Dunston: Goal is to rebuild fractious police force

STEVEN A. McCALEB
103 ALVERADO DRIVE
LONG BEACH, MISSISSIPPI 39560
PHONE & FAX: (228)-868-8428
E-MAIL: mccaleb4thdist@aol.com
WEB SITE: www.mississippiwebsite.com

June 22, 2001

By CHRISTINE HARVEY
THE SUN HERALD

Monday, April 30, 2007

I believe that bringing Mark Dunston is a step in the right direction.
What I do not understand is why he would take such a large drop in pay
to come back to Long Beach.

I would like for Mark Dunston to address this question prior to becoming
our new (90 day) police chief.

Dunston

LONG BEACH - Mark Dunston says his first task as interim police chief in Long Beach will be to rebuild faith in the Police Department.

Like I have stated, 90 days will not provide enough time to rebuild the Long Beach police department.

What if the next police chief has a totally different outlook on how to rebuild the department.

Dunston, who was chief from September 1996 to March 1998, starts again July 1. The Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday to have Police Chief Tom Bishop step down after three years on the job. Bishop is being reassigned as a warrants and building code enforcement officer.

Now the voters and taxpayers in Long Beach are having to pay for a new interim police chief.

At the same time our Alderman and Mayor has provided a position so our fired police chief can stay of the cities payroll.

As, "We the People," know Long Beach is always needing money to run the city, but instead so saving money, they developed a new paying position.

Reached Thursday in Las Vegas, Dunston said he is honored that the city asked him to return.

I do not understand why Mark Dunston is so willing to except a pay cut to return as Long Beach police chief.

Mayor Robert Bass said Dunston will be in Long Beach for at least 90 days, but Dunston said he is open to staying longer, if the details can be worked out.

I would need to know the details in order to respond, perhaps the details will be provided soon.

Aldermen have said Dunston's first task will be to repair the fracture in the Police Department, a problem Dunston said he has heard about through the law enforcement grapevine.

"Repair the fracture in the Police Department", what does this mean.

We have a police chief which, for three years has caused sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, a hostile work environment or retaliation. The department also has been accused of using excessive force and indulging in political patronage.

I do not consider these acts a fracture, but in the political arena, I suppose this is called, (putting the best face on a bad situation). 

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said evidence supports the claims of six employees who say Bishop subjected them to sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, a hostile work environment or retaliation. The department also has been accused of using excessive force and indulging in political patronage.

If the Long Beach Alderman and Mayor call these claims a fracture, maybe there is more to the story than meets the eye.

When people know things, but keep there silence in order to get something (gain), this being the most common political reason.

Dunston said he knows about the EEOC complaints and other troubles in the department but hasn't heard both sides of the argument.

Knowing both sides of the argument is important, but 90 days is not enough time to make changes.

He said he expects to be briefed on the problems and to begin work on them when he returns from a trip to Brazil, where he is going at the behest of that country's attorney general to teach community policing, problem-solving and leadership seminars.

The meaning of (behest): control,  rule,  domination,  power,  sway, command, order, will, request

It seems like Mark Dunston has a full and very busy schedule, I wonder if he is making a good decision by coming back to Long Beach.

"The citizens and the officers at the Long Beach Police Department, the ones who know me, can tell the ones who don't that I am fair and I am equal in what I do as a leader," Dunston said.

It seems Mark Dunston has confidence in himself, and that is a good trait to have.

Alderman Tim Pierce has said the problems in the Police Department stemmed from the fact that Bishop, a DARE officer, had no supervisory experience when he was picked to be police chief.

I am sorry, but I cannot buy into the, no supervisory experience, as being a viable reason for the firing of the police chief.

Dunston, who has spent nearly two decades in law enforcement, has an abundance of supervisory experience.

I keep coming back to the 90 days he will be the interim police chief, but it is hard not to state the facts.

The 38-year-old Hattiesburg resident has worked at the Ocean Springs Police Department and taught at the state police academy in Jackson. As a captain with the Tupelo Police Department, Dunston was director of the North Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Center.

A vast amount of experience and knowledge to come back to such a small town.

This makes me wonder why, he left Long Beach as police chief for more money, now he is coming back too take a considerable pay cut.

He left Long Beach to take a job with the Mississippi Police Corps at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where until last year he was the program's training coordinator. Dunston remains an adjunct professor at USM.

It sounds like Mark Dunston is the right person for the position.

For the past year, he has worked for Calibre Press in Dallas, where he is director of litigation consulting and instructs its Street Survival Program.

This experience is needed here on the Mississippi Coast, I vote we combine all of the police departments on the coast.

Dunston is the author of "Street Signs," a book about gang identification, and co-author of "Total Survival," which tells police officers how to stay alive on the streets.

A very important book to read, I have not, but I intend too.

Christine Harvey can be reached at 896-2393 or at clharvey@sunherald.com

STEVEN A. McCALEB

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