So...let's play "Hypothetical Situation"......
Let's say you have occasion to visit Old McDonald on his farm. He has the usual assortment of animals running about his barnyard but the barn itself is limited to one animal...a prize bull.
Old McDonald is proud and protective of his bull to the point that the bull is not allowed out of the barn. Ever. So after awhile there is an ankle deep layer of bull crap on the floor of the barn.
Old McDonald see this and thinks "I need to address all of the bull crap in the barn" so he brings in a guy, who proceeds to shovel more bull crap into the barn. He brings in a second and a third guy and they do the same. Then Old McDonald just shrugs his shoulders and grabs a shovel.
The bottom line? That scenario exactly describes the situation surrounding the recent suspension of a Fort Smith police officer and the Civil Service Commission overturning the decision by Chief Nathaniel "Highway" Clark to suspend said officer for 80-hours without pay.
It was bullshit to start with. Then a city director, who instigated the entire farce, a officer in the Office of Professional Standards and a supervisor of the FSPD that must be a favored hand to the head man all added to the pile.
After a short break, the Chief grabbed his shovel as well.
In the end, despite efforts to stack the CSC in his favor and a litany of race card waving by his backers that has been a constant since before he was hired, the Civil Service Commission sniffed the bullshit and voted 5-2 to overrule the chief and reduce the penalty to a one-day suspension without pay.
Ol' Johnny got a two week vacation at the expense of the department and those that would seek to abolish the CSC and give unlimited power to the chief got it handed to them.
Good deal on both counts. It it looks,smells and has the consistency of bullshit, it usually is.
Now brace for it. The torrents of accusations about me being a racist will start in about 3-2-1...
But let's review.
The current chief was hired to replace one who apparently told a joke and said some things that people took offense to. Fair enough. But the plot from the start was to hire an African-American as the new chief regardless of who applied.
Pressure was brought to bear against the city administrator (by the same city director that filed the complaint against Officer Bollinger) to hire an African American. Being a liberal from the north, the City Administrator either caved to or agreed with the assessment that the new chief had to be a man of color.
The hiring process was a joke. The final three candidates were the current chief, a guy who was the chief of police in a town the size of Mulberry, or a computer analyst with very little law enforcement experience. In that triumvirate, who do you think is going to get the nod every time?
Of course, a decorated member of one of the largest police departments in Texas and a guy who, just weeks after not even being a finalist in Fort Smith was named to head up the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, were passed over in favor of, well, you know, diversity.
So fast forward to Monday's Civil Service Commission hearing. It's obvious to the whole world that the department has gone to hell in a hand-basket with over thirty officers leaving for other jobs or retiring just to get away from the cluster.
Because the pecking order ascends from the top and goes down the chain of command based upon who is willing to smooch a little behind.
The African American city director who started the fiasco was followed up a by an African American lieutenant on the force with plenty of his own baggage and then the entire bullshit train took a turn towards someone who, according to the officers I speak with. may pucker up from time to time. They all three backed the chief 100%.
And they were all rendered pretty hapless by the attorney for the suspended officer. As was the chief when it was his turn to shovel.
Once the defendant got to start calling witnesses, it got really fun.
Look. I get it. The city director has a chip on his shoulder, the lieutenant has filed lawsuit after lawsuit against the city only to be denied (more on that in the weeks to come) and the supervisor may be just trying to ride out the storm.
The chief was just trying to cover his own ass.
But in the end, the Civil Service Commision--at least the members who were awake -- did the right thing for the right reason.
I absolutely have no problem with the Chief of Police because he is a black man. But just like I did when the City Administrator was hired I went online and within a half-hour of the announcement of the hiring I knew exactly what we were getting. There were red flags in both cases. But the BOD hired one guy and he hired the other guy.
As the wife so aptly puts it, sometimes you pay for what you get. And we got what could have been avoided in the first place if someone had taken the time to properly vette both these guys before they were hired.
That's not racism or any other "phobia" you want to lay on me.
That's just the absolute, bottom line, truth of the matter facts. Incompetence knows no race, creed, color, or whatever. Objecting to incompetence doesn't make me a racist.
It makes me a realist. I'm a realist to the point that the post in question may have actually been a violation of the FSPD social media policy as written, But the punishment should have fit the crime, because there are many others that have gotten away with much more egregious violations without so much as a slap on the wrist.
Trust me. I know first hand.
I have also seen emails that look like "certain people" may be getting ready to make a run at abolishing the Civil Service Commission...again.
If and when that ever happens, the bull in the barn will drown in his own excrement.
My way or the highway.
E-I-E-I-O!
covering the floor of the b arn.