The county is facing a 40 million dollar deficit. Atlanta P.D. has started furloughing their police 4 hours per week.
During this time of economic uncertainty, Terrell Bolton is out of control. During his short time as chief, he has spent 100’s of thousands of dollars on unnecessary salaries. He has hired friends and friends of friends. He has created positions only to reward his and Vernon’s loyalist. He has punished well qualified officers of rank by placing them in created meaningless positions or ones normally held by civilian personnel.
TeBo’s latest calamity is taking five (5) sergeants off the streets and placing them in clerical positions within the Kiesha “Margarita” Williams created Field Training Officer section, commanded by Lt. S.E. Kaulbach. These 5 sergeants will be doing nothing more than reviewing paperwork completed by the F.T.O.’s. Can’t this be handled at the precinct level as it has been since Millard D. Nash was hired as the first DeKalb County Police officer on December 18, 1915?
Will Bolton promote another 5 sergeants to fill these slots? Or, because of mismanagement, will he leave the uniform officers lacking supervision? If so, what are the safety implications?
According to sources, a deputy chief practically begged to have Lt. B.C. Harris promoted to Captain. Whether or not now Captain Harris is qualified is not the issue, nor is it an issue if he was next on the promotion list. The issue is the department now has 5 more captains than allotted, this at the taxpayer expense close to 500 hundred thousand dollars. The department is so top heavy; it may tumble over at any moment.
In 1923 and 1931, the department leadership was so incompetent; the entire department was suspended for not serving in the best interest of the public. We are not asking such a drastic measure be taken, just the termination of Terrell Bolton.
The Madness Continues
Friday, December 5, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
16 comments:
Sad!!
I ran across this blog by accident and have been hooked by the great soap opera of the DeKalb Police department. I have read all I can and now feel I have to comment. I have been in law enforcement for several years and now I am a sergeant in CID outside of Atlanta. I have always wondered why the “bosses” work so hard at doing the wrong thing. I have seen this phenomenon in nearly every police/sheriff’s department I’ve come into contact with. I can only think of Lawrenceville as the exception and I may be wrong, they may have issues, but nothing like what I’ve seen in many other places (don’t get me wrong, I haven’t worked at many agencies, but I have friends everywhere). One sign of a poorly run administration is high turn-over. That’s why I include Lawrenceville as the exception. A good police department is hard to get on with because no one wants to leave. I have seen this “wrong thing phenomenon” at agencies from 10 to 1000 officers. I just can not understand why doing the right thing and working with your people is so hard for these idiots to do. Most of them started on uniform patrol and its like they completely forget what its like to actually work for a living.
I’m guessing most of the new command staff at DKPD didn’t actually spend a lot of time on the road. I’ve seen too many promoted because of who you know not what you know. The idiots (TeBo )put these people in a position to fail because they don’t have a clue what they’re doing. The key is to keep competence in the administration and keep friendship promotions to a minimum. When you do promote the “who you knows” you make sure you put them in positions where they have great people over them or put them in a position where they can’t screw up (the department and the chief/sheriff’s name) that bad. Lets face it, there is no way to keep those promotions out of a new administration, but every time it seems like “rank stupidity” takes over and they isolate themselves, do stupid things, make stupid decisions…get away with it until when it’s over, they are alone and their reputations fly through the LE family. That’s what was supposed to keep TeBo out but the one’s who made that decision don’t drive crown vics do they?
I just don’t understand why, keeping your department, as a whole, is so simple. Just listen to your department, if they respect you and like you (yeah I care if subordinates like me, you ever work for someone you like? It makes it so much easier, but notice respect is first) then they take pride, and pride is contagious. If your subordinates respect you then they don’t want to see you fail. Remember, they like their job. I have seen through this blog that there is no pride in DKPD and I don’t blame you one bit. I ask myself what could be done (which we know the only answer to at this point) and who’s to blame? I say every councilperson is to blame, the citizens are to blame, and TeBo himself is to blame. And I certainly say ultimately, Vernon is to blame. The council should/could stop it at anytime, the citizens can make their opinions actions, and TeBo if he had any sense should bow out. Maybe some liberal town that likes to bury their heads in the sand (the Classic City) would hire him on and let him rape the city for a while. Vernon had his chance, but now as TeBo starts his descent, he will take Vernon’s name down with him and with some luck Vernon’s name will never be printed on a ballot again.
I just want to say this to the one’s who are weathering the storm. Hang in there as long as you can, sometimes the grass is greener, and it sounds like you’re playing in a dirt lot. To the supervisors, keep the respect of all around you, you will be relied on. Praise praise praise!! GPSTC teaches it in every class from Supervision I and up. It’s better to praise than reprimand. It last longer, and damn it we all need recognition. Being a cop is not easy. NEVER FORGET TO RECOGNIZE your employees. You want to be recognized, I’m sure everyone reading this has done something this week that should have been recognized and wasn’t. Keep your respect and you will be a real COP, and not some joke like TeBo and his staff who couldn’t fill out an ABR or evidence form (assuming they know what that is.)
And one more thing, I read by someone it sounded like you were “bitching” or something to the effect “if you don’t like it leave”. I have to say this, keep bitching! Write on the blog, talk to each other, get it out of your system. Don’t drive your significant others crazy. They don’t really understand anyway unless they are cops too. It is ok to stay and fight for change and bitch about the system, isn’t that what got this country started to begin with? 95% is the majority.
Be Safe, we all feel your pain.
The only point I can think is, the end is near and they do not care. Will this department ever rise to what it was again? That's the question that must be answer. If we cannot then yes everyone should abandoned the ship.
If Bolton was approve a county contact, it cannot be more than what the commissioners approved. So was something under the table done? I think Vernon is on top of this issue.
We should have a thing on here for the end of the year where we vote for our best and worst supervisors...just a thought for a little something different and humerous!
Thanks for the post. It was a long but and excellent read.
Respect and Pride. You hit the nail on the head. If they respected their officers and the citizens they protect, things wouldn't be so arse backwards. Like in the military, our officers respect command rank by virtue of the rank itself. Respect for the individual is earned. Our command staff has either never earned it or they lost it by becoming a sellout for the title and all its perks.
Pride.....pride is something that oficers take in themselves and their department. It causes the to excell in their jobs. They strive to be the best (on and off duty) because they have pride. Pride is a key ingredient that is missing.
Thanks for taking the time to add your input. I hope Mr. Ellis is taking notes.
The next Chief needs to be a leader who leads from the front. Not an RV outfitted with marble floor and granite countertop....or a long distance telephone line.
The Dekalb County police department needs a leadership enema.Maybe several.
Think positive guy's. It can only get better. Our Supreme Commander, Mr. CEO is almost gone.
Anybody who really knows B.C. Harris knows he has a screw loose. He can be a nice guy and he is a smart guy in some ways, but I am not sure he should be allowed to carry a gun unless he is deployed with the military. Some of you probably have no idea what I am talking about but believe me there are reasons for that statement. (Ask around)
But here is the real point; there are no captain’s positions available or necessary and he was promoted anyway. There were plenty of captains, who are doing next to nothing, who were available to be sent to Tucker Precinct. Harris was promoted because he is Dep. Chief Waddleton's boy and that is all there is to it. Of course it didn't hurt that he started drinking the Bolton kool-aid as soon as he got back either.
I guess the man just really wanted to get promoted NO MATTER WHAT. Harris has been gone for a while and that attitude may pass for leadership in the Alabama National Guard, but these days most officers are calling it something different around this police department. Keep licking those boots dude.
You guys are really something else, The guy gets a phone call from a Chief saying congratulations you have been promoted, and you dog the guy. At least he has spent some time at DKPD and has risen through the ranks. Dont be mad at him, if your gonna be pissed off be pissed at the system. Qualified?? last I heard he was #1 on the Captains list, but a month or so ago they appoint a Lieutenant to Major??
Sure it doesnt hurt having a Dep Chief in your corner if thats true. Although I dont know BC Harris all to well I do know that as a Lieutenant he was more of a cops cop than any other Lieutenant that I have worked with and around. How often do you see Lieutenants in foot chases along with the line level officers? I backed their NET Team unit up and was surprised to see a Lieutenant walking out with a perp in handcuffs, then the Lieutenant filling out a jail docket and property forms. Ask most supervisors about Jail Dockets and most probably dont even know what they look like. I would much rather work Capt Harris as an Assistant Precinct Commander than some Chief with a 2800 badge number.
I feel anyone with the rank of Captain deserves respect due to their title, but would much rather respect a person of that level of authority because they had erned it, not because they command it.
Note to this poster from Dekalbofficers: As we said, the qualification of B.C. Harris is not the issue. The issue is the waste of money when we should be cutting back. Captain Harris is #5 in a line of over promoted captains.
I fully agree with the poster who was defending Capt. Harris. As to the poster who talked about him drinking kool-aid or not fit to carry a gun, it must be nice to post such things in an "anonymous" manner. I doubt any of you that was next on the Capt's list would tell the chief, "well gee chief we really need to cut back so I decline the position". Please get real. Also who among you have the authority or power to say when the county will cut back or by how much? If Chief Bolton was able to get the position approved then there's not alot you can say or do about it.
It amazes me how so many of you are out to save the county money. Wasn't long ago most were screaming about losing the 5% percent raise. Don't worry your little minds about trying to save the county money. The county has always had "ITS" interest in the forefront and when the time comes they'll do what they always do, shaft us!! In the mean time if you can get some money out of this place do it now if you can. Congratulations to Capt. Harris your promotion is earned.
Ditto,
I don't know Cpt Harris, but good for him. Take the money and run...enjoy the merit protection.
I GUESS CENSORSHIP KNOWS NO BOUNDS
No one said B. C. Harris should turn down the promotion if he just got a phone call out of the blue and was told, “Congratulations, you are promoted.” The point was that you shouldn’t kiss peoples ass and have some phony Dep. Chief who is your good friend go beg for your promotion. That’s what is wrong with this place now. You only get something if you kiss their ass or have a friend who is the CEO (current) or a Chief. The fact is clear and simple. We do not need any more damn captains! Despite the fact that the promotion was not needed, Harris deserved to get promoted because he was next on the list???? What about the next guy on the list? What about the guy after him? Do they deserve to get promoted? According to some of your logic, they only deserve to get promoted if they kiss Bolton’s ass and have a friend who is a deputy chief. It is the DeKalb County Police way now. Some of you have become so accustom to it that you are beginning to think it is the right way to do things. By the way, to the writer who said that B.C. Harris was a cops’ cop; wasn’t he in fact a CHIEFS AID as a lieutenant? Well hell, don’t let the facts get in the way of a legend in the making. And anyway, like NOTCAR1 said, “…take the money and run”. Everyone else around here damn sure does!
Yes a finanacial crisis, yet I saw a Dekalb county Code enforcement vehicle sitting in the parking lot at walmart in Gwinnett county. and two Code Enforcement officers in uniform shopping at walmart. Is dekalb county getting paid to shop now and at the same time do code enforcent get take home (Trucks) before police officers. Now I know sometimes officers have to respond to some things in another county but code enforcement what reason would they need to be at a walmart in gwinnett county. Alot of times code enforcement is needed but are they really doing there jobs or just wasting tax payers money.
Post a Comment