Monday, December 23, 2013
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47 comments:
Let's talk about our pension. Maybe some of the pension board will chime in and limit our worries?
http://news.yahoo.com/rising-stocks-push-u-public-pension-assets-record-195732422--sector.html
"Public Pensions at Record Highs"
I wonder how ours is doing, with all the paid advisors we have on board.
I'm just throwing this out there but does anyone else think that Cedric the Entertainer has his power hungry eyes on the CEO position?
I sure do. That guy is an egomaniac!
LEE MAY, make a name for yourself and take down business license and permitting. We're sure you want to get elected.
News Flash-
Those that are providing ways and places for drug deals, money laundering are going away for a long time. Those that provide places for child/adult human trafficking are going away for a long time. These people may be DeKalb County elected officials or county employees. They have already caught some DKPD employees. We will catch all of you, who ever you are. Sleep Well, YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE.
The problem with this department is not the officials it is the baseless comments thrown out by individuals. These comments hurt the police department more than what VJ or Ellis did. If you have any evidence of wrong doing please bring it to the right people or the press, if not STFU!!!!!!!! We need to build this department up not try to destroy it.
Lt
@ Lt,
I totally agree with you but a lot people on here don't know what the wrongdoings in the Police Department.
How can people that work in Dekalb County get away with illegal activity for so long? Managers have heard about it and turn the other cheek. Give any employee atleast 50 bucks and they will do anything in the computer system of Dekalb County. To make things extra worst, each employee work together on getting the extra illegal money. I know the crooks of Dekalb County Government had a good Christmas
Merry Christmas to all of my DKPD family. May all of us working this Christmas Eve and Christmas day stay safe and return home to our families.
Lt said...
The problem with this department is not the officials it is the baseless comments thrown out by individuals. These comments hurt the police department more than what VJ or Ellis did. If you have any evidence of wrong doing please bring it to the right people or the press, if not STFU!!!!!!!! We need to build this department up not try to destroy it.
Lt
December 24, 2013 at 6:04 PM
Ditto.
Another LT
I feel comforted today that Vernon hosted a radio show on WAOK today. It also included a call from Burrell Ellis talking about the push for the city hood for many. Vernon said that all of the progress that he made in office is being destroyed. He also said that this amounts to re-segregation in the county. I guess that he forgot that this started with him not representing Dunwoody. I remember him telling folks that "you didn't vote for me" up here! My Christmas wish is that Vernon is indicted in 2014. Oh please pretty please.....
three year rookie sez: merry christmas to all my brothers and sisters out there! to everyone working last night, today, tonight, be safe and go home to your families! may your new year be filled with peace and joy. this is still the greatest job in the world, lets make our department and ourselves worthy of the trust and responsibility placed upon us! be safe, do good work, i got your six!
Three year rookie...???... with all the turnover and the experience that has walked away, you're an old vet at DKPD!
I think we can narrow which a** kissing Lts. are following the blog! Look new chief, look public safety director, I'm positive and know that the problems are my employees not me. Oh sh*t did I just say that, my management guide says that employees and attitudes are a direct reflection on the leadership. Ok, then I retract my look at me comment until further advisement from above.
Despite everything going on in this department, I'm noticing officer still doing what they swore to do. Good job my fellow co-workers!
DECEMBER 26, 2013 AT 5:37 PM, Amen brother ... we still do our sworn duty. Death before dishonor.
I'm George Chidi.
I know it's the convention to post anonymously here. I'm not particularly conventional.
I'm a former staff writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where (among other things) I wrote about public safety in Gwinnett County. I left in 2008 for an MBA at Georgia Tech. I work as a marketing consultant these days ... when I'm not writing.
I still write. I edit at RawStory.com, I'm a front-page poster on Peach Pundit and I contribute to an odd site called The Bitter Southerner. I'm Google-able. Jim Walls at Atlanta Unfiltered is a friend of mine.
I bring all of this up because I have an active interest in writing about corruption issues in DeKalb County. I've been pushing for proper funding of the county's ethics board and been tracking how people wrapped up in the school board, wastewater and CEO scandals have fared.
The FBI busts early this year, the deputy police chief conviction, the weird thing with a cop apparently planting marijuana on a suspect on North Hairston a year or so ago and the odd extortion case a few months ago -- all of this has made me wonder just how significant the department's issues are right now. No one seems to have written the definitive story yet. I suspect it's more like a book at this point.
Sadly, the cuts at the AJC have made long-form dirt digging difficult. We are, as we used to say in the Army, in a target-rich environment. There aren't enough reporters left to dig deeply through the Governor's stuff, the CEOs stuff, APS, Kasim Reed, the legislature, Gwinnett, et cetera. It's triage -- too many calls, not enough hands.
I just won election to a city council seat in Pine Lake. Part of my interest involves seeing what the relative value of an honest police force might look like, in terms of improving my city's relationship with its neighbors.
Also, it's been entirely too long since someone has been shooting at me for what I've written.
Perhaps my concerns are overblown. I prefer data to speculation in any case. Which is why I'm reaching out to you.
I need better questions to ask.
I'd like to know which records to request -- assuming the unlikely truth that things can be revealed with a Georgia Open Records Act request. I'd like to know with whom I should speak, inside or outside of the department.
My e-mail address is gchidi (at) neonflag.com and my phone number is 678-824-4187 ... neither of which are particularly secret. We can work out the means for encrypted communication or a private conversation.
Many thanks.
Guess what, y'all? Vernon Angus Jones wants to be sheriff. Can someone just buy a box of cereal and give him the plastic toy badge instead?
http://crossroadsnews.com/news/2013/dec/27/six-already-line-run-dekalb-sheriff/?page=1
“I know DeKalb and DeKalb knows me. Having been the county’s chief executive officer and top administrator, I have the experience in managing DeKalb’s largest police department. So becoming DeKalb’s Sheriff is a natural fit.”
I'm sure he'd do thorough inspections of the female inmates.
Mr. Chidi,
Everyone knows the department has had issues over the years. Repeating every story about officers getting fired or arrested from the last 3 to 5 years isn't going to do anyone any good. In fact, it would just be lazy reporting on your part. Why don't you try something different? Why don't you try to find the causes of the problems? Why don't you look into how we haven't been given raises in almost 8 years? Why don't you look into how shortly after raises were frozen, Burrell Ellis gave his little secretary a 30% raise. Sharon Barnes Sutton pulled a similar maneuver by changing the job title of one of her employees. Not only have we not seen a raise in almost 8 years, we've had our pay cut. We've had furlough days. We had our pay rate cut by 10% for a week at a time, because the public didn't like the idea of us being furloughed. So we ended up working for free one day a week! The amount of money taken out of each pay check for our pension contribution has gone from less than $10 per pay check to over $100!!! That's almost a $2000 a year pay cut! We're driving cars with over 150,000 miles on them. We're short handed at every precinct, and precincts still don't have enough cars for all of the officers. Shifts are supposed to overlap. Some shifts can't get out until the officers from the previous shift come in one at a time and give up their cars to the next guy. Then, why don't you look at how many officers are leaving the department for betting paying jobs at other department or in the private sector?
You can be a real reporter and look into the causes of the problems in our department and figure out ways to improve things, or you can be a lazy ass and just copy and paste every story that's already been written and keep beating us while we're down.
Mr. Chidi,
You should also look into how the attrition problems in the county. Look at how many officers we've lost because of how poorly we are treated, then look at how long it takes and how much it costs to replace that one officer. If we lose someone today, it may take 7 to 9 months to get that officers replacement out on the road. The replacement has to go through weeks of background checks, interviews, fitness assessments, and tests. Once the replacement is in the academy, you're paying him or her a salary to do nothing but learn. They aren't answering 911 calls yet. You're paying them and hoping they don't flunk out of the academy. To replace that officer that quit, it's going to end up taking you at least 7 months and costing you about $50,000 to training them before they answer their first 911 call. Now multiply that by how many officers we lose each year. Then ask yourself this: wouldn't it have just been cheaper to give the original officer a measly 3% to 5% raise? If you're an MPO making $50,000 a year, a 5% raise is only $2500 a year. Wouldn't spending $2500 a year to keep a trained officer make more sense than spending $50,000 to replace him? But then, is that replacement going to quit soon too?? Then you have replace the replacement!!
Don't be lazy! Look into stuff like this!
George check out Clarkston or Lithonia, no worst than Pine Lake.
Thanks Lt for your comments. in DeKalb there seems to an over abundance of some real nasty haters. I come from a long line of folks that work in law enforcement. And I have never in all my days ever witnessed hate and tearing down as I have witness on this blog. It does not take courage or a backbone to post on this blog. So this blog has become a platform for all the cowards who wear a badge for DeKalb PD. You complain, bitch, and moan about the command staff, other officers and supervisors. But not one of you has ever stood up and for anything that you have said about anybody that you mention. And you have the nerve to talk about the thugs running around DeKalb county. Well to me and a lot of other folks in DeKalb you are nothing but a bunch of coward thugs with balls. Real men stand up to folks that you say are doing wrong.
@ George, You have a pre-determined idea that we (DKPD) are corrupt? Let me say this; there have been problems but mostly we(DKPD) have uncovered them, investigated them, arrested them and presented the case for prosecution. The deputy chief was investigated by detectives from his own unit, and no one planted any drugs and of course my favorite BS story about DKPD profiling certain cars. The press has intentionaly lied on multiple stories and become our enemy ! Since you are now a city councilman and have aninterest in a honest police force then I would suggest you dissolve the Pine Lake Police. Why are they working extra jobs outside of Pine Lake; like the strip club on Brockett and over by Decatur.
George..........DeKalb Pd and/or government is not the only one that has criminal and political problems. There isn't a government out there that doesn't have one kind or another problem. If it didn't, it wouldn't be a government. Nothing is perfect, never has and never will be.
You work for a liberal rag that takes the left side for the truth which is not the case. If you wrote about being in the middle, you wouldn't have anything to report on.
It was a good idea to write about DCPD and the county, but the problems that this county has will not be going away until all of the current crooks are behind bars and a new crew comes in and start all over again. The jobs in the political arena are too tempting to be honest.
Do you think this will change if all of the areas in the county becomes cities? "NO" is the answer because the problem will still exist, though on a smaller level.
The only place that I know of where there is no corruption whatsoever is in the middle of all of the oceans unless some idiot comes along and declares that the ocean is his.
George, you need to clean up the AJC before writing about someone else's dirty laundry.
If you give this guy information, he will make dekalb look worst while making himself look like a really journalist without doing any work and waiting from information from officers. Real journalist do their own leg work and investigation. George you a joke, deal with pine lake problems and leave dekalb county issues alone.
George, start with a copy of the budget..free for all get a copy of...go line item by line item...notice the amounts ..where they start and end... The line officers are not the problem...look at who request the money..who signs off..where it comes from...who ok'd Alexander's raise...who denied police and 911 operators raises,,, who took trips with wives and husbands on the county dime,,,look at misappropriation of the "good old boy"" system money..who got fired for speaking up... DIG !
What's wrong with Clarkson? New Chief, new cars, new administration, new Officers.
Annexation is coming and taking more away from De kalb
With all due respect LT, the problem is centered on the command staff. As a line officer all i use to hear in roll call is numbers and get them up also 10-94 your businesses cause "we" want to hear you on the radio. Oh by the way ignore the officers who don't have to answer calls or are always 10-10 on a hot call however no one actually responds to the call. Now lets get to the true issue, Decatur. We had more chiefs in the last 10 years then I had girlfriends. Its funny how you company LT's walk into roll call and talk about consistent numbers and dont let the politics affect you. Well Numb nuts the politics does affect me and my pay and my family. You want me to be consistent however nothing else around DKPD is not. From the units to specialized units example ICP NET units and so on, to motor homes as command posts, to moving convenient oil changes at motor maint, to peachtree. So get off your high horse and send an email or finish watching the game or do whatever LTS do all night. And before you want to get back on the high horse and call me a slacker or a vet who doesnt like to work let me head you off. Your are right I did not like to write tickets to low income people who for the most part cant afford them. You are right I do not like busy work saying 10-94's over the radio to make sure im awake. You are right my numbers are usually lower than the traffic nazi's, However, I never dodged a call and handled other officers call who didnt know how, i do not call my sargent with "what do I do call", when i advised a sarge over the air it was,"sgt i got a domestic battery be 10-15 shortly" My reports were done and in a readable manner. Now LT lets address the officer complaint issue. I have personally observed repercussions for officer who "spoke their mind" after being ask to by a supervisor just to get the hammer on them. After watching that a couple of times of course you will get the usual dumb look in roll call. So get your head out of your ass.
Also Lt you wrote bring things to the right people. Really you know better than that. Ask the K9 units who had to get recert for bringing things to the right people. Ask former Chief Moody about bringing things to the right people. Ask the former county fraud unit about the same thing. And last but not least ask yourself why you need to make two packets for any type of open position in DKPD, because one packet that goes up the chain sometimes disappears, the other one is hand walk to it destination. At the end of the day this is a BLOG you clown.
I just saw that Sgt. Patterson just got transferred out of ICP, what gives?
Wondering a few things about our pension. What was our yearly return? The stock market has great returns...how about us? We paid out nearly a million bucks in asset management fees..what return did we get for that? Will retirees finally get a COLA?
I appreciate the feedback since posting earlier. I am somewhat stupefied by the reaction of some here, though. I'm not trying to repeat stories that have already been told. I'm looking for honest answers to questions the public is asking about issues in the department -- questions that have been asked, repeatedly, in this very space.
I'm aware of how the county has been screwing police here. And I am looking at root causes. But the problems won't change until the public understands exactly how that affects their safety or their wallet.
I think the attrition-recruiting cost problem isn't being well explained by anyone, for example.
This is whatever the opposite of lazy journalism is. Lazy journalists would wait for someone to issue a press release, make one phone call and then pass it on unexamined as "news."
But, whatever. I accept that many people in law enforcement have an inherent hostility to transparent examination of government operations by civilians ... even when looking at it is in their interest.
And I'll leave it at that. I appreciate your help.
Chidi,
All you said was you wanted to write an all encompassing piece about all of the corruption in DeKalb County. In other words, you wanted to just sum up all of the stuff that's already been written.
If you really cared at all about how we the police officers have been screwed over for years and were looking into it, you should have asked at least one question about that in your first post, but you didn't. All you talked about were the arrested officers and how you can find more information about that stuff. So I'm calling BULLSHIT!
The attrition-recruiting problem was explained very well for you here. Look into it for yourself and you'll see!
Mr. Chidi,
The ones resisting you are more than likely the ones trying to remain in power and/or have the most to loose from your inquiries. Those aforementioned statements do not represent DKPD as a whole. Personally I believe this repetitive corruption is indicative of a culture that has been exposed repeatedly to no avail. Having said that, underlying and inherent reasons for corruption presented by a journalist in this city would probably not serve you well. I wish you luck.
@7:49 Ask Pam she would probably be glad to tell you. I'm thinking it has to do with the I.C.P. disaster to come.
Cityhood rages in Dekalb County.
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2014/01/02/cityhood-rages-in-dekalb/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_forward
Here is a link to a summary of the Cityhood proposals, as published in the AJC by the respective parties, including CEO Lee May (opposed to cityhood).
I hope that DKPD officers will read and find useful. We do support all of your efforts, every day. Please be safe and Thank You for your service.
Frank JR
I hate to see Dekalb County parceled up into cities but there are damn good reasons for it and they are obvious. Ignorance and incompetence.Typically Democrat.It all started in full force in the year 2000.
@Frank jr...U do not support our efforts, u support your efforts. i dont see any civilians at the commission rallying for the police or fire (a stupid dog pound for unadoptable vicious pit bulls & hundreds show up to rally!). in campaigns for new cities supporters blame DKPD for everything from termites to rainy days. it doesnt matter that DKPD risked their lives and made real differences in the crime rate . yes it is lower than 10 or 15 yrs ago! i do not recall one citizen like you joining me as i moved towards the sound of gun fire or into a burning building. all you new city people want is the money that was designated for our future, probably so u can build a puppy park. i came to DKPD knowing I would not get rich but i was foolish enough to believe Frank jr and orther civilians that I risked my life for would honor their contract . the new cities have turned their back on DKPD and FD by not contributing to the pension fund. our pension fund is not in danger yet but if Frank jr and others do turn DeKalb into a bunch of cities then it will be. the new cities have replaced DKPD with under trained, inexperienced officers that provide a few services beyond a cop in a car.
Frank Jr
Thanks for sharing that link. I think it is a very informative resource in order to gain insight into both sides of the cityhood debate that is ongoing in DeKalb.
In reading Mr. May's essay, I can only chuckle a little bit. I'll try to keep the analysis short.
Mr May's article absolutely ignores the facts and reasons as to why people with the means to form cities are forming them. Instead, it focuses on how those in "affluent enclaves have the advantage and power over those of lesser means" and the counties most "valuable assets" are being placed into "arbitrarily drawn boundaries" that are "cherry picked". Much of this rhetoric is what management regurgitates to employees.
Mr May also points out how all of these new formed cities are hurting the county's ability to generate enough revenue to cover its costs and PENSION obligations. New cities are electing to hire new workforces without offering pensions to their workforce, which obviously keeps costs to city taxpayers down. Much of this is very true indeed.
I got news for everybody, LIFE IS NOT FAIR and neither are the effects of cityhood. Even if you agree with Mr May, you have to admit that the underlying reasons to the cityhood wildfire that is gripping Dekalb have not been and are still not being addressed.
I think the larger and more important question is why are those that can form cities forming them ? People of means are generally conservative and want LESS government. Citizens in areas with the means to form cities are forming them or looking to form them are doing it because the people running the county have not done a good job. Dont get me wrong, they dont have an easy job and the economic downturn presented its challenges but at times I feel it is easy to point the finger at the economy.
The fact is, incompetence and corruption has cost Dekalb big time-From image to legal council. When you mention "DeKalb" to anyone, they all make a face of disgust. The image and reputation precedes it and its not a good one. Services have gotten so bad that many areas are highly undesirable to live or conduct business in. "Less fortunate" areas see and feel the effects quicker and harder than "more fortunate" areas. The "more fortunate" areas have had enough and are tired of paying the most tax money and getting little in return for it. SO GUESS WHAT THEY DO ? They take their initiative and means and FIRE the county from certain areas of their lives. This in turn may cause even more problems for "less fortunate" areas, but who's fault is that ? The cities forming or the county for driving them to form ?
In addition to blaming cities for its latest financial problems, the county has blamed us workers and even hired a customer service class lady to try to convince us that many of the county's problems with cityhood are due to us and our "poor attitudes". It was suggested in this class that cultures of companies and governments come from the ground up. How many of you out there have joined a company as an employee and expected the company or had the company conform to you ?....
At the end of the day they are the ones steering the ship but they like to blame everyone else on the ship when they keep steering into things that are sinking it ! They know how to treat themselves right and richly I might add...with other peoples money. Those that can and want to leave-from taxpayers forming cities to employees who have had enough-ARE LEAVING. FIX THE PROBLEMS. Injecting class and social warfare into the picture wont solve anything. If you Fix the problems, the solutions will present themselves.
SERENITY NOW
If the same amount of time was put into catching and keeping in prison criminals that goes into harassing the motoring public for revenue, unimmerged cities would nave zero complaints.
@ 1144
Are you serious with that post ?
The pension is already in trouble and has been before this cityhood movement. Currently it is $640 million underfunded. The plan has about 65 cents for every pension dollar they have/will have to pay in the near future. That figure comes straight from the pension board minutes from Nov of 2013.
True, it seems like we the police are used as a rallying cry for forming new cities. That may be due to the fact that we are severely understaffed and response times are horrible. There is low to no visibility in some neighborhoods because there are not enough officers. There hasn't been for years, but due to the high attrition rate, it is now far worse. The crime rate may be down, but if people have the impression that crime is up, then the numerical facts don't matter.
You should direct your anger/blame/frustration at the county's elected officials, managers,those that chose to be corrupt, the command staff of this dept, and ourselves.
The county for years has failed the taxpayers and those that can form cities are now doing so. Can you blame them ?
The work environment and all the sacrifices we have been asked to make financially over the past several years and continue to make have caused HUGE human resource issues in regards to this department. The attrition rate proves this. I could write on and on about this subject, but I will move on.
The command staff has certainly not stood up for us. Talk all you want about Bolton, the one thing you can say is that he spoke out publicly about the issues the county needed to address regarding its police dept. The rest have/ are just trying to get out in a high paying position so they have a nice pension....no waves.
Finally, we have failed ourselves. Not many of us have gone to BOC meetings or pension board meetings in force. The ticket strike got the county's attention but didn't last as long as it should have. We have all the balls in the world when it comes to catching the bad guys, but none when it comes to standing up for ourselves.
SERENITY NOW
Any potential raise (salary or pension) just continues to get eaten up by lawsuits stemming from the gross incompetence and corruption that is Dekalb County. The latest is from numerous homes damaged from explosions from a company hired by our CEO to give him "campaign contributions" that wasn't qualified to use demolitions.
I GUARANTEE YOU when our pension starts collapsing it won't be difficult to track down those responsible and file class action punitive suits against EVERY SINGLE ONE of them.
What a hell hole....it's almost 10-42 time for me, and I'll say good riddens personally to a few of my favorite sergeants who have thrown myself and many others under the bus with their job scared pussy tactics. The county is full of idiotic perps who want handouts, and while many of the officers are outstanding, it seems the leadership (especially sergeants) are worse than any perp on the street. Have fun turning into the SO!
The $640 is from the "pension holiday" , "early retirement offer" plus the calculated interest lost? The pension reported assets rising from $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion in the last two reporting cycles and how many retirees does that support? The $640 is from the pension board and what number does the commission say is needed to reconcile the pension?
The Flakes Mill Road precinct closed about 2 years ago. The website not being update is an issue, but shouldn't you have known that precinct was closed?
Just tried to call Flakes Mill.... why....do you need a TAC or a STAR team unit?
FYI... we answer 911 calls... we have nothing to do with the website.
Good thing the usual suspects aren't around to "misplace" the millions seized by Narcotics. I suppose it's still on the same bolo as the missing Recorder's Court millions.
And Ellis is back in... Does anyone know the law there? http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/fallout-could-be-explosive-if-motions-prove-true-e/ncjnL/
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