A. Police
Department
1.
Is there a way for the Police Department to operate
autonomously, but within the “guidelines” of the city government and the Safety
Committee?
2.
What would your role be in the day-to-day
operations of the Police Department?
3.
Are you committed to keep our Police Department
local and fully accredited?
It appears that the group is interested in electing a mayor and six councilmembers who understand that trained law enforcement professionals are far better suited to make law enforcement decisions than they are.
In the last nearly four years we have seen malfeasant Mayor Mike Martin incessantly meddle in all manner of police department issues. The minutia of scheduling, training, car washes and paper towels. The result? Broken morale, turmoil and mayhem.
Martin used his very heavy hand to not only force out the police department leadership, but also run off all but two of the officers who worked for the residents of Villa Hills when the tiny tyrant plopped his butt in the mayor's office on January 1, 2011. Martin and his apparatchiks like Mary Koenig, Brian Wischer and Holly B. Menninger-Isenhour would most likely say that "turnover is good". If so, perhaps these four could also explain why they believe that?
Freed from the very real fear of Martin-style redneck retaliation, former Villa Hills police officers have nothing good to say about the diminutive dictator. They say his inability to understand even simple concepts is shocking. These former officers also resented Martin's perpetual efforts to entice them to "dig dirt" on former Police Chief Dan Goodenough.
As one former officer put it, "If Martin was a decent man, he would have sat down with Goodenough to talk over any concerns he had. But he never did. Not one time. I wouldn't treat a rabid coyote the way Martin treated the Chief."
There is other serious fallout from Martin's mishandling of the police department. A large part of the nearly half million dollars of legal fees that have been squandered in the last two years is a direct result of Martin's terrible mismanagement and retaliation against certain police officers.
It is unimaginable that one of Martin's "inner circle" hasn't pulled him aside to counsel him to consider less radical policies. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees could have been saved for something of value.
Maybe someone has pulled Martin aside to counsel him. Maybe Martin simply responded that he's "the CEO" and its his decision.
At least for the next 109 days.
