Apr
Recently a Police Officer from the City of Portsmouth was involved in a DUI Accident (Click WVEC Segment on the Portsmouth Police Officers DUI April 2008 to view the WVEC segment on the incident) . As a former police officer I have worked a number of DUI’s and currently I still have two pending Felony DUI’s before the court. I find someone that drives under the influence is foolish and reckless, they disregarding their own safety and those of the motoring public. Their really is no excuse for this behavior and as I have said in previous posts Police Officers must set the example and be above reproach.
On to the tragedy, I know the officer that was involved, seemed like a nice guy and appeared to be a competent officer. What I was told this past week from a reliable source was that this officer apparently had a drinking problem. People thought he might have been an alcoholic. I have no first hand knowledge but was told that the Field Training Officer (FTO) that trained this officer had documented incidents of him coming to work in a less then stellar form. As has been the case in the past the management of the Portsmouth Police Department ignored what appeared to be warning signs or take action early on to prevent this tragedy.
The City of Portsmouth has a program called EAP (Employee Assistance Program). This program is available to employee’s who have mental or emotional issues and need some help in trying to overcome those problems. It can be voluntary or mandatory. From the second hand information I have been given it would appear that mandatory EAP might have helped this officer with his problem and perhaps prevented this tragedy.
The only people that really know are the ones that had direct dealings with the officer and have read the documentation that was written about the officer by his FTO.
Again the Portsmouth Police management has failed in their duties to protect and serve. In the past officers have been pushed through field training after the police academy even when training officers have raised red flags that some of these trainee’s have a major deficiency that might put them, their fellow officers or the public at risk.
Officers in Portsmouth are afraid to disagree with their superiors for fear of ending up like me. I have said “NO” to my superiors when I was asked to do things that go against the law or my moral or ethical standards.
Perhaps it’s time for an outside entity to come into the City of Portsmouth and take a look at how the Police Department is run. Mismanagement appears to be the norm and had proper steps been taken perhaps this tragedy could have been avoided.
