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The Law: Cops 10, Administrators 0
Published Saturday, January 11, 1997

Question: What’s the difference between a police officer and an administrator like the DA, the Sheriff, or a County Supervisor? Answer: the cop has training and an ability to work with people.
 
There’s a law enforcement crisis in the county, and it’s due primarily to the deficiencies of several elected administrators.  They don’t do the right things and they don’t talk to us.
 
It’s not the cops.  The cops operate with low salaries, inadequate equipment, inadequate training, and not enough fellow officers to make their job easy.  This doesn’t promote prevention of crime, apprehension of criminals, or service to the people.  The officers didn’t create this situation. They simply operate under policies and budgets set by the Sheriff, District Attorney and County Supervisors.  As Sam Goldwyn so delicately put it, “Fish stinks from the head.”
 
Let’s start 1997 by honoring those accountable for our county’s increasing skepticism of law enforcement.
 
Congratulations to District Attorney Mike Ferguson for showing so little strength or candor.  DA’s are elected officials and when they run for office, they usually go on about what efficient and aggressive and prosecutors they will be.
 
The DA’s prosecution of Sam Strange was not efficient, although it would be unfair to leave out the investigators, the defense attorneys, the jury, Judge John Darlington, and Sam Strange himself.  Strange’s guilt or innocence matters less than whether he got a fair trial, and the persistent controversy about the case suggests he didn’t.  It doesn’t help Ferguson that he prosecuted the Strange case himself and while running for judge.
 
There DA’s prosecution of Shawn Joyce for shooting Michael Minnick was not aggressive.  Instead of charging Joyce, as is commonly done, Ferguson took the grand jury option.  We’ll probably never know whether the evidence was presented with any force.
 
Mike hasn’t provided the public with any convincing communications.  On 12/11, The Union’s headline read “Ferguson responds to forum complaints.”  Ferguson cited the public’s “anger, a lot of emotion and a lot of incomplete facts or misinformation.”  The public was apparently wrong, ignorant, misinformed, but Ferguson didn't offer any facts or information..
 
Praise to Sheriff Troy Arbaugh for mishandling the non-arrest of Shawn Joyce for shooting Michael Minnick.  Troy forgot to train his men to say those three magic words, “You’re under arrest,” in dealing with Deputy Shawn Joyce.  Funny, but the officers know how to say them to the rest of us.
 
And who can forget the dramatic non-search and non-rescue of Kimberly Saunders?  The Sheriff’s Department didn’t even discover the body.
 
And, like Mike, Troy is silent about the complaints aired at the recent law enforcement forums.
 
Commendations to the County Supes for their abundant non-support of either their departments or the public.  Where are the comments in support of Troy and Mike?.  For that matter, where are the statements crafted to soothe an insulted public? Where are the offers of investigations or public hearings?
 
Amazing, but The Union ran a front-page story about Supervisor Karen Knecht on 12/20, entitled “No-nonsense leadership.”  Tim Willis’ quote is, “Though sometimes hard on county staff, Knecht said her philosophy is to hold them accountable for their actions, particularly when those actions reflect on the county as a whole. She believes at least 95 percent of county workers are doing a good job.”  Hee hee.  Not much leadership or accountability lately.  Well, maybe the 5% of workers doing a bad job refers to Mike, Troy, and the Supes themselves.
 
Here’s some advice for the DA, the Sheriff, and the Supervisors to help ensure a happy 1997:

1. You folks, presumably competent and filled with good intentions, have a serious problem.  You can’t communicate effectively.  You apparently try to avoid talking to the public, and when you do, you don’t communicate solutions or even an interest in the public’s concerns.  Change that and you’ll have our support.

 

2. If you want your staffs to be well-paid and well-equipped, you need a public that’s positive about law enforcement.  Why don’t you build that?  Express yourself in the newspaper.  Conduct honest focus groups with the citizens.  Don’t you want to hear what’s needed so you can improve the situation?

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