Departing Mesa police chief speaks out

Ending weeks of speculation by police union members and his own allies that he was forced out, Gascon told the East Valley Tribune that he was told after his return from the nation's capital that he was about to be terminated. Gascon declined to identify that person.

"I was not pressured to resign," Gascon said. "I was told I would get terminated."

Just weeks later, Gascon accepted the chief of police position in San Francisco. Police chiefs in Mesa report to the city manager.

Mesa City Manager Chris Brady told the Tribune that at no point did he ever tell Gascon he was being fired. "There were comments that there were many people who would want to see him terminated, but I never suggested he would be terminated," Brady said.

Brady did, however, add that he had expressed "a lot of disappointment" to the chief after he returned from the trip. "I think I said I was very disappointed. Maybe he interpreted that as me saying it was making me very hard to support him, that termination could be the ultimate consequence."

Brady said he was uncomfortable even before Gascon left for the trip, concerned the chief would stir up controversy related to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio because of the differences the chief and Arpaio have over illegal immigration, especially after the sheriff's national headline-making sweep of Mesa City Hall.

Brady said he had urged Gascon not to bring up Arpaio or his immigration policies during the testimony, to stay "professional." Brady even previewed Gascon's testimony to Congress. But upon questioning from a congressman specifically about that raid, Gascon criticized Arpaio's tactics, something Brady said could well have been avoided, even upon being asked specifically.

"You betcha I had some strong conversations with the chief about how disappointed I was," Brady said. "I wanted him to be judicious. We didn't want him speaking on policies of other agencies. But he did that anyway."

Brady also said he was taken by surprise upon finding out that Gascon's trip was paid for by an immigration activist group.

"I'll agree that when that came out, I absolutely had a strong conversation about how inappropriate it was," Brady said, adding that he was OK once Gascon paid the group back for the costs.

Mayor Scott Smith also denied any threat to oust the chief.

"I never, ever said anything, and I don't know anyone who said his position would be in danger," Smith said. "Did he and I have honest discussions about responses from the community? Sure we did. If he perceived that as his position being in danger, I don't know."

Gascon's original congressional testimony was related to immigration laws and how he thought they needed to be enforced by the federal government and not just left to local law enforcement to deal with on a daily basis. Gascon said he was surprised by the reaction from city leadership when he returned from Washington.

He said he was told the City Council was not supportive of him, including the mayor.

Gascon believes that senior city leaders were being pressured by a vocal minority of extremists against illegal immigration.

In May, the Mesa Police Association, a union, came out in support of the chief.

"The Mesa Police Association (MPA) is outraged at the atmosphere created by the city manager, Chris Brady, within the Police Department and their police chief, George Gascon," the union said in a prepared statement.

Brady termed the association's statement as "completely untrue and baseless."

Gascon doesn't deny that the San Francisco position is a step up for him careerwise, but he said all of the political pressures and machinations made him take "a hard look" at his Mesa position and pushed him to move on much sooner than he had initially planned.

"There's no question that this new opportunity was extremely appealing to me, but there's also no question that events unfolded here that accelerated my desire to move elsewhere," he said.

Gascon declined to divulge details about his conversation with Smith and another council member over the Washington trip.

"It's all water under the bridge," he said. "We resolved some differences."

Gascon said he hopes there are lessons learned in this process by the city leaders, that they not get overtly influenced by political blogs or feedback that comes from "a vocal minority," who, he said, often misrepresent facts and work toward a political agenda.

Gascon has maintained that, as a local police chief, with the limited resources he has, his focus will always stay on going after criminals, legal residents or not.

U.S. Marshal-Arizona David Gonzales, who worked with Gascon on a regular basis to deal with violent criminals, recently threw a farewell party for him, attended by top law-enforcement officials from across the Phoenix region. Gonzales said it was clear that the "political issues Gascon dealt with in Mesa and Maricopa County may have forced him to speed up the process to move on."