City Manager Jim Pennington Thursday night backpedaled from his initial suggestion to eliminate three of four captain’s positions at the Peachtree City Police Department.
Pennington said that recommendation was subject to change and that city staff worked very closely with Police Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark on the matter.
“The recommendations that we put forward may not be the proper recommendations,” Pennington said. “There may be some other alternatives.”
Mayor Don Haddix noted the proposal would be discussed during budget negotiations later this summer.
The move drew criticism from two of the captains, who addressed council to explain why the move and a concurrent reorganization of the police department was a bad idea.
Capt. Rosanna Dove noted that the organizational flow chart offered up by Pennington replaces her with “at least three different people.”
Dove is in charge of the office of professional standards, which conducts internal investigations among other duties, and she also is the department’s accreditation manager and serves as the public information officer.
All three of the officers who would replace Dove “will cost you more in salary, benefits and equipment than I alone am going to cost you,” she said.
Although human resources director Ellece Brown said a new assistant chief’s position created by council Thursday night would be open for internal applicants first, Dove said that Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark told her April 30 that it would be open up for external candidates as well, an apparent violation of city policy.
Dove said between the department’s four captains and other high-ranking officers, there are plenty of internal candidates who are very well qualified for the assistant chief’s position. She also noted that retired police Maj. Mike DuPree formerly conducted the duties of assistant chief until 2010 when his job duties were significantly curtailed for no apparent reason.
Dove said her analysis of the reorganization showed it would save just $6,627, not the $400,000 figure that Pennington had mentioned in an interview with The Citizen earlier this week.
Dove noted that until recently, she and two other captains drove marked patrol cars that had previously been decommissioned from regular patrol duty.
The other two captains got “newer” decommissioned cars and she is now driving a Ford Explorer that was initially used by former Chief James Murray, who left the department in early 2008 and has more than 75,000 miles on it.
An officer who started with the city in 1997 in the patrol division, Dove said her main concern was for the public safety and quality of life of the city’s residents and employees. Her remarks drew applause from a number of officers and police department supporters who attended the meeting.
She also asked council to make sure she didn’t face retribution in her job for the comments she made, and Councilman George Dienhart said he would make sure that won’t happen.
Police Capt. Mike Claman, who currently oversees the patrol division, also addressed council. Claman has previously headed up the department’s criminal investigations division and like Dove, has spent his law enforcement career in Peachtree City having served as an officer, sergeant and lieutenant, including a short stint as the department’s accreditation manager.
Despite indications that the reorganization was recommended after a year-long review, Claman said the captains in the department’s command staff were not approached for recommendations on how to reorganize the department.
Claman also noted that the city could have left two patrol officers’ positions vacant if the overriding goal of the reorganization was to save money.
“The elimination of leadership and experience is not the answer,” Claman said.
Claman noted that he was the commanding officer of the investigations into the last several homicides in the city, and he also was the patrol commander who was on duty when the Target armed robbery occurred, an incident for which the suspects were later arrested and successfully prosecuted.
There was a public outcry to solve the Target case, Claman noted, and if such cases are assigned to lesser-experienced officers, the department won’t be able to meet the public safety demands of residents.
Claman also referenced a neighborhood meeting he attended recently where residents were concerned about their safety. He said he explained to the residents the various services the department can provide to meet that goal.
“My commitment to them was to create a place that was safe for them to live, and I meant it when I said it,” Claman said.
