A Santa Ana councilman requested that the California Department of Justice launch an investigation into the city’s police union over allegations of financial misconduct.
The Santa Ana Police Officers Association vehemently denied the allegations, describing them in a statement as “simply untrue and distorted.”
Councilman Benjamin Vazquez, who serves as Santa Ana’s mayor pro tem, said an audit from 2023 into the SAPOA’s health benefits account found that the city overpaid the union by at least $3 million in a single year. However, the union reported a nearly $609,000 deficit for its health benefit account.
In a letter to the California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Vazquez wrote that “the presence of both large overpayments and a deficit raises serious concerns about financial mismanagement or potential misuse of public dollars.”
“If there’s money missing, I’m going to go look for it,” Vazquez said in an interview. “We’re going to retrieve it and make sure it’s spent the right way.”
Vazquez said he wanted the investigation to comb through 10 years of records.
“We found $3 million in one year. What are we going to find in longer time periods, if we go back farther?” he said.
SAPOA President John Kachirisky described Vazquez’s actions as “an attempt to reduce benefits” for officers.
“We are shocked, outraged, and also saddened by the accusations made by Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez,” Kachirisky wrote in a statement. “We welcomed the audit because there is nothing to hide.”
Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua described the overpayment as a non-issue and called Vazquez’s request for a state investigation premature. She added that the police union has already started payments for the $3 million. Vazquez disagreed with the mayor’s assertion.
“That’s $3 million in the first audit, in the first year that we’ve had it,” Vazquez said. “$3 million may be a little bit to the mayor, but it’s a lot to me. I want to know where this money has been going and where it’s at.”
Vazquez admitted that he had not seen the full audit report, nor did he possess a copy of it before calling for the investigation.
“Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez should be ashamed of himself and should learn the facts before spouting out incorrect and distorted information,” Kachirisky wrote. “We expect more from our elected officials and demand an apology from Mayor Pro Tem Vasquez.”