I have been involved with the City of Portsmouth for over four years now. As a Police Officer you are involved in many situations where people say things that are rude, impolite, hateful, abusive and obscene but what I heard at the Portsmouth City Council meeting on the night of the 22nd just left me in awe. Below is a short excerpt courtesy of Portsmouth TV Station WAVY-10.

This is not the image Portsmouth needs. Perhaps it’s time for Mayor Holley to consider retirement. Society in general no longer tolerates that type of perspective. The Mayor has had a turbulent time lately. Back in February he drove his 2006 City of Portsmouth Black Chevy Impala into the side of an HRT bus causing over $9000 damage to the bus. Below is the video from the inside of the bus as Mayor Holley hit the bus.

The three video’s above are courtesy of HRT. Below you will find links to pictures of the damage to the bus and Mayor Holley’s City of Portsmouth 2006 black Chevy Impala. The accident happened on a Sunday afternoon in Newport News about 4:44pm in broad daylight. Newport News Police were nice enough to provide me with a copy of the Impala Tow slip. The vehicle was severely damaged and could not be driven. It’s interesting to note that the Newport News Police Tow Slip lists a bunch of golf gear in the vehicle. I would guess that perhaps the Mayor was out for a round or two of golf on that leisurely afternoon. If you listen to the audio from Newport News Police Dispatch Channel you will hear the Officer that was handling the accident make a request of dispatch about 2 minutes into the recording asking for the Chief of Police for Portsmouth to call her. Gee kinda curious what that was about, did former Chief Long respond to Newport News and smooth things over with the locals? Below are the various records and recordings I obtained that documented various things about the incident. Take a look, listen and draw your own conclusions. I think that Mayor Holley is a perfect example of the problems plaguing the City of Portsmouth Government. Will the citizens of Portsmouth tolerate this type of person as their top elected official? I surely hope not, but they are the ones that need to take a stand and force positive change on Portsmouth City Government.

1) Newport News Police South Dispatch Channel - Listen closely at a little past two minutes into the audio when the Officer requests Portsmouth Chief of Police (Former Chief Ed Long) call her on her cellphone.

2) Newport News Police Vehicle Tow Slip - Mayor Holley’s City of Portsmouth 2006 Black Chevy Impala was damaged severely requiring NNPD to have the vehicle towed. Noted on the tow slip is a number of golfing items. Could this trip to Newport News been a golf outing?

3) Virginia Uniform Summons issued to Mayor James Holley - Copy of the Virginia Uniform Summons issued by Newport News Police Officer J. Pennington for “Fail to Obey Traffic Signal” when he ran the Red Light and struck the side of the HRT bus.

4) Virginia Court Record showing the disposition of Mayor James Holley’s Traffic Ticket - Court Document that shows his infraction was dismissed after paying $61 and returning to Newport News Court on July 18th 2008.

5) Incident Photo’s of Portsmouth Mayor James Holley’s crash into the side of an HRT bus (Large file 7 megs) - Various photo’s taken of the crash scene showing the damage to Mayor Holley’s City of Portsmouth 2006 Black Chevy Impala and the HRT bus.

6) Photo’s taken the day after HRT Bus 1906 was hit by Portsmouth Mayor James Holley - Photo’s taken of HRT Bus 1906 the day after the incident where Portsmouth Mayor James Holley hit the bus broadside. Photo’s were taken by Bryant Damage Appraisers & Ins. Investigations.

7) HRT Bus Driver Accident Report detailing the incident where Portsmouth Mayor James Holley crashed into his bus. - HRT Employee’s Accident Report that details the information provided by HRT Driver Renardo Benjamin that documents events involving Portsmouth Mayor James Holley crashing into the side of the HRT bus in Newport News.

8 ) HRT Supervisor John King’s “HRT Supervisor’s Report of Occurrence” - Report produced by HRT Supervisor John King that documents the events involving an HRT bus being hit by Portsmouth Mayor James Holley in Newport News.

9) HRT Supervisor’s Accident Diagram - Hand drawn diagram by HRT Supervisor John King showing the vehicle dynamics of the crash in Newport News when Portsmouth Mayor James Holley crashed into the side of the HRT Bus.

10) Capstone ISG Damage Appraisal Letter HRT Bus 1906 - Letter from Capstone ISG to HRT that documents $9,351.92 damage to HRT Bus 1906 hit by Portsmouth Mayor James Holley while driving a City of Portsmouth 2006 Black Chevy Impala.

11) Bryant Damage Appraisers, Inc Damage/Cost Breakdown for HRT Bus 1906 - Letter from Bryant Damage Appraisers, Inc detailing the $9,300 damage to HRT Bus 1906 that was struck by Portsmouth Mayor James Holley’s City of Portsmouth 2006 Black Chevy Impala.

12) HRT Bus 1906 Interior Video Still Images of Mayor James Holley crashing into the side of the HRT Bus (Large file 11 Megs) - Several still images extracted from HRT Bus 1906 Video camera’s on the interior of the bus.

13) Copy of the $9,300 Check the City of Portsmouth paid HRT for damage caused by Mayor James Holley’s Crash into the side of the bus - City of Portsmouth Check for $9,351.92 for payment to HRT for damage cause by Mayor James Holley when he crashed his City of Portsmouth 2006 Black Chevy Impala into the broadside of HRT Bus 1906.

Is it time for change in Portsmouth?

I have it on good authority that several original arrest warrants issued by a Portsmouth Magistrate were shredded because of possible political ties to someone in Portsmouth City Government.

Depending on who’s involved it’s a Class 6 Felony (Click here to read State Code 18.2-107 about destroying Public documents). I am doing some research on the matter but as I have recently found out the court refuses to release copies of unexecuted warrants. Click here to see the FOIA response letter I received from a Portsmouth Court refusing to even confirm that an unserved warrant exists and then refuses to provide a copy. Because they refuse to release copies or even acknowledge that they exist makes it easy to make one disappear and no one would notice.

An unexecuted warrant can only be ordered destroyed by a Judge of the Circuit Court per State Code 19.2-76.1 (Click here to read 19.2-76.1). My understanding is that these warrants were destroyed without a Court order.

It appears corruption in Portsmouth Government is something that City Officials refuse to acknowledge even when they have the evidence right in there own files and are told about it. This doesn’t speak well about our government or the trust we place in them or our elected officials.

I will definitely follow up on this and see what more I can find out.

Police and Fire Fighters in certain parts of the City of Portsmouth still can’t safety communicate using the multi-million dollar 800 Mhz Motorola Trunked Radio system. The problem stems from the location and height of the radio system equipment and antenna’s. It is not a failure to operate correctly it is a failure in the design and location of the radio towers. The problem has existed for years but until recently it went un-addressed by the City of Portsmouth. They have been addressing it inadequately and only after several police officers voiced their concerns to elected officials about their safety and that of the public.

Portsmouth Police Department Captain R. Butler sent out an email on July 7th 2008 that outlined new repeater installations at Churchland High School that will help with the radio coverage problems but shortly after he sent the email it appears that the problem still exists putting Police and Firefighters in jeopardy. You can read about the problems in this email an anonymous city employee sent detailing recent radio problems at a SWAT incident.

Several weeks ago or perhaps a month ago a Police Officer had to use his personal cellphone to call dispatch after shooting someone because he couldn’t get on the air due to the poor city radio coverage. This problem presents a significant liability problem for the City of Portsmouth. Before all else the City of Portsmouth should be concerned about the safety of it’s civil servants. How can they protect the citizens when they can’t even communicate with other officers or dispatch?

It’s great to see the city making an effort to address the problem but what they are doing is not going to solve the problem except in the area’s near the repeaters. It’s these kind of communications problems that contributed to the death of two Firefighters in Chesapeake in 1996. Police Officer and Firefighter safety should be paramount to the City Government. If they have a long term plan to correct these problems I haven’t heard about it but welcome anyone from the City to address the issues in an open forum. It’s going to be to late if a Public Safety official dies because they can’t call for help.

I hope someone is listening in the city government, I hate to see it happen this way when it’s totally preventable. This whole issue is about money. To fix the problem correctly is going to require a multi-million dollar outlay. Based on the pay levels of City of Portsmouth Public Safety people, especially the Police Department you can tell that the city governments priorities don’t fall to “Public Safety”. They are not adequately protecting or paying their own Public Safety Officers what they should be. But they can claim to own and stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

Message to my friends and former Co-Workers at the Portsmouth Police Department,

I just received word that the International Brotherhood of Police Officers National President David Holway and regional National Vice-President Paul Birks will be at the Norfolk Local meeting hall from 10am to 6pm on Tuesday the 9th of July. Norfolk Officer Mike McKenna is the Norfolk Local President and has invited Portsmouth Officers & Dispatchers to come over, meet the Union management and talk about getting Portsmouth on board as a IBPO Local. They can talk cost, benefits and what the organization has to offer. Some information can be found here at the IBPO Website.

I know many of you are members of the FOP and PBA but I think that IBPO has some things to offer that both those organizations don’t. Their is no reason you can’t be a member of more then one. The IBPO is more geared toward the Police Officer that works the beat or is a Detective and are not in management. Portsmouth can setup it’s own by-laws and allow Sergeants to join but as non-voting members.

Some locals allow Dispatchers to join. Given the situation with their staffing shortages and their low pay (which makes it difficult to recruit quality candidates) I think having them in the group will foster more cohesiveness and perhaps foster better relations between Police Officers and the 911 Center. I am extending an invitation to the Portsmouth Police Dispatchers to come to the meeting below the rank of Supervisor.

I am still working through my grievance with the department to return to work and hope that I will be successful. Chief Corvello is an impressive person and has been very fair in my discussions with him. He offered reinstatement if I was willing to take punishment for something that I did not do so I had to turn him down. Chief Corvello appears to be the first step in the right direction made by the City Management. This opportunity to organize a real labor union local for the Portsmouth Police Department just like the Fire Department currently has will show unity and perhaps give the officers and the dispatchers in the trenches a better opportunity to vocalize their issues with the management of the City of Portsmouth. We do not know what type of person we will end up with once the city hires Chief Corvello’s replacement and we could end up back at the same spot we were before Ed Long left. Now is the time to prepare for that contingency.

I am going to make every effort to be there the entire time. Mike said that they will provide food and beverages at the meeting.

The meeting will be held at Norfolk Local’s Office at 5307 E. Virginia Beach Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502 phone: (757) 459-2232. This is on the right (south) side of Virginia Beach Blvd just prior to Military Hwy if your going toward Virginia Beach on the Blvd. Click on the link below for a Mapquest map;

IBPO Local Location

Please spread the word as this is short notice and I know some people are not going to get this email prior to the meeting.

Hope to see you there .. Jim

It is time to end my silence after many weeks of hoping that the management of the City of Portsmouth would “do the right thing”. They have not, yesterday I was told by the new Chief of Police William Corvello that he was recommending I be reinstated to my previous position as a Police Officer. Ah but the caveat.. of course there is a caveat. I must agree to accept punishment (less severe, but still punishment) involving the incidents that were involved in my termination. Well one of them I could stomach in the name of compromise but not the other. I will never take a “plea” or accept punishment for something I didn’t do even if it gets me my job back. As I have said in the past sometimes it’s harder to do the right thing and stand up for ones own morals and ethics.

You can read the letter I received from Chief Corvello by clicking this link Chief Corvello Written Grievance Response. Now before I go any further I want to say a few things about the last several weeks. First, yesterday was my fourth meeting with Chief Corvello. He is impressive, intelligent and I firmly believe he is the second major change that has taken place since Kenneth Chandler became City Manager (the first being Ed Longs resignation) that was positive change for the department. He strikes me as a fair person that is genuinely interested in fixing the problems within the department. I know from my contacts that he has already started to do that. He has already fixed a number of injustices that former Chief Ed Long committed while he was Chief. I like Chief Corvello, have nothing bad to say about my interactions with him. I talked to a lot of people prior to meeting him, did quite a bit of research and could find no one that had anything bad or negative to say about the guy. That’s quite a feat after spending 40+years in law enforcement. Given his unfamiliarity with the issues I raised during the meeting yesterday I suspect that the written grievance response was generated by someone else (perhaps the City Attorneys Office). When I raised the issue about the discipline being the wrong OPR he pulled out the Policy book to look at it himself. Since I included a detailed synopsis of the problem in my 18 page grievance I was surprised to see him unfamiliar with the issue I raised. He then told me he would have to get back to me so he could research the issue. I left the building and got a call to come back an hour later. When I came back he stated that it was going to have to remain as-is. I then had to mark “Not Acceptable” on the grievance form and move on to a Grievance Panel Hearing. I have little faith in panel hearings given my previous experience with them. I was involved in one where the City of Portsmouth was in violation of Federal Law and the panel simply said that it needed to be taken up with the feds.

I disagree with Chief Corvello’s decision today for a couple reasons. The first is that I did nothing wrong involving the Farm Fresh Shoplifter and followed the Departments Policy on handling Shoplifters. Here is were the Administration of former Chief Ed Long is flawed. They stated that I failed to release the suspect on a summons which they claim was a violation of Police OPR-20. The problem with that is that OPR-20 is not applicable because OPR-19 is the policy specifically written for the handling of Shoplifters. The city does not want to admit that they were that incompetent in the handling of the matter and my termination so they won’t yield or admit they made a mistake. So you can read both of the Policies yourself Click Here to see Portsmouth Police Policy OPR-19 & OPR-20. Examination of OPR-20 will reveal it’s inapplicability in this case, and likewise, review of OPR-19 and my actions will show I followed procedure to the letter. I followed OPR-19 as I was trained to do and as we have always done. I was not going to accept punishment for something I didn’t do even if it meant getting my job back. The underlining reason I believe that they won’t do the right thing is because if I will take the punishment then I am admitting the whole incident is my fault hence the civil rights violation that was committed by Deputy Sheriff Joe Lilly and the attempted cover up by the City of Portsmouth would then disappear. The City would claim that I should never have brought the prisoner into the Sally Port. Nice try but I’m not biting, I followed established policy and procedure. It’s sad that they just won’t do the right thing but they need a scapegoat so when the Civil Rights complaint is investigated by the Feds they can justify the Sheriff’s actions and the City’s attempt to cover it up.

I have finally obtained a copy of the Sally Port incident on DVD after a year of legal wrangling with the Sheriff and the City. I am making it available but be forewarned it is a 40 meg Windows Media File that is 33 minutes in length. See the video below to watch the whole incident;

It shows the Sheriff’s Department taking custody of the criminal after I executed the warrant issued by the Magistrate. The warrant was “permitted” at my discretion. This means it’s up to me whether I release the criminal on her signature and she walks out of the building or she is processed (photographed and fingerprinted) then bonded out. This criminal had just committed two shoplifting incidents in an hour and we did not have a photo or fingerprint of her on file. I decided that given her current behavior it would be important to have her photo and fingerprints on file in case she committed additional criminal incidents. This way if she got away a photo would be available to the Police Department to conduct a photo lineup with her next set of victims. Sheriff’s Deputy Baker took custody of the criminal then took the criminal and all her property into the processing area. Once the warrant is executed and this occurs the Sheriff’s Department now has custody of the criminal and I am no longer responsible. Shortly after they took her into the prisoner processing area they bringing her back out while not allowing me to leave even after repeated demands for them to unlock the door. They refused and Deputy Lilley tries to force me to unlawfully seize the criminals property. I had no legal right to take the criminals property at that point. She had legally purchased the products at Farm Fresh (she stole some items and paid for some items). When they refused to allow me out they were in essence abducting me. I asked numerous times for them to allow me to leave and they refused. It’s convenient that there is no audio which I was told was broke that day. Think about this incident and how you would feel if someone refuses to allow you to leave someplace. That is abduction or illegal imprisonment. No one should have to tolerate that, it is contrary to our constitution, it is a civil rights violation.

In the next couple days I will go into more detail about the various incidents, provide more documents and more clarifications to incidents I have discuss and some that I have not. There is plenty more that needs to be shown about the unethical and illegal conduct of various members of City of Portsmouth Agencies.