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The Blue Wall of Silence: How Law Enforcement Punishes Whistleblowers
USA TODAY set out to find out the extent of the blue wall of silence and its impact on the officers who stood up to it.
Jarrad Henderson, USA TODAY
Editor’s note: The Daily Advertiser is not naming the subordinate who said former Lafayette police officer Sgt. Wayne Griffin sent sexually explicit messages to protect her from potential retaliation.
Former Lafayette Interim Chief Wayne Griffin sent sexually explicit texts to a subordinate and told investigators he never sent those messages, which a cellphone analyst determined were sent from his phone, according to an internal affairs investigation .
Griffin sent numerous text messages from a personal phone to a subordinate’s personal phone indicating that he wanted to have sex with her and asking about her sex life. Griffin and his attorney suggested the messages were fabricated using a third-party app.
But a cell phone analyst determined that Griffin sent the messages using his Apple account, something that would have been nearly impossible to fabricate, the analyst said in his report.
Lafayette’s consolidated government previously redacted documents related to the investigation to the point where much of their content was unreadable.
The investigation and interviews with Griffin and witnesses were entered into evidence at a hearing with the Lafayette Fire and Police Civilian Service Board on Wednesday.
During that hearing, Griffin and his attorney, Alison Melancon, will argue that LPD Internal Affairs and Human Resources Director Rick Zeno failed to meet minimum standards for an investigative law enforcement officer, according to Melancon’s pre-hearing filing.
She argued that because those standards were not met, the discipline should be rescinded and Griffin should be reinstated.
The Daily Advertiser has contacted Melancon for further comment.
Previous Coverage: Former Lafayette Police Chief Griffin fired for lying to investigators, harassment
Griffin was fired in January after being placed on leave in October when LCG received a sexual harassment complaint against him. At the time, he was named interim police chief after Lafayette Mayor Josh Guillory abruptly fired Chief Thomas Glover, Sr.
Griffin, a 19-year veteran of the department, had only been in the position for about two weeks before the complaint was filed. He was stripped of his temporary rank and returned to his previous rank of sergeant in January, but remained on leave until he was discharged.
Maj. Monte Potier, who has been with the department since 1993, has been in charge of department operations since Griffin was placed on leave. The city is still working on Glover’s replacement.
“so i have a question”
The female subordinate told another officer that she received unsolicited sexual text messages from Griffin while he was her supervisor. She asked the officer not to tell anyone what she said, according to the investigation.
But the officer reported what the subordinate said and an investigation was launched. The officer said in his report that he was not filing a complaint, only reporting what was revealed to him.
The woman told internal affairs investigators that Griffin began making sexual remarks to her in March 2021. He would comment on her appearance. She said he would bring up a training trip they took with another officer in October 2016, and he told her he regretted not having the opportunity to have sex with her during that trip, according to the investigation.
Griffin questioned the woman about her sexual activity, including the last time she had sex, the subordinate told investigators. He would say her bad attitude was because she wasn’t having sex, according to the documents.
The woman said she did not report the harassment because she was afraid of losing her position or job, according to an interview with investigators.
“She was intimidated by Interim Superintendent Griffin because he was her supervisor who generated her performance evaluations,” investigators wrote in their report. “She advised that she agreed to his advances because she had seen him previously embarrass another female employee.”
“No one interferes”: Female officers describe culture of sexual harassment at LPD
In April 2021, Griffin sent the woman a message that read, “I have a question.” The woman replied, “Sure, what’s up?”
Griffin replied, “Is f—- okay? #askingforafriend.”
“Of course it is,” she replied. “If right (eggplant emoji) makes it nice and (water drop emoji).”
A few messages later, Griffin asked the woman if he could have a “shower picture too.” The woman told investigators she sent him a message in January intended for another person. In the text, she said she was going to post a picture after she got out of the shower, but immediately apologized for sending the text to the wrong person.
The woman responded to Griffin’s request and said, “Oh, you remember that.” He said he did, and when she sent a smiley face emoji, he replied “#waiting.”
The woman said that to satisfy his request, she sent a picture of her back. She was sitting in bra and underwear. Her face is not in the picture.
She told investigators she sent the photo because Griffin often asked her for nude photos and she thought sending it would appease him. She also told them she responded the way she did to his advances because she “didn’t want to anger (Griffin) and possibly jeopardize her position.”
“She further advised him that although she never informed him of her discomfort, she felt uncomfortable,” investigators wrote in their report.
The woman said the sexual conversations continued in person and over text messages. In one instance, Griffin asked her personally why she wouldn’t have sex with him, according to the documents. She told him she didn’t want to change the dynamic of their friendship.
He then followed up with a message in July 2021, “The problem is… I know you guys are so good. I asked,” he wrote, according to the documents. After she replied that only one person at the police department could comment on that, Griffin texted: “You put this on me, maybe you’re making your own judgments hahahaha.”
The woman responded with a laughing emoji. Griffin texted, “Right. What about a “big girl” picture. I’m sorry. Hennessy (Cognac) just sent this message.’
During his interview with investigators, Griffin denied sending the text messages or receiving the woman’s photo. He said he never threatened his subordinate’s job or attempted sexual acts of any nature, according to the investigation.
When asked why the woman would press charges against him, Griffin said she didn’t press charges until her job duties were changed, but said those changes came at the behest of Guiyori and his administration.
A human resources director told investigators that Guillory said Griffin was made aware of problems with the woman but was not mandated to change his job duties.
The Blue Wall of Silence: A USA TODAY investigation reveals a culture of retaliation against police whistleblowers
He said he got a new phone about a month before the investigation and had no text messages since then.
Griffin’s attorney, Melancon, suggested to investigators that the text messages may have been tampered with by a third-party app that allows users to change the originating name and phone number.
The woman’s and Griffin’s phones were analyzed by an employee of Forensic Data Corp., a third party that specializes in forensic examinations of electronic devices.
Forensic Data Corp. told Internal Affairs investigators that after analyzing the woman’s phone, he determined the messages were legitimate and could not have been fabricated by an app, according to the documents.
The researcher said he was not aware of a service that would allow iMessages exchanged between two iPhone users to be fabricated.
He examined Griffin’s phone, but the phone had been set up in August and had no data related to the investigation.
What happened after the investigation?
Internal Affairs investigators concluded that Griffin violated five sections of the department’s general orders: professional conduct and responsibilities; separate discipline; internal investigation, responsibility of cooperation department personnel; work conditions; and combating harassment and discrimination.
They did not confirm that Griffin violated the department’s sexual harassment policy, but the anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policy outlines sexual harassment as a type of harassment.
He was fired on January 20.
Griffin and his attorney have appealed his termination to the Lafayette Fire and Police Civilian Service Board, which will hear arguments and may uphold the discipline, offer less discipline or decide no discipline should have been imposed.
Melancon wrote in his filing that Griffin was not given an opportunity to address the allegations, except for the sexual harassment allegation, although he reserved the right to do so. She said there was no prior disciplinary hearing related to the allegations for which he was fired.
“Simply put, he was never investigated for the things he was fired for, and no discipline was imposed for what he was investigated for,” Melancon wrote.
As part of his evidence, Melancon submitted nearly three dozen commendations Griffin received while a police officer.
The board meets at 9 a.m. Wednesday in the council chamber at City Hall.
Contact Ashley White at adwhite@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.
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