It was only a mattter of time before this happened. Having to escort accused felons to court in the open was bound to get one of us shot.
Magistrate Court hearings should be in the jail, in a secure area. What metro area department escorts their prisoners in the open?
So what will you do Cedric? Will you step up as a leader and demand changes? This is an officer safety issue and has been since your first day here.
Thursday, October 2, 2014
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27 comments:
This is a sad day, we knew this would happen. The Sheriff should be required to bring these inmates over like they do to superior and state court. The new leadership over there is wasting our money and not doing job that they are paid to do. Cedric if you are reading and listening call Jeffrey up and make him do his job. We should not have to bring any inmates to court.
There's actually a court room in the jail. And we have video teleconferencing equipment already installed. So why don't we use one or both?
This is because the stupid ass magistrate court judges are too lazy to walk their sorry asses across the street for preliminary hearings. There are 5 court rooms over there, use them! Instead of one judge walking across the street to the prisoners we have to transport sometimes almost a dozen prisoners across the street to them. Taking the prisoners out of the jail like that is a stupid safety risk. The chiefs and the sheriff and the judges don't give a shit about officer safety or they would have changed it years ago. Every other agency in the state leaves the prisoners in the jail for hearings!
The best idea is video court which has worked for many years in Fulton County.
DeKalb can have a video court providing that the crooked politicians can squeeze the taxpayers for some more money. Maybe the Public Safety could use some of those cameras left over from the school district who buys new equipment every year whether it is needed or not.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why this act of violence happened. The simple truth is, it should have not.
Ok the powers to be, get off your fat asses, put some heads together, and come up with a solution that would make this stupidity not happen again.
The days of escorting a perp to magistrate court (or any court)in the open air should a thing of the past. Its time to think of saving the lives of our law enforcement officers, and the hell with the perps.
Give the powers to be time and they will fix this. Remember Rome was not built over night.
Rome, patrol cars or salary surveys... got it... not built over night.... in a week ... a month... etc...
Not holding my breath.
Quick fix start making judges and the sheriff accountable refuse to transport a prisoner to magistrate court, it's not our job. It's sheriff responsibilty once there booked in were not responsible for their court dates they are. Either the judges walk to the jail or the sheriff transports them. In order for this to work every Dekalb officer must stand up and refuse to do this task it is a safety issue .
No Rome was not built overnight. But as police these days you are asked to be more proactive than reactive. Why not hold your leaders to the same standard. Where is the DKPD leadership that is thinking proactively about what is best for the troops?
I pray a speedy recovery for the detective involved. When I was there he was a favorite.
Rome was not built in a day? I am all about being fair, however this ridiculous comment is from the Kool-Aid pitcher itself. OH-YEAH! DeKalb County has had the ability to do video pre-limns for at least 15 years, I know because it was discussed when Burgess was still there. The reason it was not done is the same reason the take home units, camera systems in units, asp batons, spending 3 days at Grady and every other improvement was not instituted in a timely manor, lack of forward thinking. Not to mention not having a 24 hour magistrate court and packing citizens into a Recorders Court that the Fire Marshall could shut down for overcrowding. This way of thinking is why DeKalb Police is a revolving door for officers. I would think someone who was supposed be qualified to run a large metro agency, a national law enforcement support agency, and secured a large raise for himself would have corrected these issues by now. Of course he isn't a police officer so it probably doesn't matter to him.
See what happens when they start the remodeling of Magistrate Court and we have to take them to downtown Decatur to the court rooms their.
Its like the sorry ass jail refuses anyone who says that something is wrong with them. I thought they had a million dollar infirmary with the latest medical equipment and staff. The sure wear out the Fire Department to come treat inmates.
The police department gets dumped on by everyone and every department. Everyone calls us for help but we don't call them. The sheriff department is either in roll call or refuse to help or shift change , you can't make this stuff up.
The jail will refused someone because they say they have high blood pressure ( they take the word of the prisoner) and we have to sit on him at Grady and it might be 24 hours before he is seen by a doctor. Now is this a waste of manpower and taxpayer dollars?
To 10/3/14 @ 6:38 PM:
Are you serious?? The FACT of the matter is, the "Powers to Be" had ample opportunity to fix this BEFORE an incident occurred which caused serious bodily injury to one of us. They hadn't given an inkling of thought to the danger of the current procedures which we've been saying for years is a safety issue. Only after the fact do they want to say were looking into changing the procedures, to which they had been warned about. That simply shows they don't give a rats ass about us UNTIL something happens, which in my book is NEGLIGENCE on their part. It's like they are sacrificing us. No other metro-county police department has procedures like transporting prisoners to magistrate court like DeKalb which utilizes an antiquated policy and procedure. I agree that Rome wasn't built overnight (in a day), but by damn it was built because some LEADERS planned and listened to people who provided some input to the process. Those leaders also worked! Had they not it wouldn't have been built.
Rome not built in a day!? This conversation started over 15 years ago when the jail was built.
Next time it will be an Officer down at Grady that gets hurt..Then the powers to be and the Sheriff will be scratching their collective asses saying...gee how did that happen?
I say we use the jail courtrooms. Call ahead for your prelim and have the prisoner transported to the courtroom in the jail. We can turnover the mag courtrooms to recorders court to relieve the congestion there
This procedure SMACKS of Incompetent Management, they are liable for this ridiculous policy
It's the same every where today guys. No one gives a hoot about us. Stay together, stay safe.
What needs to be asked from Jeffrey Mann and his top chiefs is why they are raising their salaries, they should be putting money in plans to secure the inmates that we put in jail. I was amazed to see all of the deputies rush to the scene, but where were they when we had to transport the inmates to Mag Court.
As a former S.O. employee, I completely agree that these hearings need to be managed inside the jail by whatever means. That capability was built into the jail when we designed it and the courtrooms are in place there. It is even easier for the jail division to move prisoners to the interior courtrooms than it is to get them down and through release in the lower salleports so it makes more sense.
I'm assuming you don't have any access issues when trying to get to those interior courtrooms. The only issue is when attorney's want access and there has been some question of media access rights and that might have to be answered at some point.
Whether the Sheriff has responsibility to transport prisoners to the Magistrate courtrooms is designated by the Superior Court judges. Historically, that has not been the Sheriff's duty, nor to provide bailiffs for Mag Ct., though I always advocated for the prisoner transport and court security management to be consolidated in the Sheriff's Office as the most logical place for it.
I myself have attended many, many first appearance/probably cause hearings in the jail courtrooms so I know it has been done in the past if it is not so now.
Did your article just say that "Cedric should step up as a leader". OMG. Hahahahahahahahahah. That was the best laugh I have had all day! Cedric as a leader. Hahahahaha.
Deklab County Judges ain't leaving the bench for nobody. Hell, it might interrupt them watching porn or Gator Boys on their ipads that they keep in front of them while on the bench. I have witnessed and know for a fact that when you see 90% of the Judges with their laptops/ipads open in front of them, in open/active court, they are not looking at court cases. They are sending personal emails and chatting with their spouses, playing spades, etc.
I have witnessed it. They joke about it.
You can give me the "Rome wasn't built in a day" speech and the "Let the powers that be work" rhetoric any other time. But you keep that shit to yourself and don't even dare imply that they seriously could have done nothing to prevent this. Our brother is laid up in a hospital bed fighting for his life after YEARS of officers telling 'the powers that be' that there was a serious officer safety issue in this antique procedure, and NOTHING was done. Alexander even said in an interview post-shooting that officers had previously brought up the issue to him and command. SO WHY THE FUCK IS MY BROTHER IN THE GODDAMN HOSPITAL! I can excuse the incompetence, I can laugh off the egos, I can stomach the god complexes, but this motherfucker KNEW that there was an officer safety issue that was brought directly to him and he just fucking ignored it?
I don't give a fuck about how the media is gonna get to a hearing, the hearing isn't for them, they have zero relevance when it comes to anyone's case. Attorneys? They go into the jail to visit their clients all the time, don't feed me hamburger and call it filet. There is no excuse as to why this stupid procedure is still used, the REASON it is still used, is because there is a particular lack of concern or empathy from 'the powers that be' for line officers, and if you believe differently, I have a veteran police detective I'd like you to visit down at the hospital. Change policy? What and bring attention to myself? No thanks, I'll just sit quietly in my office until I can collect that pension check. Listen to line officers? Nah, I know what's best, I have a doctorate, they're just whiners, they'll get over it.
What really gets me is that this incident will change nothing at all. I'd bet my career on it. I'd give it to be wrong and for the brass to actually recognize their ONLY job is to effectively lead us and ensure we can do our jobs to the best of OUR ability, but they won't. The brass is like the NFL. They won't make change until people start making noise. Problem is, people that make noise here often do it alone, which makes it very easy for them to be silenced and hidden away.
I usually try to not fly off the handle or have an outburst when I comment, but this situation is different. We're not talking about faulty equipment, or lack thereof, we're not talking about people getting screwed over for position, we're not talking about egotistical camera-hogging and posturing. We're talking about a man who gave 25 years of his life to this department nearly losing his life in an incident that could have been wholly avoided. Let me be very clear, Alexander 'was aware officers had concerns' about this issue, he's not some new guy anymore. He doesn't get a pass, maybe next time I bring a 'concern' to him I should also make him aware of my ring size, because he deserves to be put on his ass for allowing one of his men to be put on an operating table. And I'll gladly hand in a letter of resignation afterward. You can call me a violent fool, you can call me a hothead, I don't give a shit. Unlike Ced, I bleed blue, to me he's just as much of an outsider to my badge as the perps I put in handcuffs. A suit wearing hustler pretending he's something he's not, and if god forbid I lose a brother because of his pure indifference to the problems we face, I'll gladly take that perp walk, and his teeth. And I pray to god he reads this comment so that maybe he'll take his job, and our 'concerns' more fucking seriously.
Stick together, Stay Safe, Watch your partners back, the department sure won't. (Great job Det. Stubbs)
-OfficerZero
The problem with DeKalb P.D. is that no one cares about anything that doesn't effect them directly. How about trying to improve the working conditions for your men.
The whole damn system is broke and has been for years. Our dept. and our jail is the laughing stock. Old court procedures, a no chase chase policy, and a jail nurse that sends more damn prisoners to Grady than all of EMS. Is she afraid she might have to do something other than give out an aspirin. Does ANYONE see the danger that an officer is exposed to sitting at GRADY for an entire shift, then another officer for an entire shift. The reason we sit there for 2 shift sometimes 3 is because there is not a damn thing wrong with the perp. He/she is playing the system that every perp in the county knows. Can't wait to see how long it takes for the world to get out about Ebola questions and screening being done at the jail...Any bets on how many Candler road perps all of the sudden become world travelers? What a fucking joke the whole damn system. Jail, DKPD, Judges, Commissioner, where the hell would you begin to correct the problems?
Our brilliant leaders have solved the problem. Cid is now required to transport prisoners in caged units or a prisoner transport van. What a fucking joke! How would that have prevented this shooting? They've done nothing to prevent this from happening again. They just did something to say they did something. How stupid has the command staff become?
From the S.O. former employee again:
Don't misunderstand me. I'm completely behind you on this. As I said, I always advocated for all prisoner transport and all courtroom security to be handled by the Sheriff's Office because it was the most logical place. However, the Sheriff cannot simply walk into the Magistrate Court and say, "We're taking over."
What SHOULD happen, but will NOT happen because Officer Zero is right, is that the Sheriff needs to stand up and say what will and won't happen. There is no Buford Pusser or Lamar Potts in DeKalb County who will stand up in the face of the judges. It's all the big boys sitting up there together and getting along for political reasons, supporting each other and being elected and re-elected.
If the Sheriff stood up and said, "We have courtrooms in the jail and first appearance hearings MUST be held here; we will NOT transport prisoners to he Magistrate Court for these hearings, that would be a start." Then it could become a pissing contest between the Sheriff and the Judges.
Like it or not, media access IS an issue; a constitutional one. You can't have closed courtrooms. That should not be used as an excuse, but it must be kept in mind.
Where there are hearings requiring multiple witnesses, etc., then the external (non-jail) Magistrate Courts must be used but still, their security and the transport of prisoners should be the responsibility of the Sheriff, as it is everywhere else.
I am not optimistic.
Judges think they are little God's. If Fact they are little God's in their own little world and they can not be ordered around. But the real reason this can not be changed is the the command staff's at the PD and SO have no balls!
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