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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Police union unhappy with administration, threatens no-confidence vote
DAYTON - The city’s police union, citing breakdowns in communication and lack of action by police administration, are threatening a no-confidence vote in Asst. Chief Wanda Smith and Chief Richard Biehl.
The union’s membership voted unanimously late Tuesday night clearing the way for a no-confidence vote, union president Randy Beane said. He would not say how likely a no-confidence vote would be or when or if the union would take further action.
“We have made our issues known to (Biehl and Smith) and (Biehl) has failed to take any action,” Beane said. “So we have little choice but maybe do something we don’t want to in a no-confidence vote, but feel it’s necessary.”
The union’s threat comes after city officials late last week suspended Beane’s city email account because he sent union-related messages to officers on his city-issued email account, city officials said.
“Mr. Beane, in his capacity as president of the FOP, used the (city’s) e-mail system in an apparent attempt to guide the results of the investigation by directly contacting the supervisors assigned to conduct the investigation,” said Brent McKenzie, the city’s human resources director.”His action as president of the union left the city with no alternative than to discontinue his City of Dayton e-mail connection.”
Tensions have been bubbling between union officials and police administration for more than a year, but boiled over after Beane’s statements related to officers having to punch time clocks starting this summer.
“We’re tired of taking it from the city on things like this,” Beane said at the time. “We have a lot of dedicated officers who come in early and stay late and don’t claim that time. If the city is going to start tracking it, it is going to cost them. Big time.”
Those statements prompted Smith to ask police supervisors to investigate officers for the numbers of hours they work.
Beane said he sent an email late last week to nearly 390 officers, urging them to “tell the truth” and “don’t be intimidated by the threat of discipline.”
Biehl declined comment on the matter today, saying he wasn’t aware of a potential no-confidence vote and had heard nothing from union officials.
A no-confidence vote wouldn’t be the first for the police union. Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 44 conducted a no-confidence vote in Chief William P. McManus in August of 2003 but it did not pass. McManus left less than a year later to take the Chief of Police job in Minneapolis.
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