An article in today’s Oakland Press, written by Laurie Puscas, highlights once again how critical the city council was of the steps taken by Chief Glynn to implement the police consultant’s report. I think Laurie does a fine job of touching on some of the major points made by city councilpersons at the meeting of May 29, 2007. In addtion, I think Laurie’s assessment of city manager Ken Johnson’s actions are spot on as well:

…[Johnson] remained quiet with pursed lips and no eye contact through much of the discussion…– Laurie Puscas, The Oakland Press

In My Opinion

At the end of that council meeting, I was allowed to address the city council. I told them that in my opinion, Chief Glynn was effectively put on probation by the council and that the report they had just received was his first effort to get off of probation. If I considered myself in a probationary status, I would make certain that my first report would have knocked the socks off the council. Instead, they received a report that was clearly lacking by any reasonable measure, and the majority on the council pointed this out.

As many of you know, Chief Glynn and I are not the best of friends. Chief Glynn hired me in 1987 and I worked under him for almost twenty years. Our contact was always cordial, although the discord between us grew over the years as I questioned his leadershhip of the police department.

Notwithstanding our differences, which were many, Chief Glynn was most often fair and pleasant to work with. But in my estimation he is not a leader. There is no harm in not being leadership material. Some people have it and some people don’t. Some people even learn how to be a leader, but I think that happens only rarely. It’s become apparent that the department has moved to a point where an effective leader is necessary to move forward.

A New Direction for the Police Department

It’s time the city moves in a new direction with the police department. There is no particular hardship that would be imposed on Chief Glynn if he were to retire. He has a substantial retirement package, adminstered by the Municipal Employee Retirement System of Michigan. At least 80% of his retirement health care will be funded by the city, and perhaps 100% if he takes advantage of the apparent inclination of the council to afford him full health care on retirement if he retires this fiscal year.

I think Chief Glynn should retire. What do you think?

This entry was posted Friday, June 8th, 2007 at 8:31 am and is filed under Police Dept, My Views. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.