Balance of Power Ch. 03

"What will my badge say?" asked Teresa. You can tell by the form of our sentences that the rank structure passed. So did the BOI referral.

"It will say 'Lt. Commander'." I said. "And congratulations, Commander of Operations Croyle!"

"And you're a star now... literally." said Teresa, with as much of a grin as we were going to get from her. "And that was hilarious, what you said about the Sheriff wanting his candy."

"Damn right, I want that." said Sheriff Griswold, who was walking right alongside us back to Police Headquarters.

"Our Sheriff will now have the uniform he deserves, and that the People need to see." I quipped.

"You're going to look great, Sheriff." Teresa said, in an excellent display of asskissing.

"Har." said the Sheriff. "So what did you young whippersnappers think of my nominations for the EMS Chief and Assistant Chief?"

"The Assistant Chief did not surprise me." I said. "But you totally got me with the EMS Chief nomination. I had no idea that was coming..."

(Author's note: Can you guess who the EMS Chief and Assistant Chief will be? Keep reading for the answers...)

Part 15 - Resolutions

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday, September 26th, from the rooftop of the building at Riverside and College. "Commander Troy will be required to face yet another Board of Inquiry regarding accusations of Police brutality!"

Bettina began: "The Council referred a complaint and an NEA lawsuit of Police brutality to a Board of Inquiry, to determine if Commander Donald Troy and Deputy Chief Cindy Ross used excessive force in arresting six protesters the Police said were assaulting Assistant Fire Chief Davies and another person. Some Council Members insisted that Commissioner Finneran be on the Board of Inquiry and the lead examiner, but it was not clear if that would actually happen."

Bettina droned on about the case, then finally got to other news: "We will be having breaking news throughout the day. Council Member Reginald B.F. Lewis will be issuing a statement this morning. Inspector General Horace S. Wellman, brother of University President Sidney P. Wellman, will hold a rally as he announces that he will be running for the I.G. post, which under the new Charter is an elected position in the newly independent Inspector General's Office."

Bettina: "District Attorney Miriam Walters will be holding a Press conference this morning to outline changes to the District Attorney's Office. Channel Two News has learned that one of those changes could be the demotion of ADA Paulina Patterson, who is black, in favor of ADA Savannah Fineman, who is white and a close friend of D.A. Walters."

Bettina: "And Sheriff Griswold will be holding a news conference this afternoon, from which we are expecting to hear a resolution to the punishment of Fire Chief Quinlin and Battalion Chief Tucker. The Union grieved the Sheriff's attempts to separate both men from the Fire Department, and the hearing will be this morning. Sheriff Griswold also said that he will reveal the names of the leadership of the new EMS leaders at the Press conference, which the Council approved last night, but redacted the names until they accept the nominations and are announced by the Sheriff."

Bettina: "And the Council passed a resolution to allow the branches of the Public Service Department to implement the new rank structure outlined in the new Charter on October 1st. Among those changes, the Battalion Chiefs are demoted to the equivalent of Superintendents instead of being on par with the Assistant Fire Chief and Fire Marshal. Also, Precinct Captains will now be full Captains in the Town & County Police Department..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!* *BRING!*

It was my Police iPhone ringing as the Command Group and my Angels drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room. "Hello, Ms. Walters." I said as I answered.

"Commander, did you tell Bettina that crap about me demoting Paulina?" Walters angrily asked.

"No, Ms. Walters." I said. "Scout's Honor, it wasn't me. And you know I don't speak to KXTC at all."

"Who the hell was it, then?" Walters practically shouted.

"If I knew, I would tell you." I said. "And I do wish I knew, because I hate leakers in the Police Department more than you can possibly know."

"All right, then." said Walters. "My apologies. And what that bitch Wurtzburg said is totally 'fake news'. She has no idea what I'm going to say."

"That's never stopped her from lying on the air before." I said. That lightened Miriam's mood considerably. She apologized again, told me to watch her news conference, then we disconnected.

"Wow." I muttered as I set the phone down on the table, and related to everyone what had been said.

"If you'd leaked that, Bettina would not have run with it." Tanya Perlman astutely said. "And judging by the racial overtones in the way Bettina reported it, she's trying to gin up something."

"The silver lining to this," said Cindy Ross, "is that judging by Miriam's phone call, she doesn't intend to demote Paulina."

Teresa replied "Or she did intend to do it, and now Bettina has laid the table to make a racial issue out of it."

"What do you think, Mr. Crowbarrrr?" drawled the Chief.

"I think..." I said, "... that I need more coffee, and we'll find out what Miriam has to say when she gives her Press conference." After pouring more coffee into my mug, and everyone else's that needed it, I said "Oh, one more thing: I had thought Reginald B.F. Lewis was going to resign days ago. But apparently he waited to see what the Charter vote would be, so I expect his presser today is to announce he won't run again."

"Good call, off on the timing." said Cindy. "But if you were perfect, you'd have been writing the Ten Commandments instead of the Charter." Amidst the laughter, a red crowbar was waved in her general direction.

"Did my proposal for an Intelligence Division get acted upon?" Tanya asked.

"Yes." I said. "It was submitted, and the Council referred it to the Committee of the Whole, which is their way of being able to get together and talk about something without having to go through the hoopla of, or most of the hoopla, of the Rules of Order, and having to keep transparency notes."

"Darn." Tanya said, her spirit deflating at the news. "I was hoping it'd sneak through."

"Don't be upset." I said. "There was a lot going on at that Council meeting last night. If they had to have done it last night, it would've failed. I think they really do want to consider it, and it'll get a fair shot."

"Does the Council even have to pass it?" Cindy asked. "Why can't the Chief do it unilaterally?"

I replied "Because it creates a new Lieutenant position, which will require the Council's approval to fill. And even though there was an anonymous gift to buy the equipment for it, the money has to be authorized to be spent, and the positions created. We can laterally move Lt. Mary Milton to the Intel Lieutenant slot, but then the Council has to approve whoever we put in the Vice slot..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

My Angels and I were watching in my office as Reginald B.F. Lewis came before the television cameras set up in the Atrium of City Hall. "Thank you for coming." said Lewis. "I am announcing today that I will not be running again for my seat on the Town & County Council. The actions of the racist, illegitimate Mayor and his sycophant Police Force have made it impossible for me to serve my constituents and protect their rights as minorities in a way they have a right to expect. As of now, I intend to serve out my current term on the Council, continuing the fight to stop the illegitimate Mayor's racist policies. I'll be taking no questions at this time. Thank you."

As we watched on TV as Lewis walked on into the secure areas of City Hall, ignoring the Press's shouted questions, I heard Tanya hiss "Yessss!"

"Are you the reason he's quitting?" asked Teresa to Tanya.

"Sure, I'll take the credit." Tanya said with a wicked grin.

"You can, but what he said to you was just one of the final straws that broke his back." I said. "I happen to have some inside information that Lewis knows he's been neutered by that suspended sentence hanging over his head like the Sword of Damocles. I think he'd just resign from the Council, but that would leave the Republicans with a 5-4 advantage until the next election."

"Miriam's presser is coming up at 9:00am." said Cindy.

Teresa said "Someone who shall remain nameless told me that Geiger said that he turned down Miriam's offer to be a D.A. Investigator because he, and I quote, 'didn't trust her motives'. He said that the way she asked questions as they discussed the job gave him a bad vibe about what she wanted him to do."

"Which is what?" I asked. "To go behind our backs in some way?"

Tanya spoke up and replied: "Or make sure we don't sabotage Savannah Fineman if and when Miriam demotes Paulina. And yes, I heard that about Geiger turning down the job, also..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As the Union grievance hearing began in a room in City Hall, Senior Deputy Sheriff Louis Bailey, an older man that had been with the Sheriff's Department for over a quarter of a century, came up to one of the Union's lawyers, the 'Junior Adjutant' as he was derisively called. They began the negotiation...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

At 9:00am, Town & County District Attorney Miriam Walters went to the Press Room in City Hall. As the propagandists... er, journalists settled into their chairs, she said "Thank you for coming. This press conference will outline changes to the District Attorney's Office, which will bring our DA's Office into closer alignment with most of the others in the State."

Walters announced the new Investigator positions, then said "The other major change is with respect to Deputy DAs. All new hires of prosecutors and related attorneys will be Deputy DAs instead of Assistant DAs. The current Assistant DAs will remain in their positions, though there may be a shifting of roles."

Miriam then detonated the nuke: "I also want to say that this morning there was a news report that was not only false, but malicious in what I believe was an attempt to instigate racial tensions. KXTC's dishonest fake news was disgusting, and shows why journalists are one of the three most disrespected and despised professions in America. KXTC owes me, my Assistant DAs, and the People of this County a retraction and an on-air apology."

"Hold your breath waiting for one!" shouted Lester Holder, standing up. "We stand by our reporting! Just because you changed your mind to hide your racist intent doesn't mean we lied. We stand by our story! You owe us an apology!"

"Get that race-baiter out of here." said DA Walters. To Holder she said: "We have not forgotten the racist names you called my ADAs daughter, Holder. And neither has the Iron Crowbar!" There were gasps in the room as two Deputy Sheriffs came up. Holder did not resist, and willingly left with them...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wow." said Cindy as she and I watched in my office. "She backed off. Maybe what you said did have an effect."

"Yeah," I said, "she kicked the can down the road. But like I also said in the earlier meeting, we'll have to see what happens if Savannah Fineman loses the Solicitor election next year. Miriam is counting on Savannah winning that. I'm far less certain."

"How'd you like that exchange with Lester Holder?" Cindy asked with a gleam in her ice-blue eyes.

"I cannot believe he did that." I said. "I'm just wondering if he gets so triggered whenever Press dishonesty is called out that he just can't help himself."

"Just between us," said Cindy, "are you the one that leaked that to KXTC, in spite of what you told Miriam?"

"No." I said, shaking my head. "Seriously and genuinely, I am not the one."

Cindy peered at me, then her eyes relaxed and she just nodded slightly. "So who do you think did leak it? Because I have reason to believe Miriam was going to go through with demoting all four ADAs. I really do suspect that Miriam backed off only after Bettina put that out there this morning."

"I don't know." I said. "There are a lot of logical candidates. We shall see what's going on with that..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I met Jack Muscone at the Cop Bar for lunch. "So now it's crazy for you guys while we Feds are sitting back and twiddling our thumbs." he said as we sat down.

I chuckled. "Yes, it is." I said. "But in a good way. And now we can concentrate on Tanya's plan for an Intelligence Division."

"You like that plan?" asked Jack. "I thought it was a good idea. The SRIC (State Regional Intelligence Center), like everything else that the SBI touches, is sketchy."

"True." I said. "And I've noticed a small but persistent increase in drug traffic flow into the County. It could really become an issue, and an Intel Unit could really be good to fight that. So what's going on Federally?"

Jack said "First, I wanted to say that I heard about Reginald B.F. Lewis not running again. I'm extremely glad to hear that, especially after what he said to Tanya. But it got my hackles up that he's not running again."

"He's hamstrung by that plea deal he made." I said. "If I were politically incorrect, I'd say he's made a lot of money for himself as a civil rights politician, and he's too much of a coward to put it on the line and risk jail time by violating that plea deal. He made the plea deal out of cowardice in the first place, as well. The only problem I have with him not running again is that we may get saddled with someone worse."

"That's true." said Jack. "And I wanted to apologize if we stepped on your toes over that Guru Stevens situation." said Jack. "Tanya asked me to do a routine check on him to make sure he wasn't one of our guys on an undercover mission. He's not, and as far as we can tell he's not undercover with anyone at all. But an issue came up: we found out that someone accessed our search on Stevens. We thought it was Melina... and yes, I know you asked her to look into Stevens... but it wasn't her. It was someone in Washington, D.C. Then the Rovers BAU unit started checking him out, and not being discreet about it at all."

"Hmmm." I said. "I guess I should be worried under the 'there are no coincidences in the Universe' concept, but since Stevens is just a nutjob wannabee cult leader, I don't feel like wasting any time on him."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

2:00pm. Sheriff Griswold stepped onto the portico of City Hall and up to the bank of microphones. There were a good number of people to both sides of him, including Chief Moynahan, myself, Cindy, Teresa, AFC Davies, Fire Marshal Zoe Singer, and Fire Lieutenant Roy Easley, all in Duty Dress uniforms. Public Health Officer Beth Paige, University President Sidney P. Wellman, Dr. Richard Searles, and my wife Dr. Laura Fredricson were also in attendance. A gaggle of journalists faced the microphones.

"Thank you all for coming." said the Sheriff. "I have two major announcements today. First, we have come to an agreement with the Fire Captain's Union and Fire Chief Quinlin. Quinlin has accepted a deal whereby he will be demoted to Fire Captain, and he will be allowed to retire with his pension based upon a Fire Captain's salary. I made that offer based upon Quinlin's years of service to the Fire Department versus the violations he committed, and it was agreed to by all parties."

"In exchange," said the Sheriff, "the Fire Captain's Union withdrew its grievance of the disciplining of Battalion Chief Tucker. Tucker was stripped of his time-in-grade, meaning his time with the Fire Department cannot be counted towards a pension should he attain another County job. Tucker was also summarily fired from the Town & County Fire Department."

"As a result of the Fire Chief vacancy," continued Griswold, "I will be nominating Assistant Fire Chief Warren Davies for the Fire Chief post." All the crowd except the Press applauded. They didn't want to show anything but 'neutrality', of course.

Sheriff Griswold: "My other announcement is to name the new EMS Chief and Assistant Chief, which was ratified by the Council last night. Your next EMS Assistant Chief is a lateral transfer, as Fire Marshal Zoe Singer has agreed to take on the new role. Zoe would you please come up?" There was applause as Zoe came up to the podium, but we were wondering why the Sheriff had her come up before naming the EMS Chief. We found out quickly enough:

Sheriff Griswold said "I have a special award for Ms. Singer today. She has served our Town & County for many years as an EMT then as Fire Marshal. The Fire Marshal job is like Internal Affairs as well as investigating Arson crimes, and she set a very high bar with her examples of integrity and leadership. So it is my honor to present her today with the Public Safety Distinguished Service Award!"

There were 'oooh's and 'ahhhh's as the Sheriff pinned the third-highest award in the Public Safety Department on Zoe's uniform jacket, and everyone except the Press applauded.

"And now let's introduce your next EMS Chief." said Sheriff Griswold. "I feel very lucky to have gotten him to accept this post, but he's never backed away from a challenge. His hard work and examples of integrity throughout his career are of the highest caliber. He saw harrowing combat in Viet Nam, and was awarded the Navy Cross. He rose to the rank of Admiral, and has done wonderful work as our University Hospital's Administrator. And he has now agreed to take on the challenge of building a new EMS for us. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present your new EMS Chief, Admiral Leonard R. Cordell!"

We all erupted into applause as Dr. Cordell came up to the microphone and shook hands with the Sheriff. Griswold put him in front of the microphone, and he spoke in his gruff voice:

"Thank you, thank you." he said. As the applause abated, he said "I want to thank Sheriff Griswold for giving me this opportunity. I want to thank Zoe Singer for accepting the transfer to work with me in building for you the best EMS service ever!" Much applause.

"In taking this job," said Cordell, "in a way I am going back to my roots. I was a Navy Corpsman in Viet Nam, treating and evacuating wounded soldiers. Now I have the privilege of leading a team of people that will be treating injured persons and getting them to the medical care they require." More applause.

Cordell: "And while I was in Viet Nam, I had the honor of being attached to a distinguished unit led by a great, great man. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions that saved an entire unit. And when his equally courageous and accomplished daughter, Captain... soon to be Commander... Teresa Croyle asked me to consider accepting this challenge, I just couldn't say no."

There were gasps of surprise, and then applause started as Admiral Cordell looked over at Teresa and gave her a thumbs-up. I'm not sure how much of it Teresa saw... she had tears in her eyes. After a final "Thank you.", Cordell came over and gave Teresa a hug then stayed with us as Sheriff Griswold resumed the microphone.

"It's hard to follow that," growled Griswold, "but Ms. Singer's transfer leaves open the Fire Marshal spot. We are fortunate to have a young man of great bravery and outstanding integrity to fill the role, as Roy Easley has agreed to accept the job." Everyone applauded as Medal of Valor recipient Easley came up and shook the Sheriff's hand.

"I'll leave these Fire Department and EMS people here to answer your questions." said Griswold. The rest of us followed him inside.

"Soooo..." I said to Teresa as we walked down the hallway toward the Sheriff's Office for a small party with a couple of cakes, "convinced the Admiral, eh?"