Above: The game-day TV screen shot that sparked the investigation of Hegarty. Below: The check Hegarty claimed paid for the tickets. It was cashed by the Arizona Trucking Association a month after the baseball game, and after Hegarty knew he'd be investigated

In a column today in the East Valley Tribune, former police officer Bill Richardson takes the Arizona Department of Public Safety to task for a baseball-ticket scandal and other possible signs of a failed agency.

New Times broke the story last December of the investigation into the DPS' former No. 2 guy, Jack Hegarty, for allegedly taking baseball tickets from the trucking industry. We followed that up last week with a feature article detailing the cozy relationship between DPS higher-ups and the Arizona Trucking Association. The ATA had been treating DPS commercial-vehicle enforcement supervisors including Hegarty to primo seats at Arizona Diamondbacks games, our investigation showed, and Hegarty -- with approval from DPS Director Robert Halliday -- banned most highway patrol officers from stopping commercial vehicles unless they had suspicion of a traffic violation.

Hegarty, during the internal probe into the ticket scandal that preceded his unexpected retirement in January, complained that he was being treated unfairly -- since Halliday took free tickets from the ATA, too.

See also: DPS Honchos' Ethics Are Questioned After Sports-Ticket Probe

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Javier Fabian Cota, former president of the Mesa Police Association, was demoted last year after reports that he'd been detained while drunk in San Diego.

Two San Diego police officers are lying to cover up evidence of last summer's illegal "attitude arrest" of former Mesa Police Association president Fabian Cota.

At least, that's what Cota claims.

The officers, on the other hand, say they detained Cota because he was yelling at them drunkenly from a pedicab as they tried to interview another person.

Cota will get the chance to confront the officers during an upcoming appeal of his demotion from sergeant to patrol officer over the incident. The city of Mesa is flying the witnesses out for the hearings on March 14 and 15.

Last year, the city of San Diego rejected a $2.75 million claim Cota filed for false arrest and violation of rights. He says he's still contemplating filing a lawsuit, which he can do until April. He also says that he may yet sue Mesa.

The incident was costly for Cota, costing him $40,000 a year in pay. He also had to step aside from his job as a union official.

Cota says he's being railroaded by two corrupt police departments -- his own, and San Diego's.

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This is the picture that got Jack Hegarty in trouble. (DPS officer Tim Mason is at his right). Hegarty's retirement was made effective today.

Jack Hegarty, the former No. 2 man at the Arizona Department of Public Safety until his demotion in October, has left the agency while still under internal investigation.

His retirement was made effective today, DPS spokesman Bart Graves tells New Times, confirming a tip we received today about the former executive staff member.

Hegarty, a friend of DPS Director Bobby Halliday and 18-year veteran of the agency, was under fire for much of last year following an employee survey by the Fraternal Order of Police that blamed him for widespread morale problems.

In October, Halliday demoted Hegarty from his leadership position and reduced his rank from lieutenant colonel to captain.

But Hegarty's problems apparently went from bad to worse after New Times published a picture of him and another officer sitting at a baseball game. (We hear the game was in San Diego, but a reader points out that it may have been in Phoenix.)

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Image: AZ DPS

Jack Hegarty

Jack Hegarty, the former boss of the Arizona Highway Patrol who was demoted in October, is being investigated for an allegedly unethical use of baseball tickets, the state Department of Public Safety confirmed today.

The probe was spurred by a photograph (see below) of Hegarty and another DPS officer, Tim Mason, sitting at a ball game this year in San Diego. We can't tell you at this point whether New Times' publication of the picture in October had anything to do with it, or if the agency knew of the picture before it was published. It was taken from a TV broadcast after Hegarty and Mason were seen displayed prominently on an overhead screen at the game, and later given to New Times by a source.

The Phoenix Police Department is handling the investigation for DPS.

Sources say the baseball tickets were owned by trucking industry interests. Hegarty has long worked with DPS' commercial vehicle enforcement efforts, which means investigators are likely looking at a possible conflict of interest.

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Lieutenant Colonel Jack Hegarty (left) of the Arizona Department of Public Safety, has been replaced as Highway Patrol Chief following complaints about his perceived affect on employee morale.

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Lieutenant Colonel Jack Hegarty has been replaced as Highway Patrol chief for the Arizona Department of Public Safety, in part due to concerns about his perceived effect on employee morale.

The new boss of the DPS' Highway Patrol division is Major James McGuffin, says DPS spokesman Bart Graves.

Hegarty, as we reported a few weeks ago, was the prime target of employee ire in a survey conducted earlier this year by the Arizona Fraternal Order of Police. Many employees reported in the survey that they were considering leaving the organization and would not recommend it to potential recruits.

And Hegarty, for reasons that still aren't all that clear to New Times, took much of the blame.


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