BANGOR, Maine — The city’s interim police chief confirmed Wednesday that the Brewer Police Department has been asked to conduct the internal affairs aspect of its investigation into the alleged misconduct of a Bangor police detective accused of driving drunk while on duty.
Lt. Peter Arno, who came out of retirement to assume Bangor’s interim police chief post on Monday, said members of his department were conducting the investigation into the operating under the influence charge — the criminal part of the case.
The investigations were launched after Detective Erik Tall, a 15-year veteran of the Bangor Police Department, was issued a summons for OUI at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at the Airport Mall on Union Street.
“A criminal investigation is just that, an investigation into an alleged crime, and the final disposition is heard by the court,” Arno said.
An internal affairs investigation, on the other hand, is a noncriminal investigation into alleged misconduct by an employee, he said.
The two investigations must be kept separate as a matter of law, Arno said.
Asked whether the Bangor Police Department has a policy forbidding drinking while on the job, Arno said it does. “But there’s an even bigger policy — not to violate the law,” he said.
Fellow officers were tipped off that Tall had been drinking and went to the Airport Mall to check up on him, Penobscot District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said last week.
Almy said police used an Intoxilyzer test that showed Tall’s blood alcohol level was 0.13. The state’s legal limit for driving a vehicle is 0.08.
Tall, who was on the job at the time, has been on unpaid administrative leave since then. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Arno, who said Wednesday that he is still getting up to speed on the matter, said it was rare — but not unheard of — to have outside agencies investigate the activities of Bangor officers. In this case, however, he was still in retirement mode when the decision to do so was made.
“My guess is that obviously this is a sensitive issue and asking someone else to do it made some sense,” he said.
Arno declined to discuss any other specifics, adding that he was prohibited from doing so because it is a personnel matter.
He also declined to say when the investigations will be completed, but added, “We are absolutely not dragging our feet on this. We’re doing absolutely the best job we can to protect the public and the city.”
Arno said he would release a report after the investigations are completed and that he would inform the public of any final disciplinary action that might be taken, as he said is required by state law.
Though he, too, couldn’t divulge any details, Brewer Public Safety Director Perry Antone said Wednesday evening that he has one officer assigned to the internal investigation into Tall’s alleged misconduct.
The cost of Brewer’s assistance with the Bangor investigation is covered by a mutual aid agreement between the two departments, Antone said, adding that the two departments frequently share resources with and assist one another.
BDN writer Nok-Noi Ricker contributed to this report.
All jokes and pointing fingers aside there is something to remember here. Here is a man that appears to have a drinking problem and he is probably going to lose his career. It’s sad on many levels but the man has family, friends and associates that are probably sick over his decisions. I hope he confronts his issues and his support system helps guide him through this very tough time in his life. If he has children, I am sure they see the best in their dad and ignore the many comments they must be dealing with.
If this man does have a problem, his family and friends probably saw something like this coming. In order to protect the disease process, the alcoholic will usually blame other people or events for his drinking. To admit there is no reason for drinking, other than the illness, is to admit there is a problem. I am sure the alcohol helps to relieve job fueled stress, but everybody experiences that at some point, and that may have been a starting point, but ultimately the alcoholic drinks because his body craves alcohol.
If this man has kids, someone needs to help them see that their Dad has an illness. That illness caused him to make an error in judgement, a big one, to be sure. This does NOT make him a bad person, just someone who needs some help right now. And a lot of love and support, just as he would had he been cold sober and in a bad accident. I would suggest that this man’s family and friends look for an Al-Anon meeting and try a few if the first one or two does not appeal to you.
For those unfamiliar with Al-Anon, it it NOT sitting around talking about your specific problem although some will do that. It is NOT about bashing the person you may be very angry with now or frequently. It is a gathering of people that have something in common. They all love someone who is sick or in recovery. You can find the strength not to enable an alcoholic. You can find some peace amid the chaos that usually reigns in an alcoholic household. Al-Anon is about you, and how to cope with your life.
I am making some general statements here. I don’t know Det. Tall or whether he has a problem. In my humble opinion, it does sound like there is a good chance he does. If this is the case, then I hope he finds some help for himself. I hope whatever the outcome of this situation, it will ultimately give Tall a chance to make peace with himself. Sometimes we find ourselves walking a road we never expected to walk, but that is where we are supposed to be. Good Luck to you, Det. Tall.
Well said. The road we never expected to walk…. Isn’t that the truth.
Would you feel the same if he’d hit and hurt or killed someone?
Because I’ll sell you the car I was in that was hit by a drunk driver who had been let off the hook too many times by a liberal courts and liberal thinking and all the medical bills and the pain some of us still have. The loss of income when my mother couldn’t work for years after.
No I wouldn’t feel the same but that isn’t what happened. The man got brought in and charged and will probably lose his career over his actions, that is what happened.
“The man got brought in and charged and will probably lose his career over his actions”As he should–He is entrusted to preventing this and ridding the streets of what he was arrested for. He deserves the same thing that any ordinary joe would.
I agree that he should be subjected to the same laws and potential punishment that every citizen does, but not more. He made a mistake and should be held accountable but hopefuly he’s not made a martyr of. He is a human being and subject to the same issues that the rest of us face in their lives. Good like to you, Mr. Tall, and I hope you can accept this, get the help you need and move on with your life.
Drinking on the job is not a mistake. Drinking to a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.13 percent and driving is not a mistake.
True it didn’t happen. I’m all for people who wish to kill and cripple
themselves, truly it’s their choice but with his continued behavior
it’s a guarntee he was about to drag other people down with him.
If we allow cops to get away with it we have to everyone.
Now back to the car I was in I’m fairly sure the blood or most of it
has washed away since the roof was cut off but maybe you’d like to see what happens to a window handle when it was driven into the leg
of a child
I personally wouldn’t want to see that gruesome stuff so no thanks. I am sure Mr Tall has seen his share of it and worse working the Bangor PD for 15 years. I am also pretty sure he knows the bad things that can happen to children too given the fact his most recent job was to keep track of over 200 registered sex offenders in Bangor. Hey, it’s no excuse to drink and drive but at least he didn’t hurt anyone while keeping the rest of us safe. He will pay his price for what he did, not what he could have done.
I think that is what we need to focus on. What he did and what happened, not what might have happened. My condolences to Scintillate on the accident she was involved in.
Det Tall was found to be operating under the influence. He also apparently violated department rules. So those are the infractions that need to be addressed. If the man has a drinking problem, now would be the time for him to address that.
Um, how can anyone with a blood-alcohol content of 0.13 percent — driving around, no less — keep us “safe”? Would you consider yourself safe if he drove past you, swerving?
If you actually possess the vehicle that you were in when struck by a drunk driver, it is time to let it go. You can become a survivor or you can remain a victim. I don’t mean to seem callous, clearly this was horrible chapter in your life. I had a different kind of horrible chapter in mine, and thanks to a very kind police officer, I am a survivor. But I could have remained a drunken victim, maybe taking others down with me, but I was blessed to be stopped by the same female officer who responded to a call for help for me, later to find, her story was not so different from my own. Whatever you choose, God bless you.
My parents still have it, I was a little kid at the time. I can’t entirely forget. My injuries bother me from tint to time, my mother still suffers every day. The guy who hit us had no licence because be was a habitual offender got a ticket for failure to yield right of way. Most of us went to the hospital and we got all the medical bills.
I really don’t want other children to know this kind of nightmare up close and personal, like the family be hit and killed after us and yet he never paid for that either
You will likely never forget. The idea is to learn to live with it. Your attitude of not wanting any other child to go thru what you have is a good one, but we cannot jail everyone who drinks and drives without a bad outcome. I think the person who did this damage certainly should have paid, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. The person who hurt me, hurt others too. He did not pay for what he did to me, but he did go to jail and I have the satisfaction of knowing it was my ID that got him arrested. I did get stopped while driving under the influence, but the officer never brought that up. She took me home in the back of a cruiser and gave me the option to go with her to a meeting of survivors. That was all I needed. There were so many who were suffering so much more than me, and that had been injured far more severely than myself. She was also a survivor and member of the group. That was the last time I ever drove when I should’t have. I might have been able to beat the breathalyzer that night but I never had to take that risk and I learned I did not have to be a victim, ever
Again, I realize that must have been a difficult time in your lives and I wish you well. If this man has a problem and he learns from it, it is one person we won’t have to worry about. Jail and fines are no deterrent for disease, Real solutions will need to address the root problem. MADD has many educational programs out there and new generation of drivers are better educated to the dangers of getting behind the wheel after drinking.
That was probably why my parents kept the car. As a lesson to everyone not to drink and drive. It is parked in the woods behind our house.
I don’t dwell on it but every time I read about drinking and driving, it makes me uncomfortable and it really ticks me off when it’s law enforcement.
Very well said!!!!
Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety (DADSS) technology. DADSS
detects blood alcohol content in
drivers and prevents alcohol-impaired
drivers from operating their vehicles.
OUI”s are mainly about making money, for all connected to it… in my opinion!! not the safety of the public!! The above should be mandatory as seat belts ect. are!!!
If the people, are really serious about eliminating drunk driving, why not implement this technology into law!!!
You must understand that technology can go just so far in implementing itself, the human element is present. As to your statement about OUI’s being mainly about making money, I do not think I can possibly elaborate on that ridiculous statement.
It may sound ridiculous to you; however when a person pays a fine anywhere from $500 and up, that is what is ridiculous to them!!! That money has not stopped people from getting OUI”s. So now you tell me, what the money is all about.
“if you can not afford an attorney one will be appointed to you”. Those ambulance chasers have to get paid too.
I think the laws setting the fines were made in good faith, however, I do tend to agree with you, once things reach the level of the courts and DEEP.
The money will NEVER stop someone who has a problem and generally families suffer. For example, if Det. Tall were to lose his job and then be fined, where do people think that money will come from. It will come from family savings or from a working wife as these fines need to paid within specific time periods. DEEP is not cheap either. I paid a DEEP fee for a family member who had sobered up and wanted to get his license back. He died unexpectedly the following week. Do you think I got a refund??
I have suggested, and I still think this would work, that we change the law to offer OUI defendants the alternative of getting help and staying sober for a period of years and the case is continued without finding for that time. At the end of the period, with regular testing and proof of help, the case is dropped. I think that would allow more people a chance to get help without having to worry about the legal aspects. Second offenses or more should be treated harshly, with mandated AA, as a part of any sentence. I know you can’t force “help” on someone, but ask anyone in the program how many have gotten help because they have been court mandated. It won’t work every time. But it is likely repeat offenders have a serious drinking problem and the problems on our roads is only the tip of the iceberg. The damage to families and society at large is immeasurable. If we want to get drunks off our roads, then we need real solutions.
I hope times have changed, as my understanding were that DEEP programs aren’t always effective. I was with a different crowd of people at one time in my younger years, and heard many stories from DUI offenders themselves about how DEEP programs were a complete waste of time and money, as during the majority of ‘classroom time’ they were allowed to leave early as well as a lot of chit chat going on completely unrelated to why there were there and why they shouldn’t ever be there again. DEEP instructors need to be leaders, not followers or push-overs allowing the class to take over. The classes only work as well as the people leading them teach, as well as a seriousness taken by the offender. While I totally agree with getting help for alcohol addiction, perhaps one-on-one counseling would be more effective.
That is an option in Maine and that is what the family member I was helping was doing. There are no class opportunities in this part rural Maine. His counsellor was excellent and mandated AA meetings as well. He fell on his driveway on his way in from the first AA meeting. He appeared to be uninjured but he had hit his head. He died four later, in his sleep. DEEP refused to refund the money. He died about 3 hours prior to his second scheduled session and the family did notify the counsellor. She did not get the money either, the state of Maine kept it, as the family paid out of pocket for his funeral. This man left two young kids behind.
I think the U.S. Constitution has something to say about that…
If there is anything that can be said at this point of the investigation is that Chief Arno will conduct himself properly and within the law, there is no one I would rather see than him leading his department in this matter, rest assured that the citizens of Bangor can feel served while he is at the helm. Having worked with him in the past, the citizens can depend upon an upfront investigation.
Years ago, he would have got away with this, but, not in today’s world, for one, a good job is difficult to come by now-a-days, there are few second chances in today’s world, but, if he is going to conduct himself like that, he cannot be a cop, how could he arrest someone for an OUI now?? I think he needs to go to the private sector, and see if they like his work ethics.
yes
Alcoholism is recognized under the ADA, but criminal behavior is not. If he claims he is an alcoholic he may have a better shot of keeping his job, but he is going to lose his license which is going to be a problem for him unless he can get a work license.
Let’s keep in mind, this man has been protecting and serving for many years and has a lot of valuable experience. If he can modify his behavior, i.e. not drink, period, then I would be all for giving him ONE more chance.
It is very likely he has had many chances, just this time he got caught.
I’ve read through all the comments this post and the last but what everyone or most don’t know is THIS IS HIS SECOND O.U.I. WHILE BEING A COP the other happened when he worked for the sheriff’s dept and i do believe if my memory is right he got into an accident with his cruiser while off duty on parkway south in Brewer i think he hit a guardrail if i remember right and was charged back then with o.u.i it was in the paper and the news so obviously Mr Tall didn’t learn his lesson obviously he should be TERMINATED PERIOD
Try as I might I could find no newspaper archived story, no reference in Court News so I will ask you to provide the link.
I tried too. Went thru over 20 pages of google references using multiple search criteria. I can’t say what Brian states is NOT true, but I cannot find any reference to it.
US DoD study on random polygraphs for personnel. http://t.co/Tr7uafTd
“the polygraph is the single most effective tool for finding information people were trying to hide.” – DoD, NSA