Fresno cops failed to write report for $3,000 burglary. Will they be disciplined?
Officers did not tell a Fresno business owner of the clear signs of a burglary inside her business, the Fresno Police Department alleged, but neither cop will face any consequences, according to a recently released report.
The woman’s business lost at least $3,000 worth of electronic equipment. The apparent thieves left a ladder they used to access a speaker on the side of the building and a footprint where they evidently kicked in the door, according to the quarterly report from the Office of Independent Review.
She said police did not inform her of what they found on Nov. 9, 2024, but one of the officers said the woman wasn’t interested in looking for herself. The officers also did not write a crime report, the review says.
The officers also did not tell her about information dispatch had received from the business’s alarm company that said noise was picked up from a specific room, the review said.
Nothing appeared to be taken from the room where the door was marked with a dirty footprint and a broken doorknob, the report said. The stolen electronics were taken from another room.
But because the officers’ body-worn cameras were turned off while they spoke to the business owner, it was their word against hers, the report notes.
The accusations of not thoroughly investigating the burglary were not sustained by Internal Affairs or Independent Reviewer John Gliatta, according to the report. He recommended that officers should leave their cameras rolling in such interactions in the future.
The alarm at the business went off two more times within a day of the first incident, the report noted.
That is one of many incidents noted in the quarterly report. The incident was highlighted in the report with more details than most cases, which typically include dates and a short description.
Fresno Police misconduct
One officer resigned in lieu of being punished and nine officers were suspended for a total of 170 hours for police misconduct in the first quarter of 2025, the report says. Eleven officers received letters of reprimand, and 15 were ordered to complete more training.
Here are a few of the investigations that Internal Affairs said led to discipline:
- An investigation completed in January found an officer did not properly secure a wheelchair for a resident who was hospitalized and the chair went missing, the report says. That investigation went back to May 2024.
- Another Internal Affairs investigation, which was completed in March, found five officers failed to terminate a high-speed pursuit in a case opened in January 2024.
- An officer improperly stored their personal firearm inside a patrol car in an investigation opened in June 2024 and completed in February.
The independent review also noted that officers violated policy in all of the 14 crash investigations completed within the quarter.
