Last I heard there's still a murderer on the loose, and whenever a suspect is identified whoever brings him in is at risk. He could be stopped randomly too and it doesn't take any imagination to know the potential for danger in that.

Related to a chief and morale, which is essential, here's something else to consider just as a cost matter.

If the chief isn't respected "by the troops" , which of course is earned by being an excellent administrator who doesn't let politics make him forget what it was like to wear black boots instead of brogans (so to speak) there will be union grievances up the wing-wang. Right Dan?

Some will be justified and some not, some won and some lost.  Grievances not only are bad for morale, they are costly. Does the town really need that?

Does anybody know how long it took for Stanley to get on the scene after the Elmwood St. murder? Or perhaps he thought it better to let Lt. Wallace handle things because he is familiar not only with Wareham officers but with the county BCI investigators and their procedures.

WHEN YOU GO TO TOWN MEETING DEFEAT THE SELECTMANS CALL FOR THE POLICE CHIEFS POSITION TO BE NON CIVEL SERVICE , KEEP THE STRONG CHIEFS LAW , WE DONT NEED THESE CROOKED SELECTMAN RUNNING THINGS.

PShooter...you know as HAMATRON5000 I am very proud to call you my son, HAMATRON5001.
The real question is to ask yourself and the part time Chief: WHAT JOB?
"HI, I'm John Jones, I'm a part-time Chief of Police in a Town 50 miles away.
I'm pretty sure I know how to get there, but, they gave me this swell cruiser car with GPS so I know I can find it.
Don't you wish you were me?
I make a full time salary as a Chief of Police in my HOME Town, and then I go out and charge a bunch of numb nuts lots of bucks to be a part time Chief in THEIR Town. Apparently, they don't have any qualified cops to run the Department. I understand, from some of the elected officials, that the current cops are pretty stupid, and racists as well, so they can't find a guy as great as me.
Isn't it neat?
America is wonderful.
By the way, could you check to see if I receive any more percentage of retirement through the State Retirement system by doing this gig?
Also, do you know if you pronounce the Town's name "Wear-em'" or WearHAM?
Thanks."
Poor cops.

Last edited by danoconnell (2009-09-07 17:26:27)

DanO, I agree with you 100%. But, like alot of things, we have to deal with the reality that he is our chief.

Actions by our BOS have forced us to live with fallout from their poor decisions. It's like, "Hey, they cut off my finger, how can I get the job done with what I got left." It sucks, but until we kick their asses to the curb, we have to deal with their missteps. Hamatron5001, over & out.

PShooter

Last edited by PShooter (2009-09-07 17:33:51)

only if the ham family resembles 007 sean connery..

Molly...glad to read your post.
YOU THE GIRL!!
Also, I agree with Steve.
Steve Holmes will be one of your new Selectmen in Wareham in April.
The least you can do for your new leader is to comply with his wishes.
If someone has something to say about an unnamed person or entity, do it through private message and all of us can forward it to those we know and trust.
Don't forget...not everyone of this post is one of "us".
Private messages is naming names that we have been asked not to name on this site for one week.
Respect Steve.
Steve has also asked for all of you to concentrate on Town Meeting. he knows the election is several months away, the Town Meeting is only weeks.
Selectman Steve Holmes.
Sounds good..huh?
I know this will be hard, especially for the intellects among us like common...I am sure he has already read a certain post on another site that has infuriated him, as well as me and many others.
Patience.

This interim chief thing only is understandable to me if I assume the BOS has a hidden agenda. The typical way to conduct a search is to appoint the next highest ranking officer acting chief. An alternative is to bring a retired local chief in until a new chief is hired.

Then the BOS hires a police chief hiring consultant and puts together a search committee like Sherborn did in April.

How difficult is this?

Other towns have things like search committees and open interviews during regularly scheduled selectmen's meetings.  Our town has "This is who you got now, chumps, deal with it."

I would note that in Halifax, hometown of "He who shall not be named," the selectmen in that town interviewed their town accountant finalists during a regularly scheduled public selectmen's meeting.  I wonder why, if "He" thinks the Wareham selectmen do such a great job, why then did he not demand that his hometown selectmen do the interviews in private?  I guess what is good for his hometown isn't good for us Wareham chumps.

I want to thank one of our posters for bringing out the fact that the members of the WPD Union can't file grievances unless it falls within the purview of the collective bargaining agreement.
It's been over 40 years since I was involved with the Union, and I stand corrected.However, as I thought about it later, it came to me that under the collective bargaining agreement there are certain protections afforded to the members of the Union. With some of the accusations against Officers, I bet the person who wrote me could get very creative to find some "loopholes" that would allow a Police Officer the right to defend his name and reputation.
The person who wrote me is one of the smartest people I have ever "known", and I appreciate his advise.
I was never bothered by not being the smartest guy in the room, I only want the smartest guy in the room to be my friend, not my enemy.
This particular person reminds me of  a very dear friend that recently passed away.He had 5 PH.Ds'...FIVE...I enjoyed talking with him and discussing issues with him, although we both knew I was not on the same intellectual level. He never looked down on me, and we had conversations that far exceeded my capacity to engage in, but, he was smart enough to let you not know it.
Thanks to the person who wrote me. I appreciate your posts and your private messages.
I have told you before, you are brilliant, and I am glad you are on "our" side.
Now...think of some way for the members of the Union to insist that the BOS protect them and stand up for the men and women of the WPD.
PLEASE?

here is a link to the wareham police union..


www.warehampoliceunion.com

LIZdaGNOME wrote:

here is a link to the wareham police union..


www.warehampoliceunion.com

once on the above site if you click on union blogs you can read releases about coleman, contracts and such very interesting reading..

danoconnell wrote:

Thanks for pointing it out, Liz.
Very interesting reading.
How soon before the President of the Union retires?
He'd make a good Selectman.

i dont expext him to retire soon hes pretty young..

I hadn't thought of the danger to those attending the candlelight vigil tonight until a friend who knew the family of the  Scott Monteiro Jr. is afraid to attend emailed me.

The United Front gang is responsible for most of the shootings in New Bedford. The have a history of intimidating witnesses. These witness then somehow change their stories or don't show up when called to testify.

There's no legal way to keep them from attending the vigil. If they expect to intimidate people by their presence it could backfire and there could be violence.

I hope the interim police chief is there and makes sure he has every possible officer on duty. This is where Wareham having a police auxiliary would help.

Some area towns could call on 20 - 30 uniformed, armed, with arrest power, auxiliary officers to augment the regulars.

urneighbor wrote:

This interim chief thing only is understandable to me if I assume the BOS has a hidden agenda. The typical way to conduct a search is to appoint the next highest ranking officer acting chief. An alternative is to bring a retired local chief in until a new chief is hired.

Then the BOS hires a police chief hiring consultant and puts together a search committee like Sherborn did in April.

How difficult is this?

The BOS gave Lt. Wallace the position of Chief for 15 days, when Chief Joyce unexpectedly retired.  Don't you think they would have given him at least 30 days so they could look for candidates?  They were going to extend his 15 days another 30 days, but in the meantime in comes IC Stanley.  I personally think he was someone the ITA knew.  This just happened too quick for an unknown to come forward for this job, as a part timer. I heard the BOS weren't happy with the ITA's choice, who also worked in areas near IC Stanley.
Here is your hidden agenda.  They planned to rid Wareham of the Civil Service before Tommy left.  They will keep Stanley until Civil Service is voted out and then they will hire whoever they want.  The BOS will never hire a P.C. Hiring
Consultant.  They will pick the new chief themselves.  I want to know what their "back up" plan is if they don't win on their C.S. removal.  They stated that they have one.

TBL: Not to get sidetracked on this but of course the auxiliary police aren't a substitute for career officers (though many from "the old days" started their careers as members of an auxiliary). But they don't just do details.  In Middleboro as elsewhere they walk beats, ride with the regulars, and assist at special events like parades and other large gatherings. Obviously regulars from a town or city should get first choice on any extra duty that will pay them. However some events need more officers than there are regulars available and these come for free. I'm not going to do an extensive web search for towns that have them, and this list may be old, but this is what I found on this website:

Ashland Attleboro Belmont Bridgewater State College Cambridge Fall River Framingham Freetown Hamilton Haverhill Holyoke Randolph Rockland Stoughton Southwick Somerville Waltham Wayland  and Winthrop. In some towns in Mass. they even have their own specially marked cruisers and do regular patrols: Fall River, Waltham and Somerville for example.

Many accumulate lots of experience over the years or decades - I was an auxiliary in another state for 12 years and rode every Saturday night with a regular.

Who would you rather have ticketing cars, auxiliaries who went through the reserve-intermittent police academy or crime patrol?

Last edited by urneighbor (2009-09-10 07:11:46)

I also spoke with a friend of mine that rose through the ranks of the Mass. State Police.
He is retired now, living down here, but he doesn't have much good to say about the new P.T. Chief.

urneighbor wrote:

Dan,

Any sources know why he is against tasers and apparently won't let N. Andover PD use them.

funny thing isnt the bos against tasers also???

I have an uneasy feeling that the computer investigation may look at unauthorized personal use of Town computers, like posting on this site, etc.
So..to our cops and Town employees out there that are posting on this site, make sure you do it on your personal computer.
I can't imagine it could be a termination of employment violation, but, it could cause trouble, reprimands in  your files, requirement to pay for computer usage time, etc.
So...be careful.

They have been used for years in Florida.
In fact, I carry a "stun gun".
It requires you to be close to the subject, but the weapon carries 95,000.00 volts.(As opposed to about 50,000 that the Police use). If you touch the "perp" while you are using it, for some reason it does not affect you. After 2 seconds, they are down, 4 seconds they start speaking in tongues.
My wife carries one also. Her's is 100,000 volts.
It now requires a concealed weapons permit to carry a stun gun or a concealed weapon. That law just changed last year. Prior to that, stun guns were not considered necessary to be licensed.
Yes, both my wife and I are licensed to carry concealed weapons.

urneighbor wrote:

Last I heard there's still a murderer on the loose, and whenever a suspect is identified whoever brings him in is at risk. He could be stopped randomly too and it doesn't take any imagination to know the potential for danger in that.

Related to a chief and morale, which is essential, here's something else to consider just as a cost matter.

If the chief isn't respected "by the troops" , which of course is earned by being an excellent administrator who doesn't let politics make him forget what it was like to wear black boots instead of brogans (so to speak) there will be union grievances up the wing-wang. Right Dan?

Some will be justified and some not, some won and some lost.  Grievances not only are bad for morale, they are costly. Does the town really need that?

Does anybody know how long it took for Stanley to get on the scene after the Elmwood St. murder? Or perhaps he thought it better to let Lt. Wallace handle things because he is familiar not only with Wareham officers but with the county BCI investigators and their procedures.

I heard that OUR chief Wallace called him.  He was either home or almost home. Even if 1/2 way home - 40 minutes.  Everything was in place and being covered when he arrived.  Wareham cops might not "hang" together, but they never let anything stop them from working together, especially in a tragedy like we had last week.  They are always watching each others back.  It's like they have a "police mode" button they push and they just zone in to the problem until it is done.  Awesome to watch our cops and how they work together.  It makes you proud knowing that Our chief Wallace has had a part in putting the puzzle pieces together, over the years, to make our police officers the best that they can be.

If someone is disciplined for using the computer for any legal purpose during a break I think they should go to the mat on the issue based on what bornof says.

For now it is best to be cautious.

Why shouldn't a town employee check and write  personal email, read the news, play a game, or post on a blog from their desk during lunch break? Nobody would have protested years ago if they used the phone for a personal call, read the newspaper, did a crossword puzzle or wrote a letter.

Today the computer is just  a 21st century version of an office communications device which has replaced the telephone in many ways.

ALL HAIL CHIEF RON JEREMY

Last edited by countypatrol (2009-09-13 19:15:11)

Dan with respect to your state police friends, you first have to consider that the state police are strongly against local police forces forming regional teams such as a regional SWAT team or dive team. The state police are trying to protect their turf because they also provide these services. But since it may take an extended period of time to round up troopers from far flung parts of the state the trend these days is for regional partnerships called law enforcement councils. By reading about the new chief I can see that he was very much involved in a law enforcement council on the north shore. The state police are great at what they do but you should consider that they could have an axe to grind with someone who they feel played a big part in moving in on their turf.

I agree with you that a part time chief in this town is a bad idea. I think we should give the new chief a chance. He will only be here for about a year and it is always nice to have some fresh ideas and then he will move on. Lt. Wallace did get screwed over by the town but he will probably end up as the permanent police chief at some point.

With that being said the chief of police position belongs in civil service. Politicians should not be running the police department. Make no mistake about it. A non civil service police chief is a politician.

Last edited by TBL (2009-09-15 15:04:06)

INV09-24353 1049 BOMB SCARE
Location/Address: [WAE 272] PLYMOUTH COUNTY TEACHERS FEDERAL CREDIT UNION - CRANBERRY HWY
Unit: 2
Unit: 12
Narrative:
*ACTIVE SOP BUTTON*
Wareham Police Department Page: 5
Dispatch Log From: 09/12/2009 Thru: 09/12/2009 0000 - 2359 Printed: 09/14/2009
CHECK LIST: TIME STAMP
SHIFT SUPERVISOR 09/12/2009 1050
WAREHAM FIRE 09/12/2009 1050
LT. WALLACE NOTIFIED 09/12/2009 1051
NARRATIVE: NOTHING SUSPICIOUS AT THIS TIME: REPORT MADE

09-24424 0907 ALARM/BURGLAR
Location/Address: [WAE 519] MINOT FOREST SCHOOL - MINOT AVE
Unit: 15
Unit: 12
Unit: 10
Narrative:
ALARM - ZONE GIVEN AS FIRST FLOOR REAR
AREA CHECKED - OPEN DOOR FOUND TO MOBILE CLASSROOM
OFF FLUEGEL - CAR 10 NOTIFIED SGT JACINTO
AT THIS TIME 09/13/2009 0919
THAT HE BACKED INTO A BASKETBALL HOOP POST - CRUISER DAMAGE
LT. WALLACE NOTIFIED BY SGT. JACINTO 09/13/2009 0930
SEE REPORT
MOBILE CLASSROOM DOOR SECURED

Well ,
What `s the suspension time ,
For hitting a hoop ?

Once again .
Who`s the Chief ?

I agree with TBL.
Thank God I never wrecked a cruiser, but I have seen cruisers hit by drunk drivers, sliding off of the road in the snow because of bald tires and the Town can't afford to buy new ones, and just  freak accidents.
Unless the act is deliberate, it is a part of doing business.

Surprise!!
No Chief at the meeting last Tuesday.
The cops I know are so HAPPY!
They have been ignored and disrespected again.
At least they know that help is on the way.

I have a conflict.
I have heard from all of the cops that I know. New friends, old friends, cops on the job, cops retired.
There isn't any one of them that says that Civil Service should be eliminated for the Chief of Police position.
Some, especially those still on the job, have one or two names of cops they think would make a good Chief.
Those off the job, retired, or gone for whatever reason, not so much.
The "old timers" do not want a repeat of the Chief Joyce's years.
The "newbies" don't want a repeat of the Chief Joyce's years.
They agree on that.
I believe that each and every one of them will agree to the following:

Stop the effort to eliminate the Chief of Police from Civil Service on Town Meeting Floor.

Call for a Chief of Police exam for any Police Officer that is qualified within the Wareham PD, and include a State-wide result for the Chief's exam

Do what Paul Cardalino said: get a committee together to assess the candidates for Chief. Give more weight obviously to veterans, which are preferred anyway, and Officers that have worked or are working for the Town of Wareham and all of the candidates promise to live in the Town of Wareham if they receive the position.

The results of that committee are given to the appointing authority, or authorities, and they will ultimately decide who is qualified to be the Chief of Police of the Town of Wareham, after holding at least one meeting to invite comments from the public.

Fair.

Balanced.

Works for everyone.

No Part-time Chiefs..no interim Chiefs...just a Chief of Police for the Town of Wareham.

It's not rocket science!!

First of all I would not want to be on the committee, I have been out to long, but you must remember a chief must have the support of his subordinates and lead by example. I do not dislike chuck or tom, I was my own problem child and never gave tommy a chances so he could not rely on me for guidance.  In 2005 I found out why I acted the way I did and apologized to tom. The PD needs a total sweep and officers must be held accountable. Please bornof wareham if you know so much about me please spell my name correctly. Cardalino, no o in the middle. I do not know of any process that will get the best person for the chief position. A candidate must be able to fit and be part of the community culture. The must be a give and take not on with the.  chief and the union but between the chief and the BOS and the officers can not play politics. The must be a strong chain of command and unity of command.

Saturday's meeting proved one thing. You need a full time, Civil Service Chief of Police.
PERIOD!
I expect the cops will sway votes on Town Meeting floor and this nonsensical idea will be flushed where it justifiably belongs.

TBL...well said. Thank you.