Investigation into APD commander who allegedly sexually abused civilian employee is locked in confidential file: G-file allows secrecy because commander resigned – News

Editor’s note: For this story, we chose not to publish the names of the alleged perpetrator and survivor in a reported sexual assault case. In making this decision, we took into account the sensitivity of the allegations and the fact that little information about the investigation is public.

Nearly a year ago, an Austin Police Department commander was accused of sexually abusing a civilian employee. An internal investigation followed. A criminal investigation was later launched. Then, a day before his dismissal, the commander resigned. Therefore, all documents resulting from the investigation were kept under lock and key in a confidential file.

The internal affairs (IA) investigation that preceded APD leadership’s decision to fire the commander revealed “several ongoing allegations of misconduct,” an APD spokesman said, without specifying which allegations were sustained. This also led to APD’s Special Investigations Unit launching a criminal investigation into the allegations against the commander, the spokesman said. APD declined to say what crimes it is investigating, but the case remains active.

The investigation into the former commander highlights the concern that police oversight advocates say motivated their successful campaign to ban the city and APD from maintaining a G-File.

The city and APD have suppressed details related to the investigation, including by citing a provision of state law known as the “G-file” that allows cities and police departments to hide records of officer misconduct investigations, that do not result in disciplinary action.

But the city and APD appear to be suppressing information in other ways, too.

The IA investigation was initiated with an allegation made by Jonathan Kringen, the APD’s former chief data officer. Kringen was arrested on October 21, 2023 on allegations of family violence and was subsequently fired from the APD (the arrest also triggered an IA investigation into Kringen).

The affidavit filed in support of the charges against Kringen alleges that officers responded to a 911 call from the victim of the family violence incident and that upon arriving at the scene, they saw Kringen grabbing the victim by the face and pressed it against a sofa. The affidavit indicates that Kringen was drunk during the incident. After officers forced entry and separated Kringen and the alleged victim, Kringen was arrested and both were interviewed separately.

We do not have access to the transcripts of these interviews (and Kringen’s criminal case is still pending), but multiple sources have said that Kringen made the accusation against the former APD commander during his interview. Later, in an email to IA investigators, Kringen described the commander’s fear of retaliation that prevented him from filing a formal complaint against him before the night of his arrest. APD records obtained from the chronicle show that APD Deputy Chief Gizette Gaslin wrote the internal complaint against the commander the day after Kringen’s arrest.

The IA investigation against the commander concluded sometime in March. An APD spokesperson confirmed that the commander’s firing meeting was scheduled for March 22, but the commander officially resigned on March 21. (The commander’s personal status report obtained from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement indicates his resignation date is March 22 and that his peace officer license remains active.)

“Many of you know that I was arrested last year and subsequently released. Fewer know that I reported that an APD commander had sexually assaulted a female employee within the department.” – Jonathan Kringen, former top brass at APD

Because the commander resigned before disciplinary action was taken, the city and APD were able to hide all information related to the investigation — even though investigators proved the commander had committed misconduct. Had the commander been fired, the APD police chief (then Robin Henderson) would have had to write a public memo explaining what department policies the commander had violated and why he was fired.

Confidential records include the initial complaint memo, which precedes all FA investigations initiated by the department itself. However, an APD spokesman confirmed that Kringen’s claims prompted the commander’s FA investigation. A public information request (PIR) submitted by the chronicleSeptember 10, the commander’s complete personnel file is still pending. In an affidavit signed by the civilian and received by the civilian chronicle About PIR, the civilian describes the IA investigation as an investigation into whether the former commander committed “acts of manipulation and coercion”, “acts of physical intimidation and violence… when he sexually abused me”.

Limitation of transparency

Kringen made public his allegations against the commander (whom he did not name) as well as the city and APD for possibly concealing the investigation into the allegation during the City Council’s Oct. 8 work session. “Many of you know that I was arrested last year and subsequently released,” Kringen began. “Fewer know that I reported that an APD commander sexually assaulted a female employee within the department.”

The complexity doesn’t end here. The chronicle has confirmed that a month after the IA investigation was opened against the commander, the commander filed a counter-complaint against the alleged victim of his investigation, alleging that he was subjected to “sexual assault, persistent and unwarranted harassment, and threatening behavior.” Civilian employee accused him of the same behavior.

APD initiated an investigation into the commander’s complaint, the results of which should be available through the Texas Public Information Act because G-file protections only apply to sworn city employees. But a PIR we filed in June asking for documents related to the investigation found there was “no relevant” information, which could mean an investigation was conducted but no final report was prepared which could be published under the TPIA. Neither the city nor APD would say how the investigation into the cross-complaint was resolved. The APD spokesman said only that IA “fully investigated all allegations, whether against the former commander or others.”

In emails between the civilian employee and APD Deputy Chief Jeff Greenwalt, obtained by the chronicle via PIR, Greenwalt acknowledges the counter-complaint. In the emails, the civilian states that an APD personnel representative told her that a counter-complaint report would “no longer be used” because it was incorporated into the commander’s FA investigation (and ultimately passed through the G- file was sealed). ).

Kringen was fired in April and unsuccessfully tried to overturn his termination last month by appealing to the city’s Civil Service Commission. During the appeal process, Kringen subpoenaed the IA investigation into the commander, but the city declined, writing in an Aug. 12 email to Kringen that the file “pertains to an independent investigation” conducted as a result of the G -file is confidential. (During the appeal, the civilian filed the affidavit describing the nature of the commander’s conduct.) In doing so, the city closed another avenue that could have disclosed information about the investigation into the former commander.

Many questions remain unanswered about what happened between the former commander and the civilian. But the dam of secrecy maintained by the city and the APD is breaking.

Two City Council members — Alison Alter and Mackenzie Kelly — have already reviewed portions of the IA case file that led APD leadership to fire the former commander. Both Alter and Kelly declined to comment on the contents of the file, but Kelly said reviewing the files was “an important part of her duty as a public servant.”

“I know if this were my loved one,” Kelly said, “I would want to make sure everything was done right.”