Petrelis Files

OCC Says Castro Gay Cop On-Duty at MUMC Meeting

Here's the latest information regarding my complaint from November filed with the Office of Citizens Complaints against out gay police officer Chuck Limbert, but first a quick recap.

On November 1, the Mission Station's Limbert was in plainclothes at the monthly meeting of the Merchants of Upper Market Castro providing security services. He informed me and other activists that he was off-duty, as he told us where to sit, how to behave and when to leave.

The crux of my OCC complaint was that Capt. Bob Moser of the Mission Station wasted resources attending the meeting himself, along with 6-8 uniformed officers patrolling outside the meeting and a few inside, and that it needed to be determined if Limbert was indeed off-duty on November 1.

There was a mediation hearing on December 18 at 25 Van Ness Avenue. In attendance were two mediators, Moser, nudist and co-complainant Rusty Mills and myself. Limbert called the OCC mediator Donna Salazar earlier that morning to inform her that he was ill with the flu and would not be attending. Mediation took place anyway despite his absence and both sides felt it was productive.

Last Wednesday, January 9, in a phone conversation I had with Salazar where we were trying to figure out a date for mediation with Limbert, she accessed a police personnel database to check on his work schedule. No date was found by Salazar when we could set up that mediation with him.

At my request, she looked at what the database reported for November 1 and she told me that it showed Limbert was on-duty that date.

Salazar and I discussed if a report had been filed by Limbert after the MUMC meeting, or if I could get verification of his on-duty status on November 1. She recommended that I contact Moser (I did via email), and to also see if police headquarters at the Hall of Justice had such a report (I left vmail for that division).

A week later, despite additional emails to Moser to verify if Limbert was on-duty, I've not heard back from him or anyone on his staff.

I believe citizens have the right to know if a police officer is telling the truth when he claims he is not on-duty and performing security services for a private organizations. I've pursued this matter since November and expect it will take additional time before I hear from Moser, and a time is set for mediation between the co-complainants and Limbert.

Moser and Limbert have an obligation to perform their responsibilities without bias or hints of favoritism toward one Castro constituency over another. When Limbert is seen at many MUMC meetings in uniform and on duty, and then one month out of uniform claiming to be off duty and assisting MUMC, he's got the very clear appearance of a problem.