Saturday, May 16, 2009

Permanent police chief awaits merit system change

DeKalb County won’t get a permanent police chief until the Board of Commissioners removes the job of chief from merit protection.

Ellis has asked the Board of Commissioners to change the law to remove the police chief’s job from under the county’s Merit System.

The request, which was on the Board of Commission’s May 12 Business Agenda, has not yet made it out of the Public Safety Committee.

District 4 Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who heads that committee, said she expects the amendment to come before the full board on June 9.

Read more at CrossRoadsNews

6 comments:

Same story, Many of the Same Players said...

From the Article -

“Morale was at an all-time low,” he said. “We had to fix that. We had problems with the leadership. We had to fix that. We took action. We put the leadership in the police department.”

What in tar-nation does he mean by "WAS"?

Does Ellis somehow get the impression that Morale is now soaring?

I must have missed the improvement in Morale during the exitement generated by
1)the increased availability of patrol cars, the improved equipment,
2)the improved radio/computer system,
3)the issuing of .40 caliber service pistols and
4)the issuing of Tasers.

Reality - Bolton is gone, but the layers of poor management remain unchanged. The equipment still sucks and continues to age and wear down with 24x7 usage.

If he truly thinks Morale has improved, I motion that that drug testing be done on a regular basis in the Executive offices of DeKalb County.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Same Story,
I support the CEO and I think he is a good man. I like and support Chief O’Brien. I think Director WZ Miller was a great choice and I support him. I supported Terrell Bolton when he was first hired too but within six months I hated the man! I certainly do not think any of these men are Terrell Bolton, but please do not take our support for granted.

The morale is better with Bolton gone but almost everyone is waiting to see what is next. I realize that you can not just snap your fingers and fix all of our equipment problems and I don’t think anyone expects that. It will take time and hard work. HOWEVER, if you think some of Bolton’s command staff left in place is going to improve the morale of this depressed police department, then you are very MISTAKEN! Please do not ask me to follow the very people who kissed Bolton’s ass and mistreated their subordinates to get ahead.

Every Captain, Lieutenant and Sergeant who I know all agrees with the above concerning the command staff. I absolutely REFUSE to believe that the best this department has for appointed command staff positions are the incompetent, self serving command staff that Bolton put in place!

Cut the current command staff and GIVE SOMEONE ELSE A CHANCE!

Anonymous said...

One of my peeves with DeKalb government is that the drug testing policy specificaly excludes elected officials and their staffs, unless the elected official voluntarily agrees of drug testing themselves and staff. I have always thought it hypocritical and unethical to enact rules and regulations that amount to a grave violation of civil rights granting search and seizure of bodily fluids without probable cause while exempting themselves and staff from the same rules. If you want to play mickey-mouse, then obey the same rules as you make your employees follow. I also suspect that a few elected officials and some staff would be caught if they were subjected to the same drug testing expected of DeKalb employees.

Mr. "On The Fence" said...

Another example how this new CEO is holding this department hostage. No permanent chief until the position is from under merit protection. This is crazy, we need clear cut leadership the CEO is playing politics with this department now.

Morale is not getting better it is just not getting worst. We are still making no effort to move forward from the Bolton era. Just because we moved a couple people to different positions means nothing to the grunts. We need to see action not more talk, I am getting tired of that.

Anonymous said...

This is getting crazy. I finally obtained my college degree and I am seriously thinking about going federal this department is becoming low rent. It is not what it once was and I am thinking about moving to greener pastures. The FBI and Secret Service are looking real good right now. Dekalb P.D. shape up!

Jump Baby Jump said...

If you have your two years in with Dekalb and you're under the new retirement plan (62%), you should be looking at the Feds.

I tell all the rookies that are worth their salt to put in the required two years with Dekalb to fufill their obligation and to get the experience. If the department hasn't improved and/or changed, jump to the FBI, DEA, ATF, etc...alo check out departments in Florida and Texas.

Get with a good organization that offers a good pension.

If nothing has changed, they should move on to better organizations.