serious injury to one of our police officers, or any
incident in which a citizen is seriously injured or
killed during an officer-involved confrontation,
it is the responsibility of the chief of police to
communicate what occurred, what we are doing,
and what is going to happen in regards to the
investigative process. This approach has proven
effective in two recent incidents, an officer-involved
shooting and an alleged act of misconduct.
Q. The District Attorney has praised your officers,
saying their work contributed to the filing of
charges against the two officers. What did Fullerton
PD do right?
Dan Hughes interacts with the public at a medal of valor ceremony about a year after Kelly Thomas’ death
Restoring trust
Fullerton PD’s acting chief discusses the aftermath of Kelly Thomas
The death of a homeless schizophrenic man
following a violent confrontation with Fullerton
police put the police department and the city under
unprecedented scrutiny, resulting in the ousting of
three councilmen in a recall election and lingering
questions about the department’s future.
The death of Kelly Thomas last July has resulted in
criminal charges being filed against three Fullerton
Police officers and the departure of former Fullerton
Police Chief Michael Sellers, who retired after taking
a medical leave of absence.
Acting Fullerton Police Chief Dan Hughes answered
questions about the controversy, including how his
agency responded in the wake of the videotaped
confrontation between Thomas and six officers at a
downtown transportation depot parking lot.
Hughes was the patrol captain on the evening of
July 5, 2011 when an officer stopped the shirtless
Thomas in downtown Fullerton after responding to
a call about possible car break-ins in the area. As
the confrontation escalated, other officers joined
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BTB-Magazine-Fall2012.indd 12-13
the struggle to subdue Thomas, holding him down,
hitting him and deploying a Taser.
Thomas, 37, slipped into a coma and later died.
Q. You said the department “blew it” in its
communications with the public. With the benefit
of hindsight, what would you have done differently?
the video recording with four of the officers’ audio
recordings and provided all of this evidence to the
DA’s Office. In the preliminary hearing, almost all of
the evidence and testimony came from members of
the Fullerton Police Department.
A. In Fullerton, we have been proactively dealing
with the homeless issue for more than a decade, yet
our homeless population continues to increase. We
have partnered with non-profit organizations and
assist with a homeless shelter in our city during the
winter months. Recently, we have added a second
police officer to work full time with the homeless
and have also added an outreach clinician from the
Orange County Mental Health Services to ride with
our officers on a weekly basis to provide services to
the mentally ill and homeless in our community.
A. Although we notified the District Attorney’s
Office about the incident the evening it occurred,
the D.A. did not formally assume the investigation
until July 7 because the incident did not initially
meet their criteria. The Fullerton Police Department
initiated the investigation, which included collecting
evidence, conducting interviews, processing the
scene, collecting the video of the incident, and
collecting the recordings from the digital audio
recorders our officers wear.
It was also our police personnel that controlled the
public-safety camera that evening that captured
the incident on video. Our department also synced
Since there was minimal
A. There were many questions from the media and
community members directly after the death of Kelly
Thomas. Initially, our department was very slow in
responding to inquiries and rather than a commandlevel officer communicating to our community,
communication efforts were assigned to a sergeant
who was the press information officer. Since there
was minimal information coming from the police
department, citizens formed their own viewpoints of
what occurred. As we did not adequately respond
to inaccuracies, the perceptions became the public’s
reality.
information coming from the
We have made several procedural changes when
it comes to communication from the police
department. Presently, any incident that involves
became the public’s reality.
police department, citizens
formed their own viewpoints
of what occurred. As we did
not adequately respond to
inaccuracies, the perceptions
Q. One issue that has received attention is how law
enforcement deals with homeless people. What can
law enforcement do better?
Every sworn police officer has received
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