Patrol » Compliance » Melendres Compliance Corner » 1459 Knapp ID Case

Print
Share & Bookmark, Press Enter to show all options, press Tab go to next option
Font Size: + -

1. Background

In October 2006, Sergeant Jonathan Knapp received permission from the Property and Evidence Division Commander within the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office to take possession of fraudulent identification cards, which had been designated for destruction, for training purposes. Starting in 2006, Sergeant Knapp collected and possessed IDs from bins inside MCSO that had been designated for destruction. In July 2015, Sergeant Knapp attempted to return 1,459 IDs to the MCSO Property and Evidence Division for destruction. A supervisor in the Property and Evidence Division refused to take the IDs, and reported Sergeant Knapp to his chain of command, which notified MCSO’s Professional Standards Bureau. The Professional Standards Bureau took possession of the 1,459 IDs and, at the direction of the Court, turned over the IDs to the United States Marshals Service.

2. The Investigation into Sergeant Knapp’s Conduct

The Professional Standards Bureau conducted an administrative investigation and determined that Sergeant Knapp violated CP- 2, Code of Conduct (effective 09-05-14), Failure to Meet Standards, because he failed to make a reasonable decision or take appropriate actions related to this matter. Sergeant Knapp did not review and eliminate fictitious IDs as he stated he would do in his original request to the Property and Evidence Division Commander. Instead, Sergeant Knapp inappropriately kept possession of all IDs he collected. Although the investigation found no evidence to indicate any of the identity cards in Sergeant Knapp’s possession were obtained as a result of misconduct, Sergeant Knapp acknowledged that he should have gathered the legitimate IDs and returned them to the Property and Evidence Division for destruction. Sergeant Knapp was issued a written reprimand and has since resigned from the Sheriff’s Office.

3. MCSO’s Procedure and Policy Changes

On April 17, 2015, the MCSO put out a department-wide “Briefing Board” newsletter (No. 15-04), which implemented protocols for the proper seizure of revoked driver’s licenses, suspended license plates, and license plates displayed in violation of state criminal law. The new policy eliminated the existence of district or division collection boxes for such materials. The policy further instructed anyone encountering driver’s licenses, identifications, or license plates in their duties to immediately impound such items, document the circumstances in which they were encountered in a memorandum, and forward the memorandum to the MCSO’s Court Implementation Division, which would forward it to the Professional Standards Bureau.

Since the initiation of the administrative investigation involving Sergeant Knapp, MCSO has updated, developed, and published new protocols and policies to handle the proper seizure and impounding of driver’s licenses, identification cards, and license plates, including the following policies:

MCSO continues to review and update these policies annually.

Additionally, deputies self-report and MCSO continues to investigate any driver’s licenses, identification cards, and license plates that are found improperly seized or processed. MCSO has investigated the seizure of any IDs in violation of policy; and in appropriate cases, has issued discipline.

4. MCSO’s Attempts to Identify the Owners of the IDs

The Melendres Plaintiff Class is defined as: “All Latino persons who, since January 2007, have been or will be in the future stopped, detained, questioned or searched by MCSO agents while driving or sitting in a vehicle on a public roadway or parking area in Maricopa County Arizona.”

Sergeant Knapp had 1,459 IDs in his possession. The Professional Standards Bureau reviewed the IDs and determined that 596 of the 1,459 IDs belonged to members of the Plaintiff Class, as defined by the Court’s order. With the agreement of the Monitor, the determination was made based on the surnames indicated on the IDs, unless available evidence indicated otherwise. The Professional Standards Bureau then investigated the Plaintiff Class IDs in to order to determine how they came into MCSO’s possession.

MCSO utilized various law enforcement and publicly available databases to attempt to identify a contact between a deputy and the individuals listed in the 596 IDs. By researching these various databases, the MCSO was able to positively link 138 of the 596 IDs to MCSO.

458 IDs were not positively linked to the Sheriff’s Office and required searching through a database (called the “log scan database”) that contained 10 years of MCSO contacts with the public. The log scan database, which was maintained by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, included information entered by MCSO employees, including deputies, detention officers, dispatchers, and other civilians. The log scans were provided by year, with each year divided into four quarters and each quarter divided into three months, with separate files for each month. A search of each file for each ID consisted of running a search by name, ID number, birthdate and variations and combinations of each in order to find a “hit” in the database for the person listed on each ID which would show a link to a deputy. The timeframe searched in the log scans was 2007-2015. This process yielded few, if any, usable results. The process was also time-consuming because the log scan data could only be searched by month, and each search included multiple variations in the spelling of names and punctuations to ensure no entries were missed.

In November 2018, the Court-Appointed Monitor pulled a random sample of 25 of the Plaintiff Class IDs for log scan searches and other investigative measures. MCSO was able to link one of the 25 IDs to MCSO deputies using the log scan data. Four of the other IDs related to individuals previously linked to MCSO. The remaining 20 IDs were not linked to MCSO deputies. Investigators attempted to contact the 20 individuals at their last known addresses and/or telephone numbers. Law enforcement databases, in addition to open source and Google searches, were used to obtain contact information. Investigators were able to contact nine of the 20 individuals , either in person or by telephone. None of the individuals had prior contact with MCSO, and they stated they did not know why MCSO was in possession of their ID. Five individuals lost or had their ID stolen, and one indicated that the ID was seized by another law enforcement agency. The remaining 11 individuals either did not return phone calls from MCSO business cards left at last known residences or messages left with family members. All last known addresses were in Arizona or the United States, and there was no information indicating that any of the individuals were located out of the country.

In September 2020, MCSO, with the Plaintiffs’ consent, asked the Court for permission to terminate its investigation into Knapp IDs. It was time-consuming to investigate the IDs and required MCSO to devote hundreds of hours of overtime. Unfortunately, the investigations yielded minimal results. Given the age of the Plaintiff Class IDs, all the parties to the lawsuit agreed that continued investigation was unlikely to yield further results.

The Court granted the MCSO’s request to terminate the investigation into the Knapp IDs in October 2020. Under the Court’s order, the Knapp IDs will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service for the duration of the Melendres case. The Plaintiffs will take custody of the Plaintiff Class IDs when the case concludes. All other IDs will be destroyed within 30 days after the case concludes.

5. How to File a Complaint or Make an Inquiry Regarding the Knapp IDs

If you would like to file a complaint with the MCSO pertaining to the Knapp IDs, you may do so here:

If you believe that you are a member of the Plaintiff Class and have questions about whether MCSO may have your ID, please contact Plaintiffs’ counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona:

American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona
(602) 650-1854
azlegalintakebox@acluaz.org