No Show Ch. 01

When he paused, the Union Rep said "Before we begin, I wish to object to the presence of Commander Donald Troy and Lieutenant Commander Teresa Croyle---"

Sheriff Griswold interrupted by growling "Donald Troy is here because I asked him to attend as the Chairman of the Charter Commission. He wrote the current structure of the Public Safety Department into what became law,. There is no one who knows more about it than him, and his experience and expertise are available for your questions."

"And Commander Croyle?" Elliott asked.

I said "She's here because I asked her to attend, as she was involved in a past experience of a similar nature, which I suspect will be brought up here today." I saw out of the corner of my eye that Cindy's ice-blue eyes had widened upon hearing that, and that she was realizing what I was talking about.

"I still object to her presence---" tried the Union Rep.

"She's also in Loo-tenant Davis's chain-of-command." asserted Chief Moynahan. "And I want her here to-dayyyy, so she will be heeeeere."

"That's fine." Elliott said, then seeing the Union Rep's look, he asserted control: "I have no problem with her being here, so say no more about it." The Rep made a gesture of acquiescence, though he looked unhappy about it.

Efram Elliot: "All right... with all these ranks around the table, I'm just going to call everyone except the Sheriff 'Mister' or 'Miss', and mean no offense by it. Mr. Bailey, make your opening statement, please."

Louis Bailey began: "I am grieving the actions of Chief of Staff Ross, for usurping my authority during the incident in the public Council Chamber on Tuesday night, October 26th. My assertions are these: the Sheriff's Department is in charge of security at City Hall, the Courthouse, and other local Government buildings in the County. As such, I was the Incident Commander at the scene."

Bailey: "Part of my assertion is that Chief of Staff Ross is just that, the Chief of Staff. Her job is to be the Sheriff's assistant for matters such as the Budget, supply, and the Public Safety Department's properties. Chief of Staff Oswald never attempted to take over command in the field, and it's not Chief of Staff Ross's place to do that either."

Bailey: "Furthermore, I made it clear to Davis and the TCPD Officers at the scene that I was the Incident Commander at the scene, and that all of them were subordinate to me as such. However, Davis acted without my permission or authority to aggressively confront several of the peaceful demonstrators, and he refused to pull back when I ordered him to do so."

Bailey: "As part of that, Chief of Staff Ross actually took Davis's insubordinate side, and the side of the Police against her own Sheriff's Department, not only usurping my authority, but embarrassing me in front of my Deputies at the scene, and all of us in front of the demonstrators, who might have been emboldened to become less peaceful and more aggressive when seeing the divisions in our ranks."

Bailey: "And gentlemen, there is precedence for my position on this. Four years ago, Lieutenant Commander Croyle was insubordinate to Deputy Chief Della Harlow. The Deputy Chief position is the de facto Staff equivalent in the Police Department to the Chief of Staff position in the Sheriff's Department. The conclusion drawn after that incident was that the Deputy Chief was not part of the chain of field command, and so then-Captain Croyle was not insubordinate." (Author's note: 'Falsely Accused', Ch. 05.)

Bailey: "I assert the same thing here. I was in field command, and was not insubordinate because this Staff Deputy is not in the field chain of command."

Efram Elliot: "Your response, Ms. Ross?"

Cindy said: "I'd like to have Lieutenant Davis speak first, and then I'll respond to everything as a whole."

Elliot's voice became harsher as he said "So, Lieutenant, why are you grieving what appears to be a clear case of insubordination?"

"I don't agree with your evaluation of the case, sir." Jerome said. "First of all, when we first got there and Senior Deputy Bailey made the point to tell us he was in charge, we, that being me and my 1st Precinct Police Officers, were not insubordinate. We stood by and awaited orders."

Davis: "Second, the protesters were moving to cut off the Council Members's means of leaving the Chamber. The protesters, were being aggressive, not us. I saw what they were doing and I moved to cut the protesters off from the back door. My well-trained Officers came with me, and we kept the Council Members's escape lane open. We didn't have time to get Deputy Bailey's permission, and he hadn't told us we couldn't move on our own initiative to interdict a direct threat---"

"That's just semantics, b--- er, ah... that's just word salad." thundered Louis Bailey. He had cut himself off, then choked out the rest. His face was a deep red mask of utter fury as he stood up. "I told you I was in charge! And when you aggressively went after those protesters, I yelled at you to stop, and you didn't! Your action could have triggered a full-on riot, and we were badly outnumbered!"

Jerome just looked at Efram Elliott and said "May I finish?"

"Do so quickly." Elliott said, his voice very unfriendly towards Jerome.

Jerome said "Once we got the Council Members out of there, the protesters started winding down and eventually dispersed, so I think that supports the correctness of my actions. But Deputy Bailey was screaming at me and ordering his Deputies to arrest me, and my Officers surrounded me to protect me from his unreasonable rage. If you want to call that insubordinate, so be it, but Deputy Bailey was the one that was wrong, and that is why I grieved him."

Bailey had sat down but he rose to his feet again as he said "There it is. He just admitted to it. He and his TCPD Officers were unprofessional and insubordinate, and I will be pushing for his termination---"

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING 'UNPROFESSIONAL'?" thundered Chief Sean Moynahan as he also rose to his feet and confronted Bailey. "It's you that's acting like an unprofessional, dirty nasty Leg!"

I don't think the Union Reps understood why Cindy, Teresa, and I were failing to suppress grins at that. (Author's note: 'Jump!') And the Sheriff's mustaches were twitching with amusement, as well.

Chief Moynahan was not amused, and he was not finished. He said: "And how dare you threaten my Police Officers! Much less try to tell me what action to take regarding my Police Lieutenant?"

Bailey's lawyer Stelling said "That's why we're here, Chief. To get to the heart of this matter, and determine what discipline to take---"

"No, that is not why we're here." I said in my 'command authority' voice. "Captain Elliott made it clear that the insubordination charges would not be resolved here."

"And I'll tell you something else, Mr. Stelling." said the Chief angrily. "I've seen the video of what happened. Bailey's narrative is just inches short of outright lying. Davis responded to the aggressive actions of the violent agitators, and he saved your client's lazy ass by getting the Council Members to safety! I don't care what this Yoon-yun hearing finds, I will not be disciplining Loo-tenant Davis in any way."

"Oh really?" Gibson Stelling said with great snarkiness. He then turned to me and said "How you you feel about that, Commander Troy?"

"I'm doing him one better." I said. "I'm pinning a medal on Davis's chest on Monday, for taking the initiative and decisive action to protect innocents, and ultimately de-escalating that situation." I turned to Jerome and said "Sorry for ruining the surprise, Jerome."

"I understand, sir." Jerome replied, not quite able to suppress a grin...

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

We moved on. Cindy was invited to present her defense of the grievance against her. She said "First, I want to make one thing clear. I did not (air quotes) 'usurp' anyone else's authority at the scene."

Cindy: "When I got there, the TCPD and TCSD were literally standing off against each other. Lieutenant Davis had moved to evacuate the Council Members, and I was told that Bailey ordered Davis's arrest. I heard both sides's stories, then told Bailey that Davis's actions had been correct, and for Bailey and his Deputies to stand down from trying to arrest Davis."

Cindy: "Bailey started going off on me, saying he was the Incident Commander, and that I was just the Sheriff's staffer and had no authority over him at the scene. Fortunately for him, I was accosted by a KXTC reporter, and then the protesters began leaving."

Elliot: "Sheriff, isn't it true, especially based upon that previous incident, the new Charter, and precedence, that Senior Deputy Bailey is right, that he's in command in the field in your absence, and Chief of Staff Ross is just that... a senior Staff position?"

Sheriff Griswold: "Bailey brought it up about the incident four years ago between then-Commander Harlow and then-Captain Croyle. That incident was apples-and-oranges to what happened the other night. I am not accusing Bailey of intentionally putting people in harm's way, which is what Della Harlow did, and was ultimately forced to take an early retirement. But Davis did the right thing. And while that Harlow-Croyle case did force us to formalize and ultimately codify the rank and position structure, it doesn't mean it's written in stone to be applied to this case."

"And what was the resulting structure?" Elliott persisted.

Griswold: "Crowbar, would you give these guys the total story on all that, especially from the perspective of being the Charter Commission Chairman and writing and re-writing the structures of all the Public Safety Department?"

"I'll try, sir." I said. All eyes went to me as I began: "When we re-wrote the Charter and the Public Safety Department structures, we had three things in mind: fix things that weren't working and enhance things that were; flexibility, to adapt to meet our missions as they changed and expanded; and scalability, for when the County grew and expanded, and we expanded with it."

Me: "Chief Moynahan was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Cavalry in the Army, and I was an Army Reserve Captain in a Military Police unit. In the Army, Battalion Commanders have Operations Officers, the S3, and Executive Officers, the XO, who can be described as the guy in charge of 'beans and bullets'. The TCPD and many Police Forces are patterned similarly."

Me: "In the TCPD, we have six Captain positions... well, seven if you count Chaplain Romano... and we remember them by the acronyms 'DUI' and 'PPP'. The Police Commander is the Operations Officer or Chief of Operations, and is over the DUI: Detectives, Uniformed Officers, and Internal Affairs. The Deputy Chief is the XO, and is over Personnel & Records, Physical Properties, and Public Relations."

Me: "But for flexibility and scalability, we expanded or created some new positions. One example of this was the Operations Commander position. Captain Leslie Charles was the Captain of Uniformed Officers. When he retired, I was told that his position was somewhat titular, and wasn't needed, that Precinct Captains answering to the Police Commander or even directly to the Chief was adequate."

Me: "But if we were to grow into several precincts, then we would have a problem. And the Fire Department's Battalion Chiefs were squabbling with themselves and the Superintendents, and I didn't want that, either. Soooo, I created the Operations Commander position to replace the Captain of Uniformed Officers, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, and Teresa Croyle has done an outstanding job in that role."

Me: "The Precinct Captains answer to her, and she can maneuver with them as situations warrant. And I go to her instead of multiple Captains when I need something done. But while the Captain of Detectives still answers directly to me, Commander Croyle does not have to come begging to me when she needs backup from the Detectives or an operation such as a drug raid where Uniformed Officers back up the Vice Squad. She has the rank and authority to do what she needs in order to get the job done, and I can do my job of looking at the bigger picture of the battlefield, so to speak."

Me: "In our Fire Department, it's a little different: the Assistant Fire Chief is closer to the 'beans and bullets' guy, and the Fire Marshal is somewhat separate, and partially the TCFD's Internal Affairs. Operations are in the hands of Battalion Chiefs, while Superintendents are Installation Commanders."

Me: "I also want to make sure you understand the differences between ranks and positions. For example, the Police Commander and the Deputy Chief are equivalent in rank and bear the first name 'Commander'. Tanya Muscone and I are the same rank, and Cindy Ross is our equivalent rank, as are the Assistant Fire Chief and Fire Marshal. We call each other by our first names in both professional and personal discourse."

Me: "However, our positions are not equal. I am Number 2 in the Police Department, and while Commander Muscone is Number 3, and becomes Acting Chief if both me and the Chief are taken out of the picture, the Operations chain-of-command flows from the Chief to me to the Operations Commander or Captain of Detectives. But there's flexibility, there. In the absence of the Police Commander, the Chief could have the Operations flow go through Deputy Chief Muscone and put her in charge. It's his call."

Me: "And while I wrote the new Charter to streamline and make equivalent the rank structure between Departments as much as possible, and while superior ranks should be respected over all of the various Departments within Public Safety, there is the direct chain-of-command issue just like the military, and the situations involving positions versus ranks. One answers to one's direct boss first. And while Lieutenant Davis should respect Senior Deputy Bailey's rank and position, his direct chain-of-command is in the Police, not the Sheriff's Department, and his Officers rightly took their orders from him, and not the Sheriff's Deputies."

Me: "As to the Sheriff's Department... first, in this jurisdiction, the Sheriff is over the Police, Fire, EMS, and Public Health Departments, putting an elected official in charge. But some places have separate Sheriff Departments and county Police Departments, and towns have their own separate and sovereign departments."

Me: "In some places big and small, Sheriff Departments may have Detectives and Investigators. New York City has a Sheriff's Department, that handles tax enforcement for things like property taxes and cigarette taxes. Here, the Police are tasked with investigations as well as law enforcement, while the Sheriff's Department proper handles traditional things: serving warrants, enforcing evictions, being present at Election stations, Court-related duties such as Bailiffs and Security."

Me: "Ergo, the Sheriff's Department here is small compared to some others, and its structure is simplified. Senior Deputy Bailey and the Warden of the County Jail are equivalent rank to Commander Croyle, and the Chief Bailiff is a Captain by rank. Some of the ranks come from people moving over from the Police or Fire Departments to get their final years towards their pensions, and they carry their Lieutenant or Captain's ranks when they go over."

Me: "Finally: the Sheriff's Department has general security of Government Civil Service buildings... but in this County, they were never meant to handle large scale things, like drug interdictions and large riots. That's what We the Police train for, and while we welcome the augmentation of our numbers with Deputies, we are really not expecting them to engage on their own large numbers of thugs like We the Police do."

Me: "So, like the Constitution and the Scriptures, we are seeing different interpretations of things... in this case of ranks and roles within the Public Safety Department. And while I believe that if the Sheriff sent Chief Deputy Ross to take charge and act in his stead, and then she would be in charge... it's up to the Sheriff to determine inter-agency relations and roles."

"So is Ms. Ross the Chief of Staff, or Chief Deputy Sheriff?" asked the Union Rep. "Which is it?"

"Like Shakespeare wrote: 'a rose by any other name..'." I replied. "By rights, my title should be 'Assistant Chief', like in many big cities and some smaller ones. But I like the title 'Police Commander', so that's what I wrote into the Charter."

There were some muted chuckles at that. But I could sense the tension in the room, so I thought it might not be a good time to tell them that I acted upon my childhood dream of being Commander of Moonbase Alpha in 'Space: 1999'. So I didn't mention it out loud.

I continued: "Chief of Staff Oswald liked that title, and especially in his later years he did not take part in field operations, but handled the Budget, the beans and the bullets. However, Cindy Ross has tremendous field experience from her days in the TCPD, and 'Chief Deputy' seems to fit as her first name."

I finished up: "As to her role, her position? That is for Our Sheriff to tell us, and I would never be so arrogant as to tell him what that is nor what to do. We wrote flexibility into the Charter, and it's up to him to decide which way he wants things like that to go."

Cindy Ross said "You loved writing that Charter, didn't you?" The room burst into loud and sustained laughter. I just shrugged my shoulders with a wan smile, but...

...yes, I'm glad I did it.

Part 6 - Drive-Bys At Work

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Friday, October 29th, from the roof of the building at Riverside and College, with City Hall in her background. "The Inspector General's Office agrees to investigate Commander Donald Troy!"

After the hard-charging intro music, Bettina began: "Inspector General James Goodwin responded to the complaint filed by Mayor Daniel Allgood and a so-far-unnamed Council Member by opening an investigation into the Public Safety Department's response to a peaceful protest at the Town & County Council meeting last Tuesday night."

Bettina: "I.G. Goodwin and his team will be looking into the lax security prior to the Council Meeting, the actions taken by the Sheriff's Department and the Police as the crisis grew, and the breakdown in the rank structures of the TCSD and TCPD that led to conflict and chaos."

Bettina smiled brightly as she said "And that rank structure came from the rewriting of the Charter by Donald Troy, which is proving to be yet another disaster caused by him. Union grievances and charges of insubordination are swirling around Sheriff Griswold's Public Safety Department in the aftermath of this chaos. Experts are saying that Griswold has lost control of his Department, and that he should consider resigning."

Bettina smiled even more brightly as she said: "And in a story that was broken by trusted Channel Two News reporter Amber Harris, Commander Troy was not present at the Council meeting because he had stated that he did not want to be bothered while celebrating his birthday with his family, leaving his Police Officers and Sheriff's Deputies to face the danger without him."

Bettina: "And as an editorial comment: we can only wonder how long it will be before Sheriff Griswold does the right thing and terminates Commander Troy's employment with the TCPD, forcing Troy to retire. And Mayor Daniel Allgood would certainly welcome that after he and the Council were put in physical danger by Troy selfishly putting his own interests ahead of his Officers and the Citizens of this County..."