The Bellevue Police Officers Association say they no longer have confidence in their police chief to be a leader of their department. The union alleges they have evidence their chief of police acted deceptively.
The union that represents the officers, sergeants and detectives of the Bellevue Police Department wrote in a letter Wednesday, "Chief Mark Elbert had engaged in actions that reflect a pattern of dishonest and deceptive conduct in his carrying out the duties of the Chief of Police."
The union alleged there were tape recordings of the chief telling a member of the department to "intentionally deceive other members of the department." The letter goes on to allege that these recordings reveal statements of others in the department confirm the chief's statements to the employee were untruthful.
Jim Maguire, the President of the State Fraternal Order of Police, said he believes Chief Mark Elbert's actions were unacceptable. Maguire stated that: "These actions are intolerable for any leader of a Police Department. It violates everything that law enforcement officers commit to when taking the oath of office and committing to live lives of high ethical standards. The position he put this officer in is unacceptable."
Members at the meeting also alleged that Elbert made derogatory comments towards women and racial minorities.
"I find the suggestion that I have engaged in making any derogatory comments towards women or racial minorities particularly offensive," Elbert said in his statement late Wednesday night. "These allegations are not only entirely false, but also inconsistent with my professional conduct during my twenty plus year career in law enforcement, and my personal conduct as well, reflected, in part, by the fact that I am a father to minority children and a young daughter and would never tolerate such comments or actions."
Elbert also said in his statement "I categorically reject the false characterization asserted by the Union and its attorneys in the statements they have recently published."
The FOP voted to advise the city of Bellevue administration that its officers have no confidence in Mark Elbert to continue as the leader of the Department.
"It is disheartening that rather than pursue their claims in a proper forum, certain individuals and Union counsel have attempted to retaliate against me and other members of the department with false statements and innuendos, and have disseminated those false statements and innuendos to other department members. Regrettably, I was not afforded the opportunity to defend myself from these meritless claims before they were asserted, nor given the opportunity to point out the motivations of those individuals making these false assertions. "