Promomtin now REQUIRES 2 years as a detective

[The Nitely Blog]

THANK GOD I'm retired and don't have to ever deal again with the hoops that are always changing and moving to screw the troops.

Amen to that brother. Right there with ya. I thought it was bad last year when I finally decided to hand in my two week notice and retire but from what I have been told by a few old co-workers, some of whom work the street and others of very high rank, I have spoken with is that it's only gotten worse. Very sad considering what HCSO use to be like back in the day before the current administration took charge. Take care and enjoy your retirement.

Rob

[Average Joe]

And to think Rob that many were throwing parties when Henderson left and were oh so happy to see Gee win.

And to think Rob that many were throwing parties when Henderson left and were oh so happy to see Gee win.

One could argue that the position of Sheriff, being political, could be filled by a politician who knows nothing about police work as long as his Chief Deputy is a competent law enforcement professional with excellent leadership qualities and good common sense.

In that context Gee could be forgiven for devoting his energies to political activities and the social obligations customary to politicians in the community IF he had selected the right person to be the Chief Deputy. Alas, he did not.

Steadily but surely, the current administration has run off just about every hard nosed, old school, hard working street cop and/or supervisor. The office has always been far from perfect, which can surely be said about most large law enforcement agencies, but the decline has been extreme. For many people this has also been very surprising, given all the faith, trust and excitement when Sheriff Gee was elected. I remember how hands on Gee appeared and how often he used to take the time to visit the front line deputies out on the street. It felt like <<<<<<< FINALLY >>>>>>>> we have a Sheriff who understands the needs and issues that were plaguing the office for years, and he promised to correct them. He asked that all have faith in him and commanded his "do boy" robots to start anti-union petitions that ultimately resulted in pulling the blinders over hundreds of naive deputies, who listened to the Sheriff & Chief and voted out the union. BIG mistake! As slowly we have all witnessed these promises crumbling, the latest being the patrol car mounted GPS ystems being used to monitor and discipline deputies. Once again, they have taken away the positive benefits of what should be a good thing, the GPS System, and have begun to abuse it. The list can go on and on if taken the time to thoroughly examine the true outcome of many a pre-election promise or statement. One of the biggest insults however, is the sheer magnitude of the Sheriff's disappearing act ever since being elected and his letting the Chief run rampant over the office, without Sheriff Gee ever stepping in and saying "enough is enough" on certain issues being wrongfully handled. How many more deputies or other personnel will have to fall victim to this misguided adventure the office is now on, before a REAL leader steps forward to steer things back in the right direction? Hopefully soon, as very few seasoned vets with invaluable experience still remain at the office.

[The Nitely Blog]

And to think Rob that many were throwing parties when Henderson left and were oh so happy to see Gee win.

I didn't throw a party when Cal retired A.J. I actually liked the man and thought he was a fair person. I also voted to retain the union although I felt a change in the union leadership would need to occurr in order for the union to be taken seriously back then. Sadly, the union was voted out and that vote is still being felt across the office today in a bad way it seems. That said, I did think that when Gee was initially elected he would be good for the office and become a great sheriff. Sadly as well, I was wrong and that has not been the case. Sheriff Gee is a good and decent man but is not a leader in my opinion.

[Average Joe]

[quote=The Nitely Blog]

And to think Rob that many were throwing parties when Henderson left and were oh so happy to see Gee win.

I didn't throw a party when Cal retired A.J. I actually liked the man and thought he was a fair person. I also voted to retain the union although I felt a change in the union leadership would need to occurr in order for the union to be taken seriously back then. Sadly, the union was voted out and that vote is still being felt across the office today in a bad way it seems. That said, I did think that when Gee was initially elected he would be good for the office and become a great sheriff. Sadly as well, I was wrong and that has not been the case. Sheriff Gee is a good and decent man but is not a leader in my opinion.[/quote:blx3bpsq]


You are 100% correct NB. Henderson was a very fair man. When he took over patrol in 1981 he took it out of the dark ages. He was the type of leader that that deputies would follow. Same could be said when he was our Sheriff. I would had done anything for the guy.

I have known David for many many years. I knew him prior to his HCSO days. He is a good man, but he was the wrong choice for Henderson to have picked to take over when Cal retired.

The union was a mess. The leadership was terrible, but no one that was thought of in good graces with the administration would step up and take over. Instead of Sheriff Gee working to use the union to his benefit, he sought out to destroy it.

Even if the union stayed I do not think they could have done anything to prevent the Sheriff from walking all over his deputies. A law enforcement union has no power. They can not strike nor can they have a work slow down. You have to hope and pray that the administration is on your side and will listen to you fairly. HCSO refused to do that.

[Cruel Truth]

[quote=Average Joe][quote="The Nitely Blog"lrr36ul]

And to think Rob that many were throwing parties when Henderson left and were oh so happy to see Gee win.

I didn't throw a party when Cal retired A.J. I actually liked the man and thought he was a fair person. I also voted to retain the union although I felt a change in the union leadership would need to occurr in order for the union to be taken seriously back then. Sadly, the union was voted out and that vote is still being felt across the office today in a bad way it seems. That said, I did think that when Gee was initially elected he would be good for the office and become a great sheriff. Sadly as well, I was wrong and that has not been the case. Sheriff Gee is a good and decent man but is not a leader in my opinion.[/quotelrr36ul]


You are 100% correct NB. Henderson was a very fair man. When he took over patrol in 1981 he took it out of the dark ages. He was the type of leader that that deputies would follow. Same could be said when he was our Sheriff. I would had done anything for the guy.

I have known David for many many years. I knew him prior to his HCSO days. He is a good man, but he was the wrong choice for Henderson to have picked to take over when Cal retired.

The union was a mess. The leadership was terrible, but no one that was thought of in good graces with the administration would step up and take over. Instead of Sheriff Gee working to use the union to his benefit, he sought out to destroy it.

Even if the union stayed I do not think they could have done anything to prevent the Sheriff from walking all over his deputies. A law enforcement union has no power. They can not strike nor can they have a work slow down. You have to hope and pray that the administration is on your side and will listen to you fairly. HCSO refused to do that.[/quotelrr36ul]

The union leadership was totally inept. They seemed to take Jimmy Hoffa as their role model. The problem was that they didn't have the clout of Jimmy Hoffa.

They should have taken a more moderate approach; not making any "demands" for the first couple of years of dealing with management. They should have worked at convincing the Sheriff and his representatives that they wanted to work cooperatively at improving the office efficiency and effectiveness.

The other problem, of course, was the autocratic position taken by management that they refused to accept any input from the despised union. This attitude might have been modified by a couple of years of working with a non-confrontational union.

Early efforts of the union should have been more directed towards providing competent representation of union members in Internal Affairs investigations, assuring proper application of the legal protections afforded to those under investigation. Again, this should have been matter-or-fact and non-confrontational.

It was also too bad that the FOP did not compete to be the union representative. In our area I feel they had much more experienced and professional leaders than did the PBA.

Generally, I have never been pro-union (usually because I felt their demands were unreasonable) but the fact is that the deputies need some kind of representation that will "speak truth to power."

Of course anyone who attempts to again organize a union vote will probably experience serious career difficulties. How sad..................


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