Three Mesa park rangers who police suspected of “criminal activity and wrongdoing” in their “Goon Squad” investigation were promoted to leadership positions or given raises six months before they were suspended, records show.
The supervisor promoted one of the trio to a leadership role three months before he seized a gun from an unhoused person and kept it without reporting it, police said. The supervisor also was put on leave after one veteran ranger told detectives he would let inappropriate conduct slide.
New details emerged from a 60-page police report, personnel records, training documents, disciplinary actions and human resource complaints, which The Arizona Republic obtained with a public records request. Taken together, they show supervisors may have been aware of and either turned a blind eye to or quietly approved of the methods of rogue park rangers…