Rooney on the front page....again.

Well it's almost the end of August. What does that mean you ask? Another article, front page this time, about wasted money and James Rooney. Maybe that $30,000 dollars the city wasted on a useless investigation could have been used to provide Clermont children with buses so they don't have 6 year old's walking by 9 sexual offenders to get to school since we can't afford bus transportation for elementary school children. Maybe that money could have been used for crossing guards to get the above mentioned children across HWY 50. Nope. Let's just "p" it into the wind on some stupid investigation that found basically NOTHING. Well heck maybe we could have used it for all the cases that are going to go to court because James Rooney screwed the city over...again. Since we seem invested in keeping Rooney on the force...well maybe we should have just given it to his lawyer so he could sue the city once again. Every month there is another Rooney investigation. Every month this city looks like a laughing stock. So here we go again.... FRONT PAGE ORLANDO SENTINEL

Clermont wastes $30,000 on evaluation of police department
August 28, 2013

The long-awaited $30,000 evaluation of the Clermont Police Department arrived a couple of weeks ago.

And just as quickly, the document created by the International Association of Chiefs of Police disappeared into the annals of city bureaucracy like a rock into quicksand. Gulp! It's gone.

Of course, it revealed none of the rampant "corruption" in upper management claimed by a group of whining officers who all had been disciplined or fired for misbehavior.

Most of the conclusions were twaddle that could be said of any police department in America. For example, it said there are cliques within the department. Oh, for heaven's sake. Anyone who has worked in or around any law-enforcement agency could state that with authority.

Asked if they learned anything from it, both Clermont's city manager and police chief bumbled a bit and then acknowledged that they really hadn't. The chief said he'd be looking it over to see what suggestions could be implemented.

There's another $30,000 in taxpayer money wasted, thanks to Clermont council members who certainly had better and cheaper choices if they felt their police department needed an evaluation after the departure of former Chief Steve Graham, whom they ran out of town without any valid reason.

The report did make one useful suggestion, however. It said the department should concentrate on "fair and consistent practices" with discipline.

It certainly should.

Consider that Capt. Jon Johnson, a 35-year law-enforcement veteran, was suspended with pay last year for nearly four months while Clermont investigated, well, something. Nobody was ever sure exactly what. The city never told Johnson what he was accused of, and it never cleared him. Darren Gray, the new city manager, simply put Johnson back to work.

Meanwhile, an officer remains on the job even though he is the subject of two inquiries by the State Attorney's Office and is under two additional internal investigations by his own department. Three of the four probes stem from two separate incidents — one in which Officer James Rooney is accused of punching a citizen in the stomach and a second in which he got into a dispute with his sergeant.

The fourth is a review by the State Attorney's Office of Rooney's overall history to determine whether to prosecute cases the officer makes. Prosecutors could find themselves embarrassed if a smart defense lawyer brought the officer's past into the courtroom.

This week, prosecutors are interviewing witnesses as they decide whether to charge Rooney after a Clermont resident complained that the officer slugged him in the stomach for taking pictures of Rooney's department-owned motorcycle illegally parked in a handicapped spot at Osprey Ridge Apartments. What was it doing there in the first place? Rooney, who isn't handicapped, didn't respond to a request for an explanation.

Dustin Carter, 25, told officers on July 14 that Rooney hit him when he reached into his pocket to get his cell phone to show the officer the photos of his motorcycle parked where it shouldn't have been.

Rooney told investigating officers the next day that he "felt threatened" because Carter was in his "personal space," and he thought he might be going for a gun. The police report states that Carter was not wearing a shirt at the time, raising questions about how Carter could have hidden it in a pants pocket or waistband. Carter was taken by ambulance to South Lake Hospital after he began urinating blood.

Rooney, 37, is under internal investigation for his role in that incident and for another in which he is accused of threatening his sergeant over a poor performance review.

My, oh, my. Remember that Rooney is the same officer who hysterically described a running gun battle with a dangerous "suspect" he confronted for legally smoking a cigarette in a city park in December. Forensics later showed that the only person shooting was Rooney, who fired multiple times. The man he confronted took his own life minutes after the encounter by firing a single slug into his head.

In 2005, Rooney was fired and arrested on charges of petty theft and forgery for signing a doctor's note so that he could collect holiday pay. The physician declined to testify in court, so the charges were dropped and Rooney was reinstated.

Somehow, Rooney continues to "protect" the citizens of Clermont, but a captain with a near-spotless record still isn't vindicated. Police Chief Chuck Broadway said the circumstances don't warrant a suspension.

It appears that Clermont has a ways to go to meet that $30,000 goal of being "fair and consistent."