Officer Suspended for Supplying Information on Duffy

A San Diego police sergeant has been suspended without pay for two weeks and stripped of her investigative duties for helping The Times in its reporting last year on the unusual private security setup at the home of San Diego County Sheriff John Duffy.

Sgt. Anne O’Dell, a 15-year veteran of the Police Department, was disciplined after she confirmed for The Times that the sheriff’s home alarm system is set up for sheriff’s deputies to respond to all emergencies, even though Duffy’s home is within San Diego city limits.

Duffy blamed The Times’ articles about his alarm system and a “safe room” in the Scripps Ranch house for his surprise decision to drop out of the race for reelection.

O’Dell, who has filed a formal appeal with the city Civil Service Commission, said Monday that she believes that Duffy may have pressured high-ranking Police Department officials to punish any police officers who provided information to the media about his home.

“I think there is stuff going on behind the scenes that I don’t have pertinent knowledge of, and that disturbs me,” she said. “It disturbs me that there appears to be a hidden agenda here.

“I’m concerned that the only reason there’s a big fuss being made over this is because it’s Duffy.”

Her attorney, James Gattey, said he is also concerned that the Police Department improperly bowed to pressure from Duffy in disciplining O’Dell.

“I can’t see any other reason why they were going after her at all,” he said. “There is nothing to indicate anything else.”

Duffy did not return a phone call Monday.

Leroy Brady, who as head of the San Diego police personnel unit approved O’Dell’s punishment, also could not be reached for comment. But it is Police Department policy never to discuss disciplinary action taken against individual officers.

O’Dell was working as an investigative sergeant in the Background Investigations unit in November when she was contacted by a Times reporter. The reporter had been told by several anonymous sources in the Sheriff’s Department that deputies based in Poway cross city boundaries to respond to emergencies at the sheriff’s home.

O’Dell was asked by the reporter to check the city permit on Duffy’s home alarm system to see if calls indeed are relayed to the sheriff’s dispatch unit, rather than the Police Department. She visited the permit office at police headquarters and reported back that the Duffy residence was linked to the sheriff’s communications unit.

Later, the sheriff’s public affairs unit and Duffy publicly acknowledged that sheriff’s deputies respond to the home alarm system.

O’Dell said she was punished for violating a Municipal Code statute that governs what information can be given to the public about private security alarm systems. But Gattey, her attorney, said the statute prohibits only the release of the alarm company’s name and the occupant’s name and address.

“There’s nothing in the code that says it is confidential what agency should respond to an alarm call,” the lawyer said. “Absolutely nothing. And obviously that’s the problem. The statute doesn’t apply here.”

The 10-day suspension means that O’Dell will lose about $1,800 in salary, she said, adding that she will also lose about $1,000 a year because she was removed from her investigative position at headquarters and transferred to a field sergeant post in the Northern Division. She said she was also ordered to turn in her badge and service weapon during the suspension period, which began Monday.

The sergeant said she hopes to have the suspension overturned by the Civil Service Commission, particularly because Police Department policies and procedures require that all members “be truthful and cooperate fully with all members of the media.”

“That’s exactly the policy I was following,” she added.

O’Dell is the second Times source to come under scrutiny since the newspaper exposed irregularities in Duffy’s management style.

Last month, Sheriff’s Sgt. Joe Lopez said he was notified that Internal Affairs officers were investigating him on suspicion of leaking information about Duffy’s home. He said they assumed he was a confidential source for the newspaper because he was one of the Poway deputies who responded to the sheriff’s home on a false burglar alarm call in October and thus would have been familiar with Duffy’s security system.

Lopez also said he received a formal reprimand for taking down a racist memo from the Poway station bulletin board and sending it to the Latino Peace Officers Assn. A deputy since 1977, he subsequently was transferred to a night shift at the Lemon Grove substation.