Assembly member Tom Morphet made public four complaints against Haines Police officers Tuesday, leading some members to question his methods despite an assembly vote of 5-1 to investigate the claims.

“The Haines Borough Assembly, we this body, are being asked to approve a 29 percent increase in police funding,” Morphet said. “Before voting to increase the department’s funding I want to make sure these complaints are addressed so we’re not buying more of what these allegations are about.”

Assembly member Margaret Friedenauer questioned Morphet’s methods and said she’s dealt with similar complaints in a different manner.

“I provided support for them to bring that complaint to the appropriate person and I felt that was the best role I could play,” Friedenauer said. “It was not my role as a legislator to bring that information forward because it wasn’t systemic, and maybe that’s where we disagree here.”

She also said the complaints were narratives Morphet collected from people, and that they were “his” complaints.

Three of the complaints were written by individuals involved, including two from Lower 48 residents. The fourth was based on an interview Morphet conducted with Texas residents who visited last July.

During the assembly meeting, interim borough manager Brad Ryan said bringing the complaints out into the public put him in a difficult situation.

“I don’t know that these persons want to follow up on these complaints, in fact, in one case I know they don’t,” Ryan said. “Actually in two they don’t. I don’t want to throw their names out there and drag them through the public process of this.”

Morphet said this week he had permission to use the four accounts.

Two of the letters are from drivers complaining about how they were treated after being pulled over by officers. Another, which was sent to the police and assembly members was Rob Goldberg’s concern that officer Brayton Long recruited his son, Martin Goldberg, to be a police informant.

Goldberg also alleged that officers, in public, accused Martin of committing serious crimes, and that Long revealed to a suspect during a vehicle drug search that Martin gave him the suspect’s name.

“I have lived in Haines for 33 years, and I have never seen police behavior like this,” Goldberg wrote in a January letter to Haines Police chief Heath Scott. “It’s shameful. You’re scapegoating a mentally handicapped person and blaming him for everything that happens in this town.”

Goldberg said he worries making his complaint public might incur backlash against his son but that it’s better to “shine a light on the problem rather than keep it hidden.”

Goldberg also said the police have backed off Martin since he wrote the letter but that others may be treated in similar ways.

David Hedden, 72, lodged a verbal complaint in August to then interim police chief Glen Klinkhart after he was pulled over by two police officers on the last day of the state fair.

“When I started to get out of my truck, an especially stern young police officer wearing those “Seal Team 6” shades ordered me back in my truck. I was a bit confused, but I did as ordered,” Hedden wrote. “A second officer approached from the passenger side with his hand on his weapon. I was a bit shaken...I felt like I was surrounded by children with real guns.”

In an interview this week, Hedden said he’s glad his concerns have been made public.

“I do think that the young men who were policing the town were out of line and they need a modest dope slap,” Hedden said during an interview. “They need a little feedback to correct what they were doing.”

Hedden also said Klinkhart seemed sympathetic to his concerns and said he would address the issue.

Criss Chaney and Gary Dodak, the two other individuals who logged complaints, didn’t respond to phone and email messages left for them Wednesday.

Morphet said the complaints raise “legitimate questions about how the police interact with residents.” He said he took the complaints to Ryan on April 4. He said he wanted the matter expedited as he may be recalled.

Assembly member Ron Jackson described the complaints as a “mish mash” of information. He said only one of the letters was a complaint filed with the police.

“It’s out in the open now,” Jackson said. “It’s on the table. I can’t seem to ignore it. Is there something there that’s a learning thing for the police chief about past actions?”

The assembly voted 5-1 to direct Ryan to bring back a response to the four police complaints with an explanation of the issues. Assembly member Mike Case voted against the motion, and said it wasn’t something the assembly needed to vote on.

Scott said he wouldn’t comment in detail on the issue because it’s a personnel matter and that the officers’ rights needs to be considered in the process as well.

“I don’t feel like what was done tonight was done appropriately,” Scott said. “It wasn’t professional.”

He added he takes every complaint seriously and that it’s natural for people to take issue with the actions of police because they sometimes have to “take away people’s civil liberties.”