Say It Ain't So, Joe

So now the newer patrol lieutenant is putting in his retirement papers. Heading for greener pastures, no doubt.

So that raises a question or two.

Does the department go on with one patrol lieutenant (like Sheriff Allsop effectively did) or is there another additional lieutenant to be promoted to a job that one qualified person could handle? Will the promotion go to one of the politically correct sergeants that are well known for spending more time on the lot kissing up than doing their assigned job of supervising the street deputies?

Does this retirement have anything at all to do with an off duty incident involving said lieutenant? Ddg hears that it is better to be pissed off than pissed on.

Openings for Supervisors

So the promotions once again rear their ugly head. Will it be like last time when the sergeant (CB) that was promoted anointed was not even on the sergeant's list? Will there be a politically correct selection in the top three that longshanks will give his nod to and prevent a repeat of the last anointment?

Will any deputy even remotely qualified decide to put their hat into the ring, even though their chance of making sergeant will be between slim and none?

Replacing Gerry Luce (Personnel) (political appointee)  with a sergeant position is nothing new. Replacing Luce with someone that would actually do the job and return telephone calls would be something useful.

Twenty years means WHAT????

So now, once your twenty years are in, you are no doubt called up to a departmental gathering before your peers to be honored and given a reminder of your twenty years of service to Laramie County. Twenty years that included running towards the bad guys instead of away from them, time spent away from family because law enforcement does not take a holiday, and dealing with situations that every day people would not have the ability, courage or stomach to handle.

You are thanked for your service and spoken of well by the administration that puts on these gatherings.

NO, it doesn't happen that way unless you are connected. Seems as though a street deputy that recently got his twenty years in also got a notice to check in at the front desk. There he received an empty award box from a records clerk to commemorate his twenty years. longshanks and his staff must have been too busy to give the empty award box to the deputy in person. Talk about an embarrassing lack of leadership abilities, but in this administration, that is nothing new.

Move Along, Nothing Here To See

Odds are that the recent decision by Judge Peter Arnold against former Laramie County Deputy Sheriff Sean Ringrose will be overturned at the Wyoming Supreme Court level. Judge Arnold has a long history of making the wrong decisions. This case will no doubt add to that history.

The judge wrote that "Ringrose displayed unsatisfactory work performance in not preventing Edwards from leaving the scene after the fight and .........."

Let's see judge, what is needed to keep someone from leaving a scene after a fight. Obviously the deputies there looked into/investigated the fight as no citations were issued or arrests made. So there was not any reason to keep Edwards at the scene for investigative purposes. Edwards was not arrested as the deputies would need probable cause (remember these two words judge, they may help you make the right decisions in the future) to arrest or detain Edwards any further. So Edwards, like any citizen not under arrest or investigative detention, was allowed to freely leave.

Ddg believes that Judge Arnold is just another ignorant political hack. Unfortunately he sits in a position that allows him almost unlimited power while he makes politically correct decisions. After all judge, could longshanks be wrong? Better to err on the side of the elected officials than to upset the local political apple cart, isn't it? Could that be why Judge Fenn reached a different decision in the same case with former Laramie County Deputy Sheriff Cook?

Sooner or later, the voters of Laramie County will decide that glick has been here too long. How many other deputies will be thrown under the bus by then? Too bad it will be a few years before longshanks comes up for another vote.

Cook 1 longshanks 0

So, one (Cook) of the deputies fired by longshanks from an incident at the Outlaw Saloon has had his firing overturned by Sheridan County District Judge John G. Fenn. Now the question in this case is how much money will longshanks (Laramie County) have to pony up? Don't worry all of you taxpayers of Laramie County, it is just like the Obama government money, not like you have any loss in it (NOT).
  
The other deputy's (Ringrose) case has already been heard and is currently under review by local Laramie County District Judge Peter Arnold. Maybe Judge Arnold will save himself some time and see what District Judge Judge Fenn had to say in his decision.

No, longshanks will not take this lying down. The appeal has been filed with the Wyoming Supreme Court. Will this appeal cost Laramie County more money? Wait and see.

By the way, when Cook was fired, he had just been recently notified that his son would need liver surgery. Of course, longshanks is very good at kicking people when they are down. Way to go, danny boy!

In the meantime, thanks to both deputies for not taking their firing lying down and standing up to the powers that be. It was not easy, but doing the right things never are.

Finally Leaving After All These Years

Now that a certain senior lieutenant has left on leave to be shortly followed by his retirement, some questions arise. Said Lt.'s job (responsibilities) were parceled out to the two (still one more lieutenant than Sheriff Allsop had) remaining lieutenants on the patrol side.

This begs the question, why was this not done earlier? If this lieutenant was sooooo important to the department, why is he not being replaced? If his job responsibilities could be simply parcelled out, why was it not done earlier? Why did longshanks feel it was worth another staff position to keep the lieutenant around for the last eight plus years under his watch? How many street deputy slots were not filled because this extraneous position was kept filled?

How many of the bloated supervisory staff at the Laramie County Sheriff's Department could leave and not be missed? How many years would it take for anyone to notice if they were all gone on vacation? Silly questions, yes. Facetious questions, yes. Does the truth hurt? Of  course it does!

A side note to those who were observed playing the political games while eagerly anticipating their promotional opportunities to lieutenant and to sergeant once this vacancy actually happened. You have shown Ddg your true colors. That is a selfish attitude of self first no matter who gets backstabbed. NOT a nice job, guys!

The Way That It Is Not

It used to be when there was a vacancy in detectives that a memo went out, asking those interested to apply. They were asked for things like their qualifications and their sergeant was asked for input. Why, because detectives was a short term assignment (from two to four years) after which time the detective went back to street patrol with more experiences under his belt. This made him a more experienced investigator in dealing with incidents that were initially reported on the street level.

Now, when a detective recently left the department (without a departure interview, but it would not be the first one in the last few years), one deputy was anointed quickly without any open applications from patrol for anyone who was interested. Whether this deputy is qualified and will do a good job or not is not the point of this post.

What is the point of this post is that now, along with sergeants and lieutenants being anointed, the rank of detective has joined that list. Now the only thing that matters is just that longshanks puts you there. This is a slap in the face to all working deputies that had an interest in working in detectives. Just like the bitch slap that they took on the last sergeant anointment, right CB?

Professional law enforcement agencies have written procedures for selecting officers for promotion or transfer to specialized assignments. This allows officers to prepare themselves through training and work performance to better themselves for consideration when promotion and special assignment opportunities come up. Agencies that follow policies requiring written testing, supervisory evaluation review, and oral interviews for qualified applicants for promotion or special assignments, have fact based reasons for why a particular officer was selected. Secondly, and almost as importantly, they can then talk to each applicant and intelligently inform them of what they need to do to improve themselves to perform better for the next testing.

Unfortunately, longshanks' agency is no longer a "professional" law enforcement agency. There doesn't appear to be a policy in effect that determines how an officer can be considered for advancement. If there is, then they are not using it. It appears that if you want to be promoted or be considered for a special detail, it boils down to who you "know." Too bad. This used to be one of the best law enforcement agencies in this state.

Well, longshanks has less than four years to continue foul things up at the sheriff's department. Unfortunately the next real sheriff will have quite a mess to clean up.