When Boulder Chief of Police Joe Canzona was hired in late June, he did not meet the strict requirements of Montana law. That much is clear.
But the more questions the Monitor asks about the situation, the muddier it all becomes.
The Monitor submitted a letter to the city on July 5 asking for verification that Canzona met the legal hiring requirements. On more than one occasion in public meetings, Boulder Mayor Rusty Giulio said Canzona did meet the requirements, and the Monitor asked for verification.
Three weeks after that letter, Canzona came into the Monitor office for an interview in which he said he did not have a physical or mental health evaluation before he was appointed and started work in late June. At that July 26 interview he said he made an appointment his first week on the job for an August 6 physical. He also said he had completed all of the paperwork for the mental health exam July 24 and only needed a half hour phone call with a mental health examiner who does exams for the Montana Highway Patrol to complete that process.
After nearly a month of questioning from the Monitor, the mayor acknowledged August 2 that he was wrong and Canzona had not met the requirements.
State law 7-32-303 (2) MCA says a mayor “may not appoint any person as a peace officer who does not meet the following qualifications.” Among those requirements are a physical and mental health evaluation “to determine if the applicant is free from any mental or physical condition that might adversely affect performance by the applicant of the duties of a peace officer.” The law allows the physical and mental health exams to be performed by the same appropriately licensed physician or separately by a physician and a licensed mental health professional.
According to the state’s legislative services division, which provided copies of the law as it existed in 1983 and more recently, the physical and mental health components have been state law since at least 1983.
A paralegal investigator with the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) office said if the city had contacted them prior to the hiring to see if Canzona qualified, they would simply share the requirements and refer the city to a checklist available on their website. Only if someone filed a complaint would POST look into the qualifications of a particular officer, said the investigator.
Giulio said last week that Canzona was the only applicant for the chief job. The city was entirely without police officers at the time. So he made an executive decision to go ahead and hire Canzona, he said.
At the time, he explained, he believed Canzona was qualified. The police commission had reviewed his application and recommended his hiring on the condition he complete the physical and mental health exams within 90 days.
The Monitor went to the meeting of the police commission when they reviewed Canzona’s application and was told the meeting was closed because they would be reviewing matters in which the right to privacy exceeded the public’s right to know.
Giulio also said that at the time of the hiring he believed Canzona had undergone those exams before because he had worked almost a year for the Boulder Police Department and was a reserve officer with the sheriff’s office when hired as the chief.
Sheriff Craig Doolittle said Canzona had not been required by him to get a mental health exam because reserve officers do not have to do so. That was confirmed by the state’s Peace Officer Standards & Training office, which said reserve officers are defined as “public safety officers” not “peace officers” and have different requirements.
Doolittle also said his office requires mental health exams before a deputy begins work but believes it is not uncommon for cities and counties not to enforce that requirement. He said he has hired officers from elsewhere in Montana with as many as six years on the job who have not undergone the exams until he required it. The exams “are not cheap,” he added.
The Monitor originally began looking into the matter because Juan Trujillo resigned from the chief position and filed a lost wages claim for $1.043 million alleging “political discrimination and hostile work environment exhibited at the hands of City of Boulder Mayor Russell Giulio.”
Giulio denies the allegations and the issue is now in the hands of the city’s insurer.
Among allegations made by Trujillo was that Canzona had been fired by Trujillo. That information was not shared with the public at the meeting where the council denied Trujillo’s claim and voted to approve Canzona’s appointment as chief.
Giulio said later he knew Canzona was terminated but found nothing in his personnel file about the reason.
City Attorney Steven Shapiro told the Monitor Canzona was still in his 12-month probationary period when fired, so no reason was required. He also said a reason was given but declined to state that reason.
Canzona said in his interview that he did not really know why Trujillo fired him.
In continuing to look into the matter, the Monitor received a suggestion to look into whether Trujillo had been required to undergo a mental health exam before he was hired. In further conversation, Giulio said Trujillo’s personnel file, as well as the personnel file for Canzona’s first stint with the city, are now missing.
The Monitor tracked down Trujillo and asked whether he had been required to undergo a mental health exam when he was hired by the city as chief. He said,”It’s state law, so, yes.”
He said he underwent that exam before moving to Boulder from his previous job in Utah. Asked if he had any written documents to confirm that, he said he did not.
He expressed surprise when told the mayor was saying his personnel file and the one on Canzona were missing. He said he did not know where the originals were but that he had a copy of his own. His file did not have any paperwork confirming his mental health exam in Utah, he said.
A check with the Utah community where Trujillo was on the police force before coming to Boulder resulted in statements from both the Human Resources Department and police department that they had no record of a mental health exam for Trujillo and do not require that.
Trujillo also said he had required officers he hired to undergo mental health evaluations before starting work. Canzona was already on the Boulder force when Trujillo was hired, and Trujillo said he did not know if Canzona had been required to undergo a mental health exam before he started work for the city that time.
The Monitor looked at the help wanted ads used by the city when both Trujillo and Canzona were hired and when Trujillo was the chief during the hiring of other officers. Those ads all said, “A medical exam/physical and physiological exam will be required of the top applicant at the expense of the City of Boulder.”
Steven Shapiro, Boulder City Attorney at the time Trujillo was chief, said it was standard procedure to require applicants to undergo a mental health evaluation before starting work.
The Monitor will be filing a request for relevant information, such as verification of qualifications upon hiring, in the applicable personnel files. The Monitor is also in the process of checking how other Montana jurisdictions deal with the mental health evaluation requirements.
