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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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How to keep our officers from doing their jobs:
Move officers who excel at their position to another position and put rookie officers in their place:
"For example, a transfer that takes effect Sunday moves a veteran arson investigator with a track record for solving difficult arson cases. He's being sent to the patrol bureau and being replaced with a detective who doesn't have arson experience, the officers said."
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-41/1168012260302450.xml&coll=5
Williamson moves prompt officers to file complaints
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, January 05, 2007
By Kim Crawford and Marjory Raymer
JOURNAL STAFF WRITERS
FLINT - Dozens of Flint police officers have filed complaints alleging the city violated their civil rights when Mayor Don Williamson created new positions of inspector and major without posting those jobs.
"Blacks and whites, officers (of all different) rank across the board," said Terry Neely, president of the Afro-American Police League, describing police personnel who filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A spokesman for the Michigan Civil Rights Department, which handles many complaints for the federal commission, confirmed the department has received "multiple complaints" from Flint police.
"While I can't go into detail, I can say there is a relatively large number of complaints from Flint officers," said Harold Core, public information officer for the state department.
Williamson denied that his selections of the officers - four blacks and one woman - for the promotions amounted to reverse discrimination.
"They are running their mouth and they don't know what they are talking about," Williamson said.
Williamson called a news conference on the issue Thursday along with his attorney, George Peck. Peck attributed the complaints to disgruntled employees who are resistant to change.
Neely said he and many other officers, black and white, also are angry about the transfer of several officers and sergeants to different jobs within the department. He charges Williamson ordered their transfers in retaliation because they'd complained to the City Council that there was only one black lieutenant in the department's command structure.
Williamson said the transfers move people who have been in jobs too long and cross-train personnel.
"We are changing everybody every few months," Williamson said.
Most police officers who spoke with The Flint Journal, on the condition they not be identified, say the transfers are a bad idea because they move officers with specific expertise.
For example, a transfer that takes effect Sunday moves a veteran arson investigator with a track record for solving difficult arson cases. He's being sent to the patrol bureau and being replaced with a detective who doesn't have arson experience, the officers said.
This latest dispute appears to have ended a truce and promise of compromise between the mayor and unions representing police employees.
In November, at the prompting of the Flint branch of the NAACP, Williamson, acting Police Chief Gary Hagler, Neely and the president of the Flint Police Officers Union, Keith Speer, held a press conference and talked of solving differences after meeting with a federal Justice Department mediator.
In the days that followed, several police officers who'd been fired quietly returned to work. Though union and city officials declined to comment on those returns, some thought it was a sign the two sides were settling matters.
NAACP Flint Branch President Frances L. Gilcreast expressed disappointment that relations between police officers and Williamson have apparently deteriorated.
"This wasn't supposed to supposed to be about the mayor, not about the officers, but for the community," Gilcreast said. |
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Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:37 pm |
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Mr. Jones
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| I support Gary Hartley for Police Chief. |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:29 pm |
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emoticons response
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quote:
Mr. Jones schreef:
I support Gary Hartley for Police Chief.
 It makes us happy  and cool to know  your bright idea.  Excited we are  how do we cause this  We need to fight the twisted evil  |
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Mon Jan 08, 2007 10:01 pm |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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There is going to be a community forum tonight at Anderson Elementary School in the Mackin Road Area. They will have this new Police Squad that the Mayor has started to answer questions. Should be interesting. It starts at 6:00pm
If you miss this one, there is another at the City-Wide Crime Watch on January 25th. |
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Thu Jan 11, 2007 3:00 pm |
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Guest
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Josh, please post report of Jan. 11th Citizens Service Bureau meeting at Anderson????
Will attend the 25th meeting and post report.
Thanks
Believe Ofc. Dicks has heart in the right place but needs to engage brain. What is the woman Officers name?
Despite funding, police absent
FLINT JOURNAL LETTER TO THE EDITOR
FLINT
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Monday, January 08, 2007
By
JOURNAL READER
Last February, Flint voters authorized a 2-mill renewal for the purpose of funding community policing.
The more than $3 million raised annually is to fund 40 officers in the Crime Area Target Team and our Community Oriented Policing Services program.
While this was changed from the original millage to support neighborhood foot patrol, it was considered a renewal. This money was not donated to regular policing but a voter-approved allocation to traditional community policing.
These targeted police resources work with the community to enhance quality of life. These officers do a lion's share of police work with sincere thanks from businesses and community members. Please remember, the citizens overwhelmingly support community policing.
So I ask Mr. Mayor and the acting police chief: Where are you hiding my community police officer? |
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Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:13 pm |
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Ryan Eashoo
F L I N T O I D
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We use to have a community police officer in Historic Carriage Town, but now we don't and haven't for years! When we had our local officers here, we had lower crime. People felt safer and knew who to call to get results done.
We need the Community Police Officers BACK!
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_________________
Flint Michigan Resident, Tax Payer, Flint Nutt - Local REALTOR - Activist. www.FlintTown.com |
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Thu Jan 11, 2007 10:53 pm |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Anonymous schreef:
Josh, please post report of Jan. 11th Citizens Service Bureau meeting at Anderson???? Will attend the 25th meeting and post report.
What is the woman Officers name?
WJRT-12 covered Anderson's meeting, and The Flint Journal online NEWS NOW has a blurb about it. Sounds like the group got off on the wrong foot by going into attack mode. The officers, according to the report, were only there about 20 minutes and had to leave because of another commitment. Jackie Poplar and Sheldon Neeley were at that meeting.
The woman is Inspector Connie Johnson, formerly Community Policing Officer based out of the West Side Mini-Station. She had transferred out of the mini-station to another area when they changed the officers' hours; then she got the promotion to the new Citizens Service Bureau. Part of the problem with the Community Policing Officers has been that more often than not, they would have to respond to calls far outside their own designated areas. As I understand it, the Citizens Service Bureau has no boundaries, they can go into other areas, i.e., not mandatory to stay just inside one area of the city. The Community Policing Officers are assigned designated areas.
CSB doesn't want Flint to have the #3 crime label. Their emphasis is on working together with the community to reduce crime.
Major John Keahey is supervisor over Inspectors Dicks, Reese, Tedford(sp?), and Johnson. Their offices are their vehicles. Citizens Service Bureau phone number 237-6979 is an answering service, and Major Keahey will go down the list and call everybody. |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 12:59 am |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Ryan Eashoo schreef:
We use to have a community police officer in Historic Carriage Town, but now we don't and haven't for years! When we had our local officers here, we had lower crime. People felt safer and knew who to call to get results done.
We need the Community Police Officers BACK!
Ryan, where is your mini-station? Who staffs it? If you have the volunteers to staff your local mini-station, and an active crime watch group you have a better chance of making connections. Can you make the City-Wide meeting on the 25th? |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:04 am |
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Guest
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Thanks, OOSL2
Connie Johnson spoke with my daughter at a previous meeting. Recognized my girls last name- grandmother had volunteered many years at west side mini-station.
Wanted daughter to be able to her tell grandma she was remembered.
Otherwise, these "Inspectors" are a political move. Willing to give any hope a chance but am not optimistic.
Community Police Officers are pulled away from designated areas daily to answer 911 calls all over city. Not all areas have a COPS Officer.
While we need 911 calls answered this is a mis-allocation of millage approved funds for "community policing". If we need more regular police to answer 911 calls take it out of the so called surplus.
Don't take my text for it ask any volunteer in a mini-police station on any side of town "Where is your Community Police Officer?' |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:17 am |
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Guest
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Thanks, OOSL2
Connie Johnson spoke with my daughter at a previous meeting. Recognized my girls last name- grandmother had volunteered many years at west side mini-station.
Wanted daughter to be able to her tell grandma she was remembered.
Otherwise, these "Inspectors" are a political move. Willing to give any hope a chance but am not optimistic.
Community Police Officers are pulled away from designated areas daily to answer 911 calls all over city. Not all areas have a COPS Officer.
While we need 911 calls answered this is a mis-allocation of millage approved funds for "community policing". If we need more regular police to answer 911 calls take it out of the so called surplus.
Don't take my text for it ask any volunteer in a mini-police station on any side of town "Where is your Community Police Officer?' |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:18 am |
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00SL2
F L I N T O I D
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quote:
Anonymous schreef:
Community Police Officers are pulled away from designated areas daily to answer 911 calls all over city. Not all areas have a COPS Officer.
While we need 911 calls answered this is a mis-allocation of millage approved funds for "community policing". If we need more regular police to answer 911 calls take it out of the so called surplus.
Don't take my text for it ask any volunteer in a mini-police station on any side of town "Where is your Community Police Officer?'
I am familiar with your statements and agree all sections of the city need the community police officers back. We need more volunteers to staff mini-stations, too.
Give these "inspectors" a chance to speak at your local groups and listen to what they have to say. They, too, want the return of the community police officers, and they're initiating some new concepts I think the community will welcome. I just feel badly for them that their positions are being attacked before they've had an opportunity to speak. They
are
making introductory personal contact as a group, and for that I'm thankful. I just hope people will take the time to listen instead of doing what happened at Anderson. |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:48 am |
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Josh Freeman
F L I N T O I D
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I asked this question at Anderson... The Community pays for a Community Policiing Millage and those officers were responsible for attending Crime Watches and engaging the community in various proactive ways... How does your role differ from that of what the Community Officers were supposed to be doing?
The answer that I got was to ask the Chief about the millage.
Several community members asked the same sorts of questions, "What is your job/role?" We never got an answer.
Dicks then went on to tell Neeley that if he wasn't happy with the way things were going that he should come up on stage and explain to those attending why the City Council couldn't get along with the Mayor... he told Neeley that he smoked crack and that he was going to get him like they got Sims. And 20 minutes after it started, they had to leave.
It was an interesting meeting.
I think that it is important to differentiate between asking questions about their jobs and attacking them. I don't think that, with the exeption of maybe 1 or 2, that anyone in the community believes that these folks are not trying to do what they think is right or good for the community. Unfortunately, the community has no clue what it is that they are supposed to be doing. After the meeting I talked with another inspector that suggested they were supervising the 911 operators and they were making sure that the COPS officers did their jobs. So are they supervisors, administrators, police officers, community liasons, goon squad... who the heck knows? Not the community that is for sure, and frankly, I don't think that they do either. |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:25 am |
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Adam Ford
F L I N T O I D
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Check out the video report of this at:
http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=local&id=4928968
FLINT (WJRT) - (01/11/07)--For the first time, Flint residents Thursday night had the opportunity to address their concerns to members of the newly created Flint Citizens Service Bureau.
But instead of tackling the issue of violence, the inspectors spent more time defending their positions. Crime was the topic of discussion, but people seemed to have more questions about the service bureau and its purpose.
After roughly 20 minutes, many residents still were left feeling confused about what these inspectors do.
It was supposed to be a city-wide forum on crime in the city of Flint, a question-and-answer session from residents to members of the city's Citizens Service Bureau.
But a healthy discussion quickly took a different direction.
"I wish you would have told me your time frame, because right now to me, I haven't seen really anything accomplished," said Sharon Burnett.
Much concern surrounded whether the bureau was draining resources from the police department; others questioned their purpose.
David Dicks, a member of the mayor's appointed task force, spent most of the time defending their position.
"We are not here to engage in controversy or cause arguments," he said. "We're not here to debate."
Meeting organizer Burnett booked space in the Anderson Elementary Auditorium for two hours. The inspectors wrapped up after only 20 minutes.
Councilman Sheldon Neely pleaded for them to stay.
"I would respectfully request that you officers stay and answer the questions," he said.
They declined. |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:02 pm |
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Ted J
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Seems to me that this republican guard group is more of a political statement than doing any actual police work. If every time they were asked questions about thier job's they responded with comments about not wanting to debate the issue. That tells me they don't have a mission. When asked what thier job was the should have been able to site thier mission statement. Then respond with examples of what they are doing. Instead of making it a political fiasco.
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 2:04 pm |
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Bossman
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| This new bureau is doing nothing but taking 5(five) viable(?) bodies off the streets to take calls. Every time they were asked the hard questions last night they balked and danced. It's unfortunate that the damage the mayor is doing to this city will not be felt until after he is gone. The lawsuits are just beginning to come in. We will be paying for his ignorance for years to come. |
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Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:10 pm |
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