Ugh, my computer is back to not letting me quote posts, so....MARBLE
Yes, agree on others not allowing it to happen.
I was saddened, but also relieved (is that a correct word for what I'm trying to say? LOL) that numerous officers had had it with LT and at least TRIED to speak up and do something about it back in 2009. It's a rough road when it's your higher ups that refuse to see what's really going on. Sure it happens in LE, and fire depts and other public agencies, but we could all probably remember similar experiences. When the corruption is in the higher levels...or they turn a blind eye.
In my federal agency (which gets in the news now more than it ever has in the past, grrr), it's a tough call...when is it better to promote to the highest levels, someone who is an "insider" and KNOWS the elaborate ins and outs...or when is it best to bring in new blood that has to start to learn the entire agency from the beginning? And THEN>>>> add politics. Ugly beast.
Leadership. Yes, role models are needed.
Glad the other officers tried to speak up in their small agency. Bet there's a lot of higher ups in the command that are sweating right now, those that may still be active, and those that have left and still have signatures on paperwork
I'm not real sure about this. In reading through the docs, it seemed to me that his past superiors were onto him and were following up with writeups and what seems to be a pre-stipulated penalties for such behavior, i.e. suspensions (several) official reprimands, etc... One went so far as to actually eliminate his position.
Police are union and they aren't that easy to just fire, particularly back in the day. It seems with social media now, there is a lot more pressure on police departments to make a quick firing when something goes viral. I think what we have here is that LtG was a "nice guy." He was charming and charismatic, apparently. Even the dispatcher he threatened was unsure if she loved him or hated him. I think he obviously had a way of talking himself out of things, or at least trying. (Some of his missing work excuses were laughable, but he was pretty young and single at the time, so...) But my point is that it isn't always easy to fire a union person without just cause. I think superiors have to walk a fine line between running a smooth department and getting themselves into trouble with the unions. I also think that LtG seems to have had troubled periods of time and periods of time where he seemed to shine. I haven't laid out the chronology just yet, but I would venture to guess a lot of the commendations that came in offset some of the bad stuff.
Caution, a little on a tangent here, but I have never send a commendation letter about a police office. Maybe I'm just lazy? But that is a lot of letters. Is that typical? Or do you think he may have encouraged people to write a letter on his behalf. Like when someone thanks you, you say, hey, do me a favor...write a letter on my behalf. It would help me out. And the average person would say, sure, no problem. Wonder if this was something he might have done.
The other thing is that a it costs money to train an officer and then tons more to fire them, search for a replacement, train them, etc...much more than someone in the general workforce. Maybe if when these things came up , they felt that he was redeemable? I don't know. There seemed to be several superiors he was under and maybe each change, he started with a clean slate as well, breaking in a new chief? However, at the end, it seems like he found himself a true compadre in Chief Behan. I am looking forward to learning more about him and their relationship.
P.S. How some of the more serious things could have been explained:
1.) The time he was found drunk in the car with foot on gas was a LONG time ago. We are talking almost 30 years ago. Yes, drunk driving was on the books, but it was nowhere near as severely enforced as it is today. Doesn't excuse it, but I understand them giving him a pass back then for more than if it were to happen today
2.) I think the drinking was in his younger days prior to getting married, correct? It seems like he admitted he had a problem, the department knew about it and he was working on it. I wonder if he spent a long period of time sober. He did seem to get over a lot of the issues with the tardiness, missing work, etc..in his later years, so got a bit smarter on that end, at least
3.) The dispatcher: I am sorry, but just reading her story had my head spinning and the picture of her jumping back and forth pulling her hair out of her head saying "in the office/out of the office" etc...was admittedly (by her) a bit on the loony side. I kind of understand why her complaint really didn't go very far
4.) Sexual harassment: what could they do? Her lawsuit was dismissed by the courts. They punished him for his part in the relationship that they could and had really no other choice but to move on. (Again - some 20 years ago, a bit different times.)
Also, I find it amusing that while he was texting his wife that the administrator hated him, had it out for him, etc...she says she hardly even knew him. I think in her mind she was just simply doing her job and may not have even suspected anything untoward, but rather more mismanagement, etc... I think at the time of his death, she had absolutely no clue he was panicking.
