12/15/10
Here's what the Bee is not reporting or maybe they just don't know.
This pursuit should have been called off but wasn't because the watch commander for that shift (Lt X who is never where he’s supposed to be) was nowhere to be found.Our policy requires that a supervisor review every chase 2 minutes into it to determine if a continued chase is justified.
Various factors are weighed and the question that’s asked is does trying to catch the bad guy justify the risk to the public posed by a high speed chase but long story short.... if the policy worked like its supposed to...this one would have been terminated.
Mainly because at best the crime committed by the bad guy was a no jail misdemeanor vandalism. This was known about 2 minutes into the chase when an officer went to the scene and reported to all that there was no entry...therefore no burglary or attempted burglary.A good supervisor would have ended it there. It happens all the time.
And when the bad guy started ramming PD vehicles (which does justify a response of deadly force), shots were fired by cops who didn't have a clear field of fire resulting in friendly fire hits to 2 police cars (with one round going into the head rest of a cop who had just exited his vehicle) and a bystanders vehicle which was occupied by a woman and her daughter.Bottom line this should never have happened.
No tears for the bad guy....but what about the woman? And how about the cop who was almost shot...and the innocent bystanders whose car was hit? All that happened for a misdemeanor?This is a predictable scary result for the now infamous 5B shift that that has been out of control for over 2 years and will soon be investigated by the out of town lawyer hired by the city.
We need a new chief who has the courage and guts to take effective control of this department. Until that happens this kind of bad police work will continue because there are no consequences.Is this concern a continuation of past practices by the MPD management?The following took place one year ago.Referring to Frank Drummond who is an ex-MPD officer who pleaded not guilty to multiple molestation charges on 12-3-09.Frank was allowed to resign from MPD after he engaged in similar behavior about 9 years ago.
We all believe that there is nothing to indicate this in his personnel file because the documenting paperwork has been removed. This is the way Wasden ran the department into the ground when he was here.The problem is that his cronies at the top that he left behind are continuing with business as usual...coverups and no discipline are the order of the day.
The bad boys (and there are always a few) continue to get away with bad behavior because these bozos don't have the management skills or desire to deal with it.The latest example: recently a detested, ineffective supervisor chased a speeder all the way to Keys and stopped only because his car had 2 flat tires. He had to have the car towed back to MPD and, of course, told no one about it.
It only came to light when an SO supervisor reported it to an MPD LT.Because the guy is a Wasden/Harden kool aid drinker it's likely that this incident will be swept under the rug with all the others.
This supervisor should be fired or demoted and Nyoff needs to man up and dump Harden and bring in an outsider to clean up this place. This has just gone on far too long.When will the corruption at the MPD end? Things sure don't seem to change now do they.
The good Officers at the MPD are frustrated and tired of the cover-ups as this conversation shows.Does anyone really believe the sham investigation being performed by Gregg Nyhoff and his chosen lawyer will get to the root of the MPD's problems?
