Former Tucson Police Chief Doug Smith was so upset a local psychologist made critical comments about his management style that he made sure a competing, and far less experienced, company was awarded a five-year psychological services contract in retaliation.
At least, that's what 12 jurors in U.S. District Court were told Tuesday during the first day of Kevin Gilmartin's lawsuit trial against Smith, current TPD Chief Richard Miranda and former Assistant Chief Jesse Ochoa.
According to attorney Richard Martinez, Smith was so upset that Gilmartin, a nationally recognized psychologist, bad-mouthed him during a deposition that he sabotaged Gilmartin's attempt to renew his contract with the Tucson Police Department in June 1998.
The five-year, $550,000 contract would have allowed Gilmartin and his associates to continue providing mental-health help to officers. Gilmartin's group also did pre-employment screenings and trained officers in such things as hostage negotiations and psychological profiling.
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Although Gilmartin had a good relationship with the department until then, Martinez told the jurors a number of witnesses will testify Smith ordered his underlings to make sure Gilmartin's contract was not renewed.
Defense attorney Michael Smith told jurors there is no evidence Gilmartin was the victim of retaliation or a conspiracy.
Martinez said the difference between Gilmartin's group and the company that was awarded the contract, Sonora Behavioral Health, is like "night and day."
While Gilmartin and two other members of his team had nearly 60 years of law-enforcement experience, the most the Sonora group could claim was one of their members had ridden along with police officers on occasion, Martinez said.
Jack Harris, a licensed professional counselor and 20-year TPD veteran who worked with Gilmartin, started the department's peer counseling group, Martinez said.
Since Sonora had no law-enforcement experience, Martinez said, it couldn't train anyone in hostage negotiations, a vital police function.
Gilmartin had written more than 80 articles related to law-enforcement psychology by that point, and no one within the Sonora group had written any, Martinez said.
Moreover, Gilmartin and his associates had done more than 10,000 pre-employment screenings and the Sonora group had done only a few, Martinez said.
Having to choose between Gilmartin's group and Sonora Behavioral Health should have been liking choosing between world-famous heart surgeon Dr. Jack Copeland and an unsupervised intern, Martinez said.
Also troubling, Martinez said, is that two of the three people appointed to the selection committee — Miranda and Ochoa — told no one about Smith's edict. The third person on the committee, Pima County sheriff's Lt. Kathleen Brennan, also didn't disclose prior dealings with Gilmartin, Martinez said.
Two sergeants within the Police Department's behavioral sciences unit were so upset with Smith, they felt they had to file a complaint with the city manager, Martinez said.
Michael Smith, the defense attorney, told jurors the decision to award the contract to Sonora wasn't made until well after Gilmartin gave his deposition in the Timothy Clark case.
Jurors will find, Michael Smith said, that the entire bidding process was "deliberate and transparent."
Part of the reason Sonora was given the contract was its multiple locations, Michael Smith said. Once it took over, officers no longer had to seek mental health help at public restaurants or headquarters.
Michael Smith also pointed out that if there had been a conspiracy against Gilmartin, Miranda would never have slowed the process down to demand an accounting of Sonora Behavioral Health's financial status. There had been concerns Sonora didn't have the financial wherewithal to provide the services needed, he said.
Tucson police now use an in-house psychologist for mental- health services.
Miranda spent much of Tuesday afternoon on the stand.
He acknowledged Smith was upset about Gilmartin's deposition, didn't want Gilmartin's contract renewed and constantly made sarcastic comments about Gilmartin to his upper echelon. Miranda also spoke well of Gilmartin and his associates' expertise and experience.
Miranda is expected to re-take the stand this morning.
In the Clark case, five police officers sued the city, claiming then-Chief Doug Smith transferred them out of the department's helicopter unit for complaining about safety, mismanagement and misconduct.
The city ended up paying $400,000 in 2002 to settle the lawsuit, which was filed by former pilots Timothy Clark, Joe Hernandez, Glen Brasch and Rick Johnson, and observer Marv McEwen.
