Long Beach hopes strife will subside

STEVEN A. McCALEB
103 ALVERADO DRIVE
LONG BEACH, MISSISSIPPI 39560
PHONE & FAX: (228)-868-8428
E-MAIL: mccaleb5thdist@aol.com
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June 21, 2001

By CHRISTINE HARVEY
THE SUN HERALD

Thursday, October 23, 2003

Since then, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has said evidence supports the claims of six employees who say they were subjected 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.

The above statement pretty much explains why the Police Chief
should be removed from the city payroll.

LONG BEACH - Long Beach officials hope turmoil will subside in the Police Department now that Police Chief Tom Bishop has stepped down and taken a job with another city department.

When the Board of Alderman and Mayor take such a political action as to keep the police chief on the city payroll, I doubt if the turmoil will ever subside.

"It's just that things were not working good," said Alderman Billy Skellie. "Hopefully, the change will make the department better."

By removing the police chief with the former police chief thing may get better.

But by keeping the past police chief on the payroll, the citizens of Long Beach may want the police chief removed from city employment.

The Board of Aldermen decided late Tuesday to remove Bishop as police chief, a job he has held for nearly three years. Former Police Chief Mark Dunston will fill in on an interim basis.

You can't remove a police chief without firing him.

Making a position for the past police chief means we the taxpayers will have to pay him, plus the new police chief.

Is this fair to the Long Beach citizens?

Bishop will be reassigned July 1 as a warrants and code enforcement officer in the city's building and zoning department, said Mayor Robert Bass. Bass said he also wants Bishop to help with enforcement for a proposed environmental court.

This could be the end of our second term Mayor and Alderman, this type of political action is why voters distrust politicians.

Bass said he presented Bishop with the option of stepping down Tuesday, and that Bishop agreed it would be in the city's best interest.

I don't even think it is legal to give a job to a person which has been fired as police chief.

But as, "We the People" voter and taxpayers know, politics is a higher precedence than law.

"I think (Bishop's) been, particularly in the past day, a very generous, just a good guy to work with," Bass said early Wednesday.

I take the words, "past day," too mean when the police chief first began his position.

Three years is a long period of time to know if the police chief would be able to be effective in his position.

Bishop didn't return calls for comment.

I can understand why.

The Police Department has been split into factions since a female employee, Georgette Harrell, accused Bishop of sexual harassment in August. Capt. Don Wells, Deputy Chief John Carrubba and others took the woman's side, while some sided with Bishop.

This is not unusual, people take sides all the time.

Since the, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, supported all of the charges, firing the police chief was inevitable.

Alderman Tim Pierce said he doesn't think Bishop is solely to blame for problems in the Police Department.

"One is responsible for his or her own actions."

So, I take exception to Alderman Tim Pierce's statement.

"I think the board did Tom Bishop an injustice," Pierce said. "I think we threw him into an environment he was unprepared for."

If the police chief was unprepared to assume the position, why was he hired for the position.

This seems like a close friend defending him, and it is good to have close friends.

He said the aldermen had wanted to promote from within, and chose Bishop, at the time an 18-year Police Department veteran. But Bishop, a D.A.R.E. officer, had no supervisory experience.

Being a police officer is a job where you are independent at your work.

Being independent is a supervisory roll, decision are made on the spot every day on the job.

After 18 years, untold decisions had been made by this police officer, and therefore the Board of Alderman and Mayor should have know if he was ready too assume the job as police chief.

"When the accusations started appearing, things got worse," Pierce said. "From that point, it snowballed. It boils back strictly to lack of leadership, lack of direction. It was basically split into two parts."

I would say that everything the police chief was said to have done is, "common sense" not how much supervisory experience he had.

Pierce said nothing was done sooner to correct the situation because the majority of the board and the mayor outnumbered those who wanted a change.

So now it has become a political problem.

Skellie said the aldermen had known for a while that change was needed because so many people were at odds.

Why is it that only the Board of Alderman and Mayor new about the problem with the police chief.

The citizens of Long Beach should have know about this problem, but then politics has a way of being held within.

Dunston, who was chief from September 1996 until March 1998, will be in Long Beach for at least 90 days, the mayor said.

After 90 days what is going to happen, I don't believe 90 days is enough time to make the changes the police department needs.

Dunston left the Long Beach Police Department for a higher-paying job with the Police Corps Program at the University of Southern Mississippi. There, he trained college students to become police officers.

I would say he made a wise choice, but is coming back a good thing to do?

"I was one of the aldermen there in the administration when Dunston was there," Pierce said. "I have the utmost faith that if anyone can turn the situation around, it's him."

It is good to know that at least one alderman has faith; what about the other Alderman and Mayor?

Dunston said Wednesday he will provide more information about his plans for the department at a news conference July 2.

I am looking forward to hear how this problem will be dealt with, but like I said, 90 days is not a very long time.

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

MAYOR BASS, MY WATER STILL SMELLS LIKE A SEWER AND THERE IS SOMETHING GREEN GROWING FROM MY KITCHEN WATER SPRAYER - ARE YOU GOING TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM?

STEVEN A. McCALEB

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