People Rally In Support Of Desert Hot Springs Police Officer

Seven protestors stood in Friday morning’s chilling temperatures to support a man they say Desert Hot Springs residents need.

“He’s a great guy with a big heart. He’s a professional police officer. He’s got a master’s degree, used to be a teacher,” protestor Rita DelValle said.

Officer Paul Tapia, the Police Officers Association president, is under fire.

Protestors say the main issue stems back to December concerning the POA toy giveaway.

They have concerns Tapia could face disciplinary actions over the way he responded to a dispute about the event.

City Manager Rick Daniels didn’t allow the POA to host the giveaway in a city building, for space issues. Protestors don’t believe that.

“Why did he refuse? Because they were in the middle of contract negotiations with the police department and it was not going well,” protestor Judy Murray said.

Mayor Yvonne Parks walked over to the protest.

Regarding what Tapia allegedly did wrong, “It’s a personnel issue, so I couldn’t comment even if I did know,” Parks said.

She knows the city had good reason for moving the toy drive location, though.

“It was absolutely not a good place to hold it, with the number of people. It was the crowd that we couldn’t handle,” Parks said.

Back in December, though, at the toy giveaway, Tapia said the opposite.

“As you can see for yourself, it’s not even close to being maximized here. We had one line coming in, one line going out,” Tapia said.

Protestors use the word “corruption”.

“Things aren’t right. We just want to fix the things that aren’t right,” protestor Robert Misner said.

“I don’t think we have corruption here,” Parks said.

“He’s a fantastic officer, and we don’t need to lose people like that,” Misner noted.

News Channel 3 tried to reach Tapia, but he didn’t return our phone call or respond to our email.