Tuesday, April 7, 2009

CEO seeks change in chief firing procedure

Ellis is asking the commission to change county law and eliminate merit protection for future chiefs. Commissioner Stokes, Vernon’s crony, tips her hand of resistance. The item is to be heard in today commission meeting.

Today's meeting agenda suspiciously has not been posted on the county web page.

Stay tuned.

8 comments:

Slamin Ethel said...

Well personally I feel if you come up through the ranks you should be entilted merit protection such as my new Chief O'Brien.
Now if you are someone from another agency you should not be protected, you have not done your time here.
And most likely will not have the support you are going to need from your officers.
We have more than enough qualified officers here that can handle the job, look no further than your own back door Mr Ellis.
You have been given a chance to show you can do the right thing so please do so.
And let's be honest this place is self sustaining and can run without anyone directing us. We show up do our job and go home. Grown men shouldn't have to be shown which direction to go, it should be a instinct.
Sergeants run this department as with any, the leadership above this is only there for polictical
purposes. So long as you have good officers working under you this place will survive well after we are all gone.
So I say with the old regime out of here with a few remaining exceptions, this place will carry on. But morale could get a boost with the Atlantians thrown out on their asses.
They have brought nothing to the table to better this dept.
So rock on Chief O'Brien, Im going to slap Ethel around a bit more.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to respond to Slammin Ethel's comment that the leadership above the rank of Sergeant is only there for political purposes. In my 22 years with the DKPD I spend 9 of them as a uniform Sergeant. I will agree as to how important the first line supervisor is because they often have to multi-task between clearing on calls doing their administrative paperwork and fielding complaints. However, now that I am a Lieutenant to say that my position is there for political purposes is not true. The fact of the matter is that most of what the Lieutenant does can be done by an experienced Sergeant whether it be vacation schedules, watchlist, payroll, tracking crime patterns and deploying resources. My experience has revealed that it is always a good idea to have each rank accountable to the next in the chain of command. I have total faith in my Sergeant's however, at times I see things they don't because I bring a different perspective. There are times when Sergeants make errors in judgment and although it is rare occasionally complaints against them are sustained. So is my position political? No sir!

Anonymous said...

Major and above is strictly political; Captain and below are earned.I know.

Anonymous said...

Lieutenants get the job done in the DeKalb Police Department. A good commander will surround himself / herself with motivated and aggressive lieutenants. The Precinct Commanders and their assistants should set the tone and direction and leave the "how to" the the Watch Commanders. A good lieutenant will lead by example and empower the sergeants to think and act on their feet.

If a Precinct Commander has good lieutenants, he / she will have half of the battle won already.

Anonymous said...

Honestly, I've lost faith in the whole system that makes up our rank structure.

Punch in, punch out, collect a pension at the end. Unless you've been accepted in the clique and have been "made", there's nothing more.

This is a J O B.

Years of thinking it was something more taught me I was wrong.

Anonymous said...

Dont loose faith in the system, stand up for what is right. If you give in to the system, you will have sold your soul to the devil. There are people that you can go to if you have a legit complaint. Ask around to people you can trust.

Anonymous said...

The system is flaud . They are still hooking up their cronies with CID positions and secret phone calls. The good ole boys are back!

Anonymous said...

Quoting:

"The system is flaud . They are still hooking up their cronies with CID positions and secret phone calls. The good ole boys are back!"


1. You mean flawed..
2. Who is "They"?
3. Who are the "cronies"?
4. What CID positions?
5. Who are the "good ole boys?"

If you know, then say so. Don't just write something to stir the pot.