Last year, Officer Jose Olivares of the Tucson Police Department was fired after he was caught stealing a burrito from a local Mexican food restaurant the previous October. While the “Great Burrito Heist of 2015” isn’t exactly the crime of the century, it’s certainly something people that are paid to arrest other people for stealing stuff shouldn’t be doing themselves. So, he was fired from that position.
However, last week it was announced that the feel good story of 2016, where an internal investigation actually resulted in the Good Cops holding a Bad Apple accountable for his actions, has hit a snag. After an appeal, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board has reinstated Officer Olivares and ruled that the firing was too harsh of a punishment. Instead he was retroactively suspended for 80 days and had his law enforcement certification suspended for three weeks, once again retroactively.
Via Tucson.com:
The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board accepted an agreement with Jose Olivares on Wednesday, and issued a retroactive suspension of his state certification, according to AZPOST documents.
Olivares was fired from the Tucson Police Department last February after he failed to pay for a burrito during an October 2015 visit to Viva Burrito, according to AZPOST documents.
Olivares told investigators he forgot to pay, but security footage from the restaurant showed him reaching toward his pocket at least four different times, but never producing any payment, AZPOST documents show.
The investigation determined Olivares committed theft while in uniform and on duty, and he was fired.He was reinstated to the department after serving an 80-hour suspension, city records show.
His suspension with AZPOST was considered served between Feb. 26 and March 16, 2016, according to AZPOST documents.
All of which, of course, means that he is eligible for back pay for all the time he missed during his initial firing. So, in essence he got a one year paid vacation as “punishment” for stealing something that he easily could have paid for if he had wanted to. That’ll show ’em!
Kelly is a lifelong resident of Las Vegas, who’s been very active in local grassroots activism, as well as on a national level during his extensive travels. He’s also the founder/main contributor of Nevada Cop Block, served as editor/contributor at CopBlock.org and designed the Official Cop Block Press Passes.
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Well my Facebook post from four years ago popped up on this POS. SO I decided to look him up and found your article stating he was reinstated.
This is infuriating to me. This is a horrible human being who beat up my 14 year old autistic son nine years ago at Flowing Wells High school. My son was handcuffed with his hands behind his back and called him fat. So he escorted my son away from all witnesses and scrubbed my sons face against a brick wall. He then took my son down to his private offices on site and beat him up.
He claimed that my son fell and he fell on top of him in a room with no steps and no tripping hazards. He was investigated by internal investigators but unless my then 14 year old son testified without me they wouldn’t do anything. I started a lawsuit against the cop and the school. The school fired their assistant principal, special education teacher and Mr Olivias. But it’s not enough. This man has repeatedly escaped judgement. He is a bad apple!
Ugh.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty typical for cops that are “disciplined.” If they aren’t reinstated, then they are just rehired at a different department. It’s not at all unusual to see this type of history for police officers that end up killing someone.