City of Bishop press release
The City of Bishop has secured the services of the executive search firm, Ralph Andersen and Associates, to facilitate the hiring of a new Chief of Police.
It is anticipated the hiring process will take 4-5 months and include a thorough background investigation.
Chris Carter
The vacancy is a product of the September 30, 2015 retirement of Chief Chris Carter. He will be ending a 31 year career in law enforcement, the final five years as the Chief of Police.
Carter has agreed to return to the Bishop Police Department as a short term interim Chief under the classification of retired annuitant. The term of the contract will be for a period not to exceed 30 days and provide the City adequate time to identify a long term interim Chief, fulfilling the balance of the anticipated 4-5 month recruitment process.
Additionally, at the request of Chief Carter, the City Administrator and the City Council, the City of Bishop is in the process of soliciting an independent, outside investigator to investigate the accusations included in a letter regarding Chief of Police Chris Carter dated September 16, 2015.
The letter was addressed to the Bishop City Council and numerous local media sources and was signed by seven members of the Bishop Police Department acting as individuals, independent of the Bishop Police Officers Association.
It also included accusations against the City Administrator and a member of the City Council.
Accusations to be included in the investigation will include, but not be limited to, misconduct, violation of established policies, conflict of interest, compliance with a formally negotiated MOU, misuse of government resources and violations of the Police Officers Bill of Rights (POBAR). Upon completion, any and all information resulting from the investigation and not subject to rules of confidentiality will be made available to the public.
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Until it is 100% illegal for an elected official to accept one thin dime from any outside source whatsoever, i.e., campaign funds, kick-backs, nepotism, good-ol-boyism, etc … the system you have in place will always be a corrupt one. And it appears it is unstoppable.
Hmmm. I wonder what two elected officials gave a thumbs-down to the criticism regarding capitalizing on their elected position?
LOL!
FIRE EVERYONE
ICSO
BPD
COUNCIL
DA
ADA
JUDGES
PRESS
AND JUST START WITH NEW SMILING FACES
I agree, “Corruption.” What might get their (elected officials) attention is for the voters at large to initiate a one-term-and-you’re-out policy for a while. This would at least slow the level of corruption down for a while. We’re seeing far too many old, retired dudes who didn’t prepare adequately for post-retirement and find their way into public office to compensate for their shortfall.
Bishop has gone mad….
Gone mad and running out of $$ as most remote areas with a receding tourist base, are all experiencing.
So the City Administrator and the City Counsel are in the process of hiring an outside Investigation firm to investigate their own wrongdoing? They will find and report what they are paid to report. How much is this going to cost the city? Sounds like an administrative fishing expedition to find out how much the employees know about their corrupt activities and lack of reasonable actions.
Why did the city wait so long to hire a search firm for a new chief knowing it would take 4 to 5 months? Didn’t he announce his retirement in June of this year? How much will this cost?
These questions need to be asked, and if they have, then the taxpayers need answers. If the administrators were doing their jobs in an ethical manner these problems would never have occurred.
The last paragraph in the article is interesting. All information will be made public except for the dirt they find on the corrupt administration.
Disbanding the police department for the sheriff’s office would be a mistake to say the least. Most times there is only one deputy in the north county at any given time, how would that affect response times for a call for service here in the city? As it is, often times our officers are responding to calls in the county area because that one deputy is tied up in big pine and can’t respond. In addition the sheriff’ s office is currently being sued in the 9th circuit court and that department will soon have its own internal turmoil. I fully support our police department regardless of who’s chief, LT etc.
Maybe my thought process is different than your @ICSO truth… I would assume that with the Bishop PD gone, the Sheriffs office could hire the Officers for additional coverage.
I will be interested to see what happens with the meeting today. And hope some of the BPD “employees” keep their opinions off of here….
You are right, Wondering…funds can easily be re-allocated to ensure a ‘city’ is covered adequately by a Sheriff’s Department….happens all over California. When a City with a PD goes ‘bust’…law enforcement is automatically taken over by the Sheriff’s Office and tax funding sent to them at the same levels.
@Roger without a doubt I agree with you 100%
Why don’t they all go strait to civil court? That seems to be what their all bucking for anyway.
Another outside research team to hire a new police chief. Didn’t we do that before, and we got Kathleen Sheenan?
It doesn’t matter if the police department were perfect, and everyone got along famously,there are a few facts we should consider:
1. Bishop is not required to have a police department.
2. Bishop can’t afford a police department.
3. Law enforcement would revert to the sheriffs department.
If we did away with the Bishop police,I don’t think the average person would be aware of the change,as the Inyo county sheriff department already provides Law enforcement for all of Inyo county.
4. No mention of cost for the hiring of outside firm and investigator was mentioned in the article.
“Accusations to be included in the investigation will include, but not be limited to, misconduct, violation of established policies, conflict of interest, compliance with a formally negotiated MOU, misuse of government resources and violations of the Police Officers Bill of Rights (POBAR).”
All very proper, albeit one-sided. A balanced, objective investigation should also consider issues of defamation.
“Upon completion, any and all information resulting from the investigation and not subject to rules of confidentiality will be made available to the public.”
Well there you have it. The results of the investigation will be made public – except for anything deemed by a government lawyer to be “subject to the rules of confidentiality”. Unless your name is Charlie Brown and you think Lucy isn’t going to pull the football away this time, expect more or less the entire report to be “subject to the rules of confidentiality”.
It is important that the investigation move forward for two reasons:
1. The people have a right to know
2. It is important for everyone, including city council, know who is telling the truth and who is lying.
The officers should be allowed to approve of the investigating firm. Many of these firms make the investigation turn out the way whom ever is paying them wants it to turn out. It is important to hire a firm that has a reputation of doing high quality independent investigations and will not be influenced by the city who is paying them.
How much will this investigation cost
Not nearly as much as the investigation and the FREE legal counsel that the county is paying for involving the Rossy’s…
I’m not sure any thing can really done unless another law enforcement agency steps in?
Nolan has already been punished and I haven’t really heard anything that sounds like much of a crime to me.
I guess the King can retire now. My hat is off to the seven officers that stood tall. Sounds like Officer Danny may need to be looked at by the investigation, due to his poor behavior. I am not so sure this person should be coaching at our local high school. I would like to see the selection of the chief and Lt done without any input from the King or his friends.
Absolutely Correct!!!
@desert man, whoever you are, those seven officers showed extremely poor judgment by going directly to the press regarding their complaints, so your hat’s off to the wrong people. There is a process for grievances spelled out in their MOU (their “contract”) and they did not even initiate that process, other than verbally trashing their boss in-house and to the City Manager. Publicly airing their complaints did not help to solve any perceived problems, it only brought discredit to themselves, as well as to the department as a whole that still employs good, professional people, who are now suffering because of seven disgruntled employees.
When the facts are out publicly, the situation will be seen in an entirely new light.
So what do you consider a good employee Danielle?? I think someone who has morals, values and ethics are attributes that all police officers should possess.The officers who did not sign the letter do not possess these qualities, this is a small town people talk. I feel sorry for their families. Knowing the seven officers, they have actually recieved an enormous amount of backing from people in the community.
Well, “Mary”, I know all of these seven (some better than others), and several of them do not possess the values that you espouse. Yeah, haven’t seen the “support” for any of these seven that you speak of either. What I have seen and heard is shock at some of the names, and some “I’m not surprised” at some others. Their integrity (or lack thereof) was shown in the letter that they wrote/signed. It was seen as whining and not fact-based (which the investigation will show). And, yes, people do talk in a small town: isn’t it sad. My hope is that most people are wise enough to judge someone based on how they live rather than the “talk.”
Your relationship will end the way it began. Remember that!!!
Danielle, I understand you supporting your husband. Like Hillary supporting Bill, no matter how many transgressions were made by him.
As for the support for those seven officers, there is plenty in this community. To say you haven’t seen the support for any of these officers is not being honest. You are reading the comments on this blog! Too bad some people’s eyes are wide open yet they cannot see.
When the administration you have a grievance with is the same administration that will hear and decide your grievance, going public with their grievance is the next step in the process. Going to court is the next step and it has been reported that was done in the past with the Chief coming out on the losing side.
The investigators are being paid by the same administrators that are being investigated. Integrity indeed!
Curley: you guys here are cracking me up! I’ve checked up on the facts here. I got a copy of the PD’s MOU (which two of you signed) and it clearly states the process for grievances. NO grievances were ever filed. These guys (you guys?) never followed the process. They jumped straight to a “letter of no confidence”, which really wasn’t one at all, because it’s supposed to be done through the union (not individuals, as this was) and presented to the city council (not the press). All of these “comments” here seem to be coming from the same place/people. So if that’s what you’re considering “support”….ooookay!
As far as the chief coming out on the losing side in court (and this case is open to the public…check it out people!), the officer who was demoted five years ago took that matter to court and won on a technicality, not because he was not guilty. He BEAT a guy up who was not under arrest, and released him without charges. Ask to see the case: it’s public.
You all remind me of the main stream media: twist the truth and charge the story with emotion (kind of like the letter that you all put out).
Like the community needs this…
Perhaps it does. If the PD is this dysfunctional, no time like the present to sort things out.
The never ending he said she said! It’s over the chief is gone, now you all need to put your petty difference away and do your job, “protective and serve.” I think the officers got their point(s) across and council took action!
What good is a outside investigation going to do?
It will hold someone accountable. Hopefully the truth, all the truth, comes out. If you can’t trust your small town law enforcement to hold themselves to a higher standard then you are left with nothing.
Absolutely nothing. They will find no wrongdoing, sweep it under the carpet and pretend as if nothing happened. Better to squash the truth lest the taxpayers find out. Unfortunately, there’s nothing to see here. Move along, now.
Or so I hope not.