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Unregistered
09-11-2015, 12:49 PM
Lakeland Police Chief Lisa Womack was placed on paid administrative leave on Thursday after an investigation reported that she changed hiring practices within the police department and vetoed a competency examination to help her nephew get a job with the police department.

The move comes a week after Womack resigned her position as head of the department, which has faced a number of scandals in recent months, some of them predating her time as chief. Womack was allowed to stay for three months while the department began its search for a new police chief.

The State Attorney’s Office of the Tenth Judicial Circuit, which covers Polk, Highlands and Hardee counties, completed its investigation and submitted its “investigative summary” on Thursday. The investigation center on hiring practices at the department when Womack’s nephew applied for a public safety aide position in 2012.

Lakeland City Manager Doug Thomas named Assistant Chief Larry Giddens as acting chief and released a statement Thursday evening saying the city will review the report.

“The report raises serious allegations against Police Chief Lisa Womack regarding potential violations of Florida Statutes,” Thomas said in the statement.


He added that the state attorney’s office had completed its investigation and wasn’t “pursuing any further actions.”
Because Womack’s nephew is a “nephew-in-law” who is related by marriage, Womack’s actions did not violate nepotism laws, according to the report.



Applicants for the public safety aide position, which included her nephew, Rhett Hughes, were required to take a written and video examination. The ones who passed would be allowed to move on to the next step in the hiring process.



A total of 35 candidates took the test - 18 passed. Hughes, who had graduated high school in 2011 and came from out of state to take the exam, didn’t pass, and didn’t qualify under city rules to continue in the application process, according to the report.

But after Hughes failed the test, some Lakeland Police Department staff began to question the validity of the test to the Assessment Services Department. The competency of a police department employee who helped administer the test also was brought into question, according to the state attorney’s investigation.

Womack’s husband, Jimmy Womack, called Assistant Chief of Police Charles Thompson to express his concern with the tests and “expressing his dissatisfaction with the results,” according to the state attorney’s investigation. Chief Womack was reportedly in the room when her husband made the call, according to the report.

Thompson contacted the Assessment Services director. The tests were validated by the department.

Still, Chief Womack ordered that the examinations be disregarded and that all 35 candidates, including her nephew, could continue in the process, according to the report.



Womack also ordered that the next part of the application process - physical abilities test, interview, polygraph, psychological examination and medical examination - be administered at the same time for the benefit of out-of-state applicants, the report said.



Captain Victor White, who was ordered by Womack to make sure all the exams were given at the same time, told investigators that changing the process of the exams was “illegal.”



“It certainly is improper and it would be very, very expensive,” White told the state attorney’s office.



Chief Womack later told White and Thompson that she had removed her nephew from the pool of candidates. But Hughes received an invitation to participate in the next step in the process. In January 2013, he sent an email to Lakeland police staff stating that he wouldn’t be participating in the fitness and interview process.



“She disregarded all governing authority and abused her given power,” the report states. “Her husband Jimmy Womack reportedly intervened with the Chief’s knowledge, and criticized LPD (Lakeland Police Department) staff for the failure of their nephew.”



Hughes was never hired.



Lakeland police ended up hiring four public safety aides. Two people had passed the test and two had not passed the test.



“This appears to be an unprecedented action which resulted in the negligent hiring of individuals who failed a required employment exam contrary to the City of Lakeland Civil Service Rules and LPD’s own General Orders,” according to the investigation.

Unregistered
09-14-2015, 11:59 PM
CNN)—Cincinnati's city manager fired Police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell on Wednesday, accusing him of crushing officers' morale and failing to communicate effectively with his staff.

"Mr. Blackwell has not provided the necessary leadership to ensure a cohesive operating environment within the department," City Manager Harry Black wrote. "As such, morale is at an unprecedented low level, and the general sentiment throughout the department is that Mr. Blackwell's leadership style has created a work environment of hostility and retaliation."

Blackwell said he "categorically" refutes the allegations and is speaking with his attorney about his next steps.

"In time, people will see the truth, hopefully sooner rather than later," he said. "The powers that be did not value the way I policed."

The city manager cited a litany of concerns with Blackwell's leadership in a five-page letter to the mayor and City Council. Black painted a harsh picture of the police chief's time on the force, accusing him of verbally abusing employees, creating a culture of hostility and having "an unprofessional obsession with publicity and self-promotion."


Report: Police chief threatened, berated staff

Black said he conducted an investigation that revealed serious management issues, some of which were revealed through conversations with the department's brass.

The police chief allegedly threatened and berated individuals in front of their subordinates, superior officers and members of the public, the city manager wrote. Some employees of the police department sought treatment for anxiety and stress as a result of these interactions, he said.

Elaborating, Black alleged that after a story in The Cincinnati Enquirer on Blackwell's use of overtime, the chief "illegally threatened" to fire an assistant chief who he believed was responsible for the story and ordered an investigation into a department spokeswoman who he also thought was involved, Black said.

"The incidents described here suggest that Mr. Blackwell expected his subordinates to risk defying state law in order to protect his image and, when they did not, engaged in acts of retaliation against them," the letter said.

The communique also accuses Blackwell of ostracizing his assistant chiefs, to the detriment of communication within the department. Blackwell instead hand-selected officers who were not part of the leadership structure through which to communicate departmental decisions, which Black said was disrespectful of the chain of command.

Blackwell engaged in favoritism by personally doling out overtime duties, Black wrote, adding that Blackwell handed out the assignments without consulting officers' superiors. While it's favoritism at best, Black wrote, an investigation will determine if the actions reach the level of inappropriate use of funds.