05-31-2008, 11:45 AM
A Tale of Two Chiefs
(CBS4) The comparisons are striking. One police chief who would rather resign than commit a breach of ethics, while another top cop has to be dragged kicking and screaming into admitting he did something wrong.
Bruce Roberts and John Timoney, Fort Lauderdale and Miami's police chiefs, both in the news this week, but for decidedly different reasons.
Chief Roberts resigned Wednesday after spending 35 years with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, including seven as its leader. Roberts alleges that Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas was pressuring him to punish union leaders in the department for the tough stand they took during contract negotiations. Police officers in Fort Lauderdale had been working for months without a contract and union leaders had directed much of their anger and frustration at Gretsas.
On Tuesday, a new contract was ratified by the city commission, but rather than quiet the long standing feud, it marked a new phase, according to Roberts, one where he was being forced to exact revenge.
"Having just endured painstakingly long police contract negotiations, there is now a demand for retribution and punishment of the union leadership," Roberts wrote in his resignation letter. "Furthermore, unless command staff recants emotional statements made by the union president during negotiations, future command promotions will be prohibited from within the Department. Not only will this chill morale further, it will negatively impact retention and future hires."
Roberts suggested that the city manager would hold his department's budget hostage unless Roberts went along with Gretsas' plan to punish union leaders. "A request for valuable safety equipment is intentionally being delayed," he wrote. "Micromanagement and intimidation are the order of the day. Instead of exerting leadership and moving on, a suffocating atmosphere demanding a personal allegiance preoccupies decisions which will have harmful consequences for public safety, and police officers' careers will be destroyed."
And so for Roberts, the choice was clear. He could either acquiesce to the manager's demands or he could resign.
"I take no pleasure in having to publicly disclose my fears," says Roberts. "However, professionally and ethically I cannot stand idly by while the safety of the community is at stake, and I will not participate in the dismantling of the community's police department."
The resignation letter hit like a bomb at City Hall, in large part because Roberts, who normally avoids the limelight, is widely respected for his honesty and integrity.
Roberts offered city officials 90 days notice, but by Thursday Roberts was cleaning out his office and the city manager quickly appointed a replacement, Frank Adderley, the department's assistant chief. Adderley will be Fort Lauderdale's first black police chief.
City officials hope the quick transition will stem the shock of Roberts's resignation and both the mayor (the unctuous Jim Naugle) and the city manager have attempted to downplay Roberts' allegations as being nothing more than union grumbling.
But if Roberts allegations are true, if Gretsas ordered or pressured Roberts to punish union leaders within the department, by scuttling their careers as police officers, then it is Gretsas who should be shown the door. And since there is no reason to believe the Fort Lauderdale city commission could or would fairly investigate those claims, an independent investigation is needed.
In fact, if Roberts' resignation letter is accurate, Gretsas' actions would be illegal, possibly even criminal. And the question I keep asking myself: Why would Roberts lie about such things?
The Broward State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the U.S. Attorney's Office should all be taking a close look at these allegations and should question Roberts and demand he provide specific details relating to his conversations with Gretsas.
Coincidentally, while Roberts was making headlines for taking a principal led position, Miami's police chief, John Timoney, was back in the news for his battle with the ethics commission over the free hybrid Lexus SUV he was given to "test drive" for 14 months.
Timoney has refused for months to admit wrongdoing. He has hired attorneys to try and bully the state and local ethics commissions, but to their credit they stayed focused on the case. They made it clear to Timoney that any deal must include an admission of wrongdoing. They would not allow him to skate through this episode, treating it as if it were nothing more than a parking ticket, and paying a nominal fine.
Now comes word that Timoney is finally willing to acknowledge he made a mistake and violated the law when he failed to report the SUV on his financial disclosure forms.
Timoney's arrogance, his obstinance, his unrelenting ego, has prolonged this affair bringing unwanted attention on his department and on the city. He has no one to blame but himself.
And so as the week comes to an end, one chief is gone and another remains.
Unfortunately, the wrong one is out.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
http://cbs4.com/defedecolumn/jim.defede ... 36959.html (http://cbs4.com/defedecolumn/jim.defede.defede.2.736959.html)
(CBS4) The comparisons are striking. One police chief who would rather resign than commit a breach of ethics, while another top cop has to be dragged kicking and screaming into admitting he did something wrong.
Bruce Roberts and John Timoney, Fort Lauderdale and Miami's police chiefs, both in the news this week, but for decidedly different reasons.
Chief Roberts resigned Wednesday after spending 35 years with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, including seven as its leader. Roberts alleges that Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas was pressuring him to punish union leaders in the department for the tough stand they took during contract negotiations. Police officers in Fort Lauderdale had been working for months without a contract and union leaders had directed much of their anger and frustration at Gretsas.
On Tuesday, a new contract was ratified by the city commission, but rather than quiet the long standing feud, it marked a new phase, according to Roberts, one where he was being forced to exact revenge.
"Having just endured painstakingly long police contract negotiations, there is now a demand for retribution and punishment of the union leadership," Roberts wrote in his resignation letter. "Furthermore, unless command staff recants emotional statements made by the union president during negotiations, future command promotions will be prohibited from within the Department. Not only will this chill morale further, it will negatively impact retention and future hires."
Roberts suggested that the city manager would hold his department's budget hostage unless Roberts went along with Gretsas' plan to punish union leaders. "A request for valuable safety equipment is intentionally being delayed," he wrote. "Micromanagement and intimidation are the order of the day. Instead of exerting leadership and moving on, a suffocating atmosphere demanding a personal allegiance preoccupies decisions which will have harmful consequences for public safety, and police officers' careers will be destroyed."
And so for Roberts, the choice was clear. He could either acquiesce to the manager's demands or he could resign.
"I take no pleasure in having to publicly disclose my fears," says Roberts. "However, professionally and ethically I cannot stand idly by while the safety of the community is at stake, and I will not participate in the dismantling of the community's police department."
The resignation letter hit like a bomb at City Hall, in large part because Roberts, who normally avoids the limelight, is widely respected for his honesty and integrity.
Roberts offered city officials 90 days notice, but by Thursday Roberts was cleaning out his office and the city manager quickly appointed a replacement, Frank Adderley, the department's assistant chief. Adderley will be Fort Lauderdale's first black police chief.
City officials hope the quick transition will stem the shock of Roberts's resignation and both the mayor (the unctuous Jim Naugle) and the city manager have attempted to downplay Roberts' allegations as being nothing more than union grumbling.
But if Roberts allegations are true, if Gretsas ordered or pressured Roberts to punish union leaders within the department, by scuttling their careers as police officers, then it is Gretsas who should be shown the door. And since there is no reason to believe the Fort Lauderdale city commission could or would fairly investigate those claims, an independent investigation is needed.
In fact, if Roberts' resignation letter is accurate, Gretsas' actions would be illegal, possibly even criminal. And the question I keep asking myself: Why would Roberts lie about such things?
The Broward State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the U.S. Attorney's Office should all be taking a close look at these allegations and should question Roberts and demand he provide specific details relating to his conversations with Gretsas.
Coincidentally, while Roberts was making headlines for taking a principal led position, Miami's police chief, John Timoney, was back in the news for his battle with the ethics commission over the free hybrid Lexus SUV he was given to "test drive" for 14 months.
Timoney has refused for months to admit wrongdoing. He has hired attorneys to try and bully the state and local ethics commissions, but to their credit they stayed focused on the case. They made it clear to Timoney that any deal must include an admission of wrongdoing. They would not allow him to skate through this episode, treating it as if it were nothing more than a parking ticket, and paying a nominal fine.
Now comes word that Timoney is finally willing to acknowledge he made a mistake and violated the law when he failed to report the SUV on his financial disclosure forms.
Timoney's arrogance, his obstinance, his unrelenting ego, has prolonged this affair bringing unwanted attention on his department and on the city. He has no one to blame but himself.
And so as the week comes to an end, one chief is gone and another remains.
Unfortunately, the wrong one is out.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
http://cbs4.com/defedecolumn/jim.defede ... 36959.html (http://cbs4.com/defedecolumn/jim.defede.defede.2.736959.html)