June 18, 2005

Bianca cites health reasons for his extended leave

Police chief won’t get more specific, affirms internal review of Binder case isn’t related

By Jennifer Squires
Ashland Daily Tidings

Ashland Police Chief Mike Bianca requested an extended leave from his position for health reasons, he said Friday evening in the YMCA parking lot.

Bianca would not disclose the health issues that led him to ask City Administrator Gino Grimaldi for leave on June 10. The leave became effective immediately.

“That’s a private area,” he said. He and his wife had just finished an hourlong water aerobics class.

City Attorney Mike Frannell said Bianca had taken a four-week leave and would be back around July 11.

Bianca said he would return the force “when I get healthy” and did not speculate on a return date.

The absence is not related to the city’s fact-finding investigation into the APD’s April standoff with a mentally ill man recently, according to Bianca.

On April 22, police officers from Ashland and Talent and Jackson County sheriff’s deputies surrounded Binder’s apartment at 2080 Siskiyou Blvd. just after 11 a.m. to take Binder into custody because they believed Binder, 35, was a danger to himself and others.

Frannell confirmed the city had recently completed an “internal review” of the police department’s actions. He said the city was not investigating Bianca.

“Regarding the reference to our situation with Dirk Binder — you missed the point here,” Bianca said in a written statement. “There were plenty of police mistakes (as there always are in incidents like this), including my own. In a mysterious combination of our skills and our mistakes, we achieved the most marvelous result possible.”

Bianca would not comment on what mistakes the department had made and said the city’s report was “for training purposes.”

“It’s confidential,” Bianca said.

In response to a formal request under Oregon’s public records law by the Ashland Daily Tidings on Friday, Frannell said he would give the Tidings a copy of the report within 30 days. The Tidings plans to file the same request with the Jackson County district attorney on Monday morning.

Staff writer Jennifer Squires can be reached at 482-3456 x 3019 or jsquires@dailytidings.com.