MESA, Ariz. — Mesa Police Sgt. Drew Young was standing with some other officers in the city jail's sally port one July day in 2020.
Another officer, a woman, walked by.
"I've heard she's one of the few females that looks better in uniform than she does out of it. Usually it's the other way around," Young said.
"Have you seen her Facebook pictures?" another officer asked.
"Yeah," Young said. "Working out? I mean I wouldn't turn it down."
The conversation continued, meandering to other female officers.
“I’ll tell you who’s cute," Young said. "Little tiny girl. But I didn’t know that she plays for the other team. She actually looks kind of girly.”
One of the officers mentions someone else.
“F*** no. She’s got a bigger d**k than mine," Young replied. “Her mouth makes me want to slap the s*** out of her.”
The entire conversation was caught on an officer's body-worn camera. Young was investigated by the department's Internal Affairs unit. They found that he violated department policy. His punishment: Two weeks' suspension without pay and year probation.
It wasn't the first time he had been disciplined. Or the second. Or the third. It was, at least, his 12th sustained infraction in 13 years.
Young started with the department in 2005; his disciplinary record dates back to at least 2008.
“I don't know who this person's fairy godmother is, but I think there has to be one, or you have a department that condones this," said Joanne Archambault, a retired police sergeant who worked for the San Diego Police Department for 22 years. She also founded End Violence Against Women International in 2003.
Young's firing was recommended three separate times, including by an investigative board, the department's then-chief. Still, he persisted. He even got promoted, just weeks after receiving verbal counseling for another violation of department policy.
Records obtained by 12 News show Young was under internal affairs investigation at least 21 times, including:
— Was criminally investigated in 2008 for "suspected overtime requests [that] might be fraudulent." The Mesa city prosecutor declined to bring charges.
— Was also investigated internally in 2008 for "failing to investigate an allegation of rape by a juvenile" and again the same year for "failing to complete a report for a robbery investigation." The department's internal affairs division recommended he be fired for these and other allegations that year.
Instead, he was suspended for two days.
— In 2014, he was investigated for showing family members and co-workers a photo of "a suicide victim" that was on his phone. Again, his internal affairs records show the discipline recommended was termination.
The department suspended him for 240 hours, which is the equivalent of six weeks, and gave Young a year-long probation.
— In 2016, the department's then-chief, John Meza, wrote a memo as part of an internal investigation and review of recent cases saying in part, "Over the past ten years, Officer Young has engaged in a pattern of policy violations as well as questionable decision making," and called "into question whether Officer Young has the necessary skills and intellectual maturity to perform as a Mesa police officer."
— In a subsequent memo, senior department leadership recommended Young's termination for "unsatisfactory performance," "low productivity," "failure to check a [vehicle identification number]," and for violating his last chance agreement.
Instead, Young got another year of probation.
In 2019, Young received verbal counseling for an inappropriate remark on a new officer's Facebook page: "Welcome buddy! It's a tradition... our first call together needs to start with us busting in the door, followed by 'We're here to f*** s*** up."
Young was promoted to sergeant a few months later.
“Mesa has some great police officers. But this police officer, him not truly being disciplined to the point where he was removed, just speaks volumes. This is not someone that should be policing our community," said Mesa pastor Andre Miller, a 14-year resident of Mesa who has long spoken out about a lack of accountability in the department.
“Is he a reflection of the Mesa Police Department fully? No. But is he a reflection of a problem that they have? Absolutely, because he shouldn't even be there.”
Police experts raise concerns
The video in which Young is caught commenting on women in the department was found incidentally by a department employee fulfilling a public records request. The employee reported the comments to the chief, who ordered an investigation.
The results of the investigation: An 80-hour suspension and a year of probation. That ruling brought Young's total time suspended while a Mesa officer to at least the equivalent of two full months and his time on probation to at least three years.
Mesa police refused to make the department's chief available for questions. But a department spokesperson did provide 12 News with the department's "discipline matrix," and comments via email including:
"There was no direct contact/harassment of the female officers and there was no discrimination/prejudicial treatment against the female officers by Sgt. Young. Therefore, it did not fall under a Level 1 discipline category."
12 News took the video to police experts around the country including:
- Tom Tremblay, the retired police chief from Burlington, Vermont and the former commissioner of the Vermont Department of Public Safety.
- Joanne Archambault, a retired San Diego Police Department sergeant and founder and CEO for End Violence Against Women International
- Dr. Maria Haberfeld, professor of police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City
“It's way out of line. It's not in line with the ethics of our noble profession," Tremblay said. "To me, this sounds like a conversation where a sergeant and subordinates are really comfortable sharing, degrading and objectifying comments about coworkers and women in general."
Tremblay and Archambault co-authored a model policy resource, updated in June 2021 with their recommendations for police departments around the country to better address sexual misconduct in law enforcement, and have spent years examining the issue.
“I think this is a serious problem," Archambault said. "You can imagine, if this is how we treat our co-workers, I don't think those folks are probably doing the best job when it comes to responding to gender-based crimes period."
“I do not necessarily believe in second chances when it comes to ethical misconduct," Haberfeld said. “He shouldn’t be allowed to behave like this. He should have been terminated.”
12 News made multiple attempts to contact Young directly and through the Mesa Police Association. Drew Young is currently listed on the Association's executive board as the grievance chair. Young did not respond.
The Mesa Police Department refused to provide its chief for an on-the-record interview for this story.