Colorado "Killer" released

Is there anyone who still thinks that police don't sometimes make serious errors on the job?

Read this CNN account of a man convicted in 1999 of murder in Fort Collins, Colorado. (I lived in Fort Collins in 1989.) After ten years in prison, a judge threw out the conviction and released him. Tim Masters, 37, said he "still holds a grudge against the police and prosecutors who put him behind bars." I wonder why!

www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/25/tim.masters.year.later/index.html

Read about the Dutch forensics scientists who discovered the DNA evidence that eventually freed Masters.

Do prosecutors sometimes rush to get their gold stars? How do you make it up to a man you wrongfully put in prison for ten years?

What kind of problems do we have in McHenry County?

I'll tell you one problem. When report-writing by individual deputies is "managed" so that all the reports "mesh"/fit together without raising questions, that is a huge problem.

When several deputies are on the scene of a serious crime, especially one involving officer-fired shots or a death of a suspect (or citizen or officer), then the deputies should be separated and ordered to write their individual reports, before they can get their heads together and figure out (or be told) what to write.

When I read the reports of the David Maxson shooting in Wonder Lake, I immediately felt that the conduct at the scene was not properly managed. My first reaction was that all the reports had been written by the same person. Since then, I learned that those who signed the reports wrote them, but they weren't separated at the time of report-writing. The shooting could not be avoided, after the incident escalated out-of-control. As I have written before, I have no quarrel with the fact that a deputy had to shoot when he did. But it did not have reach to that level of required action - especially not in 43 minutes!

This practice must stop in McHenry County. There is no way to learn the truth, when report-writing is "managed." Every deputy in the report-writing room had to know that what was happening was improper, unethical and even illegal.

Yet there is no system at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department for complaining about it. Again I'll say that an Internal Affairs Division is needed at the sheriff's department. Not a group on a witch hunt, but a group of highly-qualified, honest, ethical deputies dedicated to right vs. wrong and to whom a deputy can go when he sees something wrong going on (and be protected as the one who is reporting it).

Although the person running an IAD would most likely report to the Sheriff, he should have the power and the authority to go "outside" if the appropriate action (and, when necessary, prosecution) doesn't follow when recommended.

Open Letter from Zane Seipler

To the Deputies at the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department,

On July 28th, 2007 we were given a departmental questionnaire asking us to assess the climate of the department. (At this time my career was everything I wanted it to be. I was advancing rapidly and earning special assignments and duties. Yet, something was bothering me. Statistics were being pushed by our supervisors, plaques about “…owning the night” were being erected, less mature deputies were bragging about how arrest were easy and fun and a couple of them made negative comments about African-Americans and Latinos.) I filled out the questionnaire honestly. I wrote things about civil rights violations, racial profiling and poor supervision. I also wrote that people I consider sub-standard deputies were getting recognition for their statistics while superior deputies (the vast majority of you) were being marginalized.

Immediately I was called in to the office by a certain Captain. This Captain asked me what was going on and I told that I believe three or four deputies may be racially profiling in order to raise their stats. The Captain told me to give him names, I refused. I told the Captain that if he made a general statement at roll call condemning such behavior that would probably solve the problem.
I also stated that we should try to operate like more “progressive” departments and have some kind of “sensitivity” training every year instead of every decade. Again the Captain told me to give him names, I refused. He then gave me three names, I replied “ If you know this you don’t need me to give names.” The conversation continued and one year, dozens of memos, countless closed door meetings, several yelling sessions, several internal investigations, numerous secret supervisor phone calls, a trumped up warrant, dozens of threats of arrest, supervisory scare tactics used against my children and wife, outlandish rumors and pathetic pleas for my resignation, I was terminated. (Oh yes, four months of paid administrative leave at the tax payers expense.) Why did I endure all of this? Because it was the right thing to do.

I am not against you, the vast majority of you are outstanding, honorable deputies. Deputies that have been conditioned to accept the totalitarian atmosphere that is the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department. You know as well as I do if you’re not one of the “good ole boys” you’re on the “dark side”. (PBPA vs. FOP)

I decided long ago that I wouldn’t let bad things happen to good people if I could help it. I’ve seen a Lieutenant make grown men and women cry as he screamed at them in the confines of his cushy office (or the interrogation room of Huntley P.D.). I’ve seen experienced, hardworking, senior deputies get passed up for the K-9 unit for a deputy who specializes in arresting Hispanics and beating up elderly women. I have seen good deputies internally investigated by a couple of Lieutenants that should have lost their jobs long ago for the numerous General Order infractions they committed during the course of their careers. (Makes me wonder exactly what do these people have on each other.) I have seen fear. Fear, that if you were to speak out and voice your opinion or your concerns you will be treated like I was. Believe me when I tell you the supervisors know that this is the case. They bank on it. Fear is what you work under, it is how you are controlled.

You don’t need to fear me. Some of you have secrets and I have kept those. No amount of fear would ever make me turn on good deputies. But the deputies that aren’t so good, who are taking the short cuts to make arrests, who are using unnecessary force to subdue citizens, who are writing a reports about altercations in groups so that the reports all sound alike, you should worry. The rest should keep doing the job as you have always done it, honorably.

I have chosen this fight and I will see it through. So when you look at that giant Stat Board in roll call and you begin to see a certain three or four deputies arrest numbers dropping, remember. When those same deputies are now handling their service calls instead of transporting a Hispanic driver to the jail every forty five minutes, remember. When you are no longer going to a domestic altercation alone because everyone is in their area and not at the jail or waiting for a tow, remember. When you’re no longer writing an obscene number of reports a night because certain deputies are writing their own reports, remember. When you sit in roll call and listen to a afternoon shift Sergeant and Lieutenant tell you how evil I am or how racist I am, remember. (These guys were all under federal investigation long before I was under McHenry County Sheriff’s Department investigation.) When they formulate new daily evaluation standards to make you more “aggressive”, remember. And when they threaten to terminate you when you don’t conform, remember, I have chosen to fight for you also.

Don’t let the changes and unwanted scrutiny that is bound to arise because of this change the way you do your job. If you’ve never done anything that deserves scrutiny, you’ll be just fine.

Zane Seipler

P.S. I plan on winning the arbitration, so I’ll see you soon.

McHenry County Sheriff's PB & PA Lodge 192

Recently I received two copies of the April 2, 2008, letter from the McHenry County Sheriff's Police Benevolent and Protective Association, Lodge #192 (PB & PA), addressed to Members, Friends and Local Business Owners. The letter announces the July 30th Golf Outing and solicits donations. The letter states that contributions would be tax deductible.

The letter invites readers to contact any of three Sheriff's Department employees at their Sheriff's Department telephone numbers and is signed by Eric Ellis as President (of the PB & PA). Notes accompanying the letters, which were mailed on separate dates and hand-addressed in different writing styles, called attention to the following issues:

Responses are to be directed to the official working address of the Sheriff's Department and to telephone numbers at the Sheriff's Department, which should be used only for official business. Should Department employees, whether deputies or correctional deputies, be allowed to conduct Lodge business during working hours? Should they be using County-provided telephones and mail-handling services for the fund-raising for their golf outing and PB & PA services?

Are these activities conducted with the approval of the Sheriff, who has a fiduciary capacity as steward to taxpayer-provided monies?

The letter states that contributions are tax deductible. Are they? Really? For contributions to be tax-deductible, an organization must be registered with the Internal Revenue Service. A check at www.irs.gov/ and a call to the IRS at 800/829-1040 resulted in information that IRS has not approved the PB & PA as a charitable organization.

Does the PB & PA have a Determination Letter from the IRS? Now, they may have this. Approval as a tax-exempt organization, which is what makes your contribution tax-deductible, may be pending. Perhaps the PB & PA just hasn't made it yet through the process and onto the approved IRS list. A letter will be sent to Eric Ellis on June 18, requesting a copy of the IRS Determination Letter.

Being an IRS tax-exempt organization and a not-for-profit (State/Illinois) association are two different things. An association/organization can be a not-for-profit and not be tax-exempt. What happens when you donate/contribute money to a not-for-profit organization that is not also tax-exempt? No tax deduction!

The Golf Registration/Sponsorship Form indicates that the PB & PA is a non-profit organization. However, a telephone call to the the Charities Division of the Illinois Secretary of State office today did not reveal any registration for a "McHenry County Sheriff's Police Benevolent & Protective Association." So, is it a legal not-for-profit in Illinois? If so, under what name?

Being a contributor the the PB & PA Golf Outing is not cheap. Categories range from $300 as a Dinner Sponsor to $50 as a Bronze Hole Sponsor ($100 for Gold Hole Sponsor; $75 for Silver Hole Sponsor).

How much money do they really raise? And how do they spend it? Where are the financial statements of the PB & PA? Are they open for public inspection?

Why does the Sheriff tolerate this non-official business and use of taxpayer-funded equipment and property on official work time?

© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT