capistrano city council voted to approve their resolution 4-1 against Sanctuary State.

Next, I rushed up to Fountain Valley. Members of our LA County for Trump team had been there way before. As soon as I walked up to the chambers, they were telling me to get in there right away and speak out against sanctuary state. The city council had intimated that they were not going to do anything, but would rather simply permit members of the public to speak their mind on the issue.

I was dumbfounded that so many Fountain Valley residents--assuming that they were telling the truth--actually wanted to permit the lawless, dangerous policy to remain in place. I thought this was Orange County. In Fountain Valley, it began to seem as though Claremont had moved south. Lots of college students were there, plus old, angry liberals who reminded me of hippies who never grew up.

I didn't learn until after leaving the meeting that Congressman Dana Rohrabacher had spoken at the city council meeting earlier that evening. He offered to pay for the city's amicus brief with the Department of Justice. Still, at the time it looked pretty bleak, as though Fountain Valley was going to "cuck out".

Despite the seeming desperation, lots of patriots from Orange and LA Counties showed up and pledged their support and demanded that the city support an end to SB 54. I ended up leaving after sharing my comments. I didn't leave the city council feeling all that upbeat. Besides the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, this was the least positive meeting that I attended that day.

The good news? The city council passed the resolution 3-1-1, with the mayor abstaining. It was a stunning reversal, all due to Congressman Rohrabacher's pledge to pay for the city's amicus brief with the DOJ.

Way to go, Dana!

The last city was West Covina.

I had planned to get to that Northeastern LA County city by 9:00pm, but the extensive number of speakers in Fountain Valley slowed me down quite a bit. In the long run, everything worked out for me. I didn't get to the West Covina city hall until 9:50, but the public comment section was still going strong.

The patriots were loud and proud, speaking out against lawless sanctuary state. The members of our team who had appeared in San Juan Capistrano and Fountain Valley showed up in full force in West Covina. We saw San Fernando Valley for Trump there, too.

It was moving and powerful! The Brown Supremacists, the Brown Nazis didn't like the pushback, and their numbers were not as strong as they wanted them to be. In spite of the best efforts, however, West Covina did not move on that agenda item. Mayor Mike Spence made a motion, but there was no second.

It was a small setback, but we are WINNING nonetheless. Men and women throughout Los Angeles County are moving fast and strong to stop this lawlessness and put an end to the immoral, unconstitutional sanctuary state. More cities are investigating the steps they can take to stand up to this law, and they are working closely with attorneys and fellow city councilmembers to put a stop to this madness.

More cities are lining up fast!

This is YUGE, folks. We are Making California Great Again!