Whistleblowers Wanted

For a year and a half I have been receiving calls from employees at the sheriff’s department with information that should have been released to the public but never was.

What type of information? At-fault traffic accidents in which the deputy who caused the accident was not ticketed and no information ever appeared in the newspapers.

An assault on one deputy by another also never made the papers. This one followed an evening of drinking at a local pub in Woodstock. There was some light internal discipline that was doled out following that incident, but it was all shielded from the public by so-called privacy laws involving personnel matters. Now, isn’t that just nice?

All of the information passed along to me so far has been accurate, so the credibility of the tipsters is very high. If you’ve got some dirt that the public ought to know about, you can contact me at Gus@WoodstockAdvocate.com and you can be certain that your identity will not be revealed. I am careful in my writings not to even mention whether it was a man or woman who called me. I don’t mention a department, division or working hours. Confidentiality is critical here, because I do not want you to lose your jobs.

I went to the County Board one night to recommend an Internal Affairs Division for the sheriff’s department. To quote an acquaintance from the South, it was so quiet that night you could have heard cotton drop in that meeting. Were they interested or asleep? One thing is for sure; I’ll long remember the expression of disgust on the face of one Board member.

Some people around here accuse me of not liking cops. I do like cops. I like the ones who are citizens first, cops second. Ones who are not bullies. Ones who believe the laws are for them, too.

Want to call me at (815) 308-7647? Block your phone number, if you don’t want it to show up on the built-in CallerID. Or use a Calling Card. Or set up a free, discrete email account to correspond with me.