Fraternal Order of Police Carroll County Lodge No. 20 candidate questionnaire
2005 Mayoral/City Council Candidate Political Survey - Due April 29th, 2005
Westminster Mayor
Fraternal Order of
April 8th, 2005
2005 Mayoral/City Council Candidate Political Survey
Due April 29th, 2005
Westminster Mayor
April 29th, 2005
1. What do you feel is the most positive strength you would add to the City of
Experience and the energy, drive, accessibility and ability to make that experience work for positive change.
2. What has been your most positive non-work related leadership experience?
The Civil Rights Movement in the south in the early 1970s.
3. What role, if any, do you see public safety playing in the future economic development of the City of
How would that affect the Police Department?
The Westminster Police Department plays a critical role.
4. Do you support rank and file negotiations for benefits? Please expand on your answer.
No.
5. What do you feel can be done to support public safety in the City of
Public Education. Accreditation. Technology. Landlord Training Program.
6. The current administration of the Westminster City Police Department has taken a positive step towards recruitment of police officers. What idea(s) could you give the Chief to help recruit quality police officers for the City of
Officer to Officer contact, recruitment and promotion including FOP promotion.
7. The current administration of the Westminster City Police Department has taken several positive steps to retain qualified police officers. What idea(s) could you give the Chief to help retain them?
Shift differential pay. Self-actualization. Esprit de corps. Degree of Openness.
8. What do you feel is the most pressing issue relating to the City of
Pay and strategic planning.
1. What do you feel is the most positive strength you would add to the City of
Experience and the energy, drive, accessibility and ability to make that experience work for positive change. I love my job. I have a passion for
I have the unique qualifications to positively affect the day-to-day quality of life for
Change can be difficult, but over the years, by working together with other community leaders and
I offer the citizens of the City of
2. What has been your most positive non-work related leadership experience?
Working in the Civil Rights Movement in the very early 1970s in the south. It taught me discipline, perseverance, tolerance for physical, psychological and verbal abuse and focus. It taught me patience (don’t sweat the small stuff) and to keep in mind the big picture in working towards positive social change.
3. What role, if any, do you see public safety playing in the future economic development of the City of
The Police Department plays a key and critical role in future economic development. As you know, 40% of the tax base in the City of
Potential businesses look at many factors when choosing to move to a municipality such as
It will affect the Westminster Police Department by requiring more innovative and cutting edge customer service oriented policing (such as Community Policing and S.E.R.A.) out of the officers and the department. Westminster Police Officers are our 365/24/7 ambassadors for
It will also require more police officers. However, economic development usually pays for itself. That stated, I have suggested for several years that
How can the FOP play a role in economic development, and attracting more jobs and businesses, to the City of
4. Do you support rank and file negotiations for benefits? Please expand on your answer.
I’m curious – what do you mean by “rank and file negotiations for benefits”? If this is double-speak for collective bargaining or bringing a union into the City of
Pay and benefits are one area of personnel where the City has to speak with one voice and have a clear consensus. When it doesn't happen that way, false hopes are created and disappointment is sure to occur. It is also one thing to understand that pay and benefits must increase in order for the City to stay competitive and remain on the cutting edge of providing customer service for our citizens and it is another thing for the employees to have an ownership stake in the organization and understand that we often have finite resources with which to work.
It has been my experience that often Unions do not understand the big picture and instead they foster friction, dissension and acrimony among the very folks who are already pre-disposed to do everything possible to provide the best for the employees. Unions pit employee against employee and employee against management. I have no interest in anyone or any organization getting between me and the employees whom I serve.
I urge the rank and file to continue to work through the chain of command to articulate what is needed and what can be done. If the chain of command is not working to facilitate getting the rank and file’s message to me then I need to know about that. Otherwise, I have yet to find a Westminster Police Officer who has not found me anything but accessible, ready and eager to listen, at all hours of the night and day, 365/24/7.
What additional benefits does the FOP think are needed by Westminster Police Officers? I worked hard in the past for Westminster Police Officers and I understand that there is more to achieve. By working together, we can all do better. Meanwhile, I have heard you in the past and worked hard for minimum court overtime, minimum emergency call out overtime, expanding the take home car policy, LEOPS, more training opportunities and I supported the expansion of the CRT to a countywide team; among many initiatives in which I heard you and went to work for you.
5. What do you feel can be done to support public safety in the City of
Public Education, Accreditation, Technology and Landlord Training Program are some ideas that quickly come to mind.
Public Education is self-explanatory. The local public has long since begun to take for granted that we have an excellent police department. By putting our heads together, perhaps we can arrive at some innovative approaches to letting the public be aware of the excellent policing that everyone in
Accreditation. With a long term goal of accreditation comes an emphasis on additional training opportunities beyond certification standards, including Executive Development Training, Incident Management, advanced Crisis Response Training.
Technology. Stronger emphasis placed upon the use of available technologies including the use of computers and other modern advances.
Landlord Training Program. By working directly with the Landlords we have found that they are a very effective key to the solution. Criminals when arrested are normally released pending trial and when sentenced serve little or no time and then return to what they consider is their home. It is important that we collectively work with the landlords to screen tenants, and put into place strict rental agreements proscribing an intolerance of crime or drugs, along with advocacy that landlords proceed quickly with the eviction process to help eliminate the ability of the criminal to return to live in the neighborhood and increase our calls for service.
What does the FOP think needs to be done to support public safety in
6. The current administration of the Westminster City Police Department has taken a positive step towards recruitment of police officers. What idea(s) could you give the Chief to help recruit quality police officers for the City of
The issue of Take Home Vehicles has recently been addressed. Issues such as pay are being addressed immediately by the proposed FY 2006 budget and a salary study is in that budget. LEOPS is in place… A signing bonus is in place.
Officer to Officer contact, recruitment and promotion. One idea that I’d like to share with the rank and file and the Chief is how can we get the rank and file to participate in attracting additional police officers to the Westminster Police Department. With an emphasis on laterals, how can we empower the rank and file to have a stake in the recruitment process? The best advertisement for the Westminster Police Department are the officers out there talking up the Department and the City of
How about the FOP participating? Perhaps the FOP could run some ads for all the agencies in the County and talk up our Carroll County quality of life, good schools, low crime rate and a great working environment where Police Officers and their work is greatly appreciated by the general Carroll County population.
What does the FOP think needs to be done to recruit quality police officers for the City of
7. The current administration of the Westminster City Police Department has taken several positive steps to retain qualified police officers. What idea(s) could you give the Chief to help retain them?
Shift differential pay. Self-actualization. Esprit de corps. Degree of Openness.
Above and beyond issues such as pay, better equipment, LEOPS and more training opportunities…
Degree of Openness. Continued change towards a more open system of management where information and explanations flow from the bottom to the top and the top to the bottom fluidly and easily. Understanding that there must be a clearly defined chain of command, it is possible for lower ranking officers to be provided the opportunity to give additional feedback and be a part of the future planning of the department. I believe that the greater the amount of information shared by a policing system with its environment (command staff and the Chief and the Mayor), the greater the degree of openness and opportunities for change.
Esprit de corps. By team building, officers can take pride that they are part of one of the finest police agencies in the region.
Self-actualization. Creating and giving police officers more opportunities to access responsibility for the future of the department
Shift differential pay. I believe that shift differential pay is important for all nightshift employees in the City of
I would like to hear what ideas does the FOP have to better recruitment and retention of Police Officers in the City of
8. What do you feel is the most pressing issue relating to the City of
Pay. In my FY 2006 Budget, I have included money for a comprehensive administration and salary study. To the best of my knowledge, this has not been done since the late 1980s. I don’t think that the salaries of
How will this issue affect the Police Department? It is my goal that you will be paid more.
What does the FOP feel is the most pressing issue relating to the City of
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