The Bold And The Milton Police Chief
Jul 10th, 2009 by MariaEvans
The Milton Town Council packed it in today for a “public” hearing over whether or not their police chief will keep his job. I sat in on a bit of the hearing today because let’s face it, I love a good Milton drama. Incidentally, the “public” was prohibited from speaking during the hearing.
Here are some of the interesting tidbits:
One of the accusations against Chief Phillips is:
Carrying an unauthorized weapon, not issued by the Milton Police Department…
Apparently The Chief was sporting a “silver handgun” instead of a MPD issued weapon. Now, it may be perfectly usual for law enforcement officers to carry their own super cool gun on duty, but I couldn’t seem to get this image of Dirty Harry out of my head all day:
Yeah, that's the one.
Then there was this taser accusation that sounded pretty scandalous…
Failure to file a Use of Force report following the use of a Taser.
…until you found out that the taser was never actually fired, which totally reduced the scandalousness, though filling out a report anyway is SOP and ignored paperwork is very naughty.
There were also accusations of retaliation against police officers who serve in the National Guard, accusations that the Department of Labor apparently said had “merit”. This gets the big “TISK” from me if it’s true because National Guard troops are fighting and dying in the Middle East right now and they don’t need the added pressure of a mean boss.
Most of the charges against The Chief were filed by his own officers, which makes me wonder whether or not The Chief could actually return to the MPD and be an effective leader.
The “public” hearing will continue this Friday because it was just too big for one day.
I get a kick out of what goes for public meetings these days.
As for the Police Chief, I agree with your main points. If he is giving the military personel on his force a hard time that is a problem. Also if his subordinates are filing that many complaints about him then his ability to effectively lead them has been compromised. The rest of what you reported on seems kid of petty to an outsider like me.
It goes deeper. Much deeper. I have heard of raids occurring without warrants filed.
Tim, that’s why I called them “tidbits” and not “earth shattering breaking news.”
And Anon, none of that was in the accusations list, though I have also heard those rumors.
Hey, this is coming from Milton Delaware! How could it not be earth shattering?
Might we not better without these local police departments and their intrigues? Are they much more than revenue gatherers?
Art I wish there was an easy answer to this. There are some really fine local police forces and some that are not as good. I think the State of Delaware benefits by having a police force in Wilmington, Newark, New Castle County, Dover etc. etc. etc.
All Local municipalities who employ their own police force must have their members trained at the State Police Academy. This includes the resort communities.
Typically, these municipal officers do not command the salary or benefits that Delaware State Troopers get. Also Delaware State Troopers get a very generous retirement package that can begin after only 20 years of service.
An argument can be made that the municipal forces save the taxpayer in the State of Delaware significant dollars.
Anyone who is disappointed in the quality of the local municipal forces and believes that the State Police system is the answer was not paying attention to the 35th Rep. District Campaign of 2008. The Democrat candidate in this race, a retired State Police Colonel, was the perfect example of why municipalities should police their own areas. The State will be paying for this guys misdeeds for a long, long time.
The charge about use of an unapproved off-duty firearm was rather lame.
An off-duty or backup firearm carried by a police officer is usually personally owned and of a smaller caliber and physical size than the service firearm.
If the police chief was carrying something like an M-60 or a RPG launcher, one might have cause for concern about collateral damage. They are not that concealable. So what was the big deal?
The problem is, EVERY officer has to qualify on every gun that they carry on or off duty in the state of Delaware, and he never did. In fact if you look at the other charges, he hadnt shot in almost two years for qualification. That is a BIG DEAL.