MESA, AZ — Two Mesa Parks Department leaders have resigned after an investigation into the Park Rangers found misconduct, according to a city news release.
The City of Mesa has released an external investigation into the misconduct of Mesa Park Rangers, finding claims of excessive force, unsafe training exercises, and possible policy violations spanning more than a year.
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The department's director, Andrea Moore, and deputy director Aimee Manis announced their retirement after receiving the findings of the investigation report last week.
The City of Mesa hired a law firm, Pierce Coleman, to do an independent investigation into the park rangers amid allegations that the rangers were targeting the homeless, using racial slurs, and sharing a "Goon Squad" patch.
The investigation found that the Park Rangers engaged in enforcement actions "outside their authorized scope" that include detaining/arresting people, enforcing state laws and city codes outside the parks regulations and searching people and their belongings.
One of the Park Rangers provided a patch to a Mesa police detective. The alleged "Goon Squad" patch is described as a gray-colored shield with the words "Ranger," "Goon Squad," and "Mesa, AZ" embroidered in black. The report goes on to say the patch has an embroidered black skull, a lightning bolt, a bullet, a baton (also known as a nightstick), and handcuffs, creating the two o's in "Goon."
"Gooning" appears to be a reference to inappropriate and aggressive actions by a group of Park Rangers.
RELATED: Second park ranger resigns amid investigation into Mesa park rangers
Along with the department's director and deputy director resigning, two more rangers have resigned following the findings.
"Mesa took this matter seriously from day one. This investigation made clear that a few bad actors within the Park Ranger unit violated city policies and oversight systems needed to be stronger," said City Manager Scott Butler in a news release. "Mesa is committed to full transparency, to learning from these findings and to ensuring our parks are supported by a unit that operates lawfully, respectfully and in service to our community."
The investigation found the supervisor, and the parks director and deputy director were made aware of the concerns.
The Mesa Police Department had reported that the rangers engaged in enforcement actions that appeared outside of their legal authority.
The report found that several Rangers used racial slurs, but they did not find conclusive evidence that they targeted African Americans or the homeless.
They also found that there is evidence demonstrating the existence of a ‘goon squad’ patch but said, “the current whereabouts and disposition of the ‘goon squad’ patch are unknown to this investigator.’
The investigator also found evidence that some of the rangers would use the term “goon” and “gooning,” typically on Wednesday evenings.
The external investigation also revealed that one of the Rangers engaged in authorized training by allegedly using former park rangers and people experiencing homelessness for training scenarios.
The report says that these were questionable training scenarios where there were allegations of providing them with previously seized drugs and weapons and instructed them to resist and ‘behave defiantly’ toward new park rangers in training.
An investigator wrote that there was not sufficient evidence to support that the Ranger provided any of the scenario participants with the ‘training-contraband’ or weapons in his possession.
The two park rangers who resigned following this investigation did so before a dismissal hearing.
