As my screen name would seem to imply, I’m reasonably new to the the world of Law Enforcement. Of course, depending on who you ask, a rookie could be anyone that hasn’t been doing the job for at least five years. I’ve never worked with Dave Williams (or Brian Eley). I’ve worked with Jesse Williams only as a colleague. I’ve worked with Tim Crawford as a supervisor (not my direct supervisor, but he held a supervisory role). And, of course, I’ve worked with Rex Coffey as the Sheriff. I’m not even a resident of Charles County, so I can’t vote in this election. The only vested interest I have in the election is how it effects the environment that I work in on a daily basis. Everything I say is my opinion. I am not a Rex Coffey (or any other candidate) crony and am not holding my breath waiting on my appointment to Captain.
I’ve worked for Rex (I’ll call him Rex because it’s easier to type, not because we’re friends) for 3 1/2 years. Are there things I would like to see changed? Of course there are. But, as someone posted in another thread, I feel like Rex is a cop’s cop. I feel like I have Rex’s support. I feel like Rex will go to battle for me, whether it is literally on a call (which I have seen him out more than I expected to see a sheriff on the street) or in the meeting room with the commissioners. Rex has fought to help keep us lowly working folks the things that we need to not only do our job, but to survive while doing so. He has made numerous changes for officer safety and has made a lot of them without major expenses to the taxpayer. Perhaps more importantly, Rex has fought to try to keep us whole in this budget fiasco that we are in. In a day when a starting cop in Charles County makes less than $40,000 a year, how can you expect him to also take 10 unpaid days off a year? That’s 5% of his salary… POOF! But Rex didn’t let that happen. Through the hard work of his command staff and the other hardworking members of the agency, he was able to save almost a million dollars and Rex fought to get that back to help eliminate these furlough days.
Are some of Rex’s appointments politically motivated? Yes. No question. But, that’s his right. He was elected by the people of the county and he has a responsibility (not just a right) to build a command staff that he feels is most capable of getting business done. The main business of the Sheriff is to fight crime. Based on numbers that you can find quoted elsewhere on the site, Rex and his command staff seem to have been pretty successful over the last 3 1/2 year of doing that. Is that all a result of his appointments to his command staff? No! But you can’t tell me that they don’t play a role. They ultimately guide and shape the direction of the agency and therefore, they ultimately are responsible. I personally still feel that the command staff is unapproachable (and that’s a shame), but I don’t schmooze and play the political game very much. Ask some of my colleagues and they might have a very different opinion in that regards.
Is there an issue of trust in the Sheriff’s office? Yes. But, I think a lot of that comes from officers at the lower levels. I’ve worked in large organizations other than the Sheriff’s office. I don’t feel that the issue of trust is any more or less prevalent than in any other organization. The biggest difference is that in the Sheriff’s Office, theoretically, any officer is capable of getting any position in the agency. There are not 5 accountants trying to get the one promotion in the accounting department. There are not 15 sales reps trying to become the sales manager. There are 100 officers trying to become a corporal (and that corporal could be in patrol or Investigations or Traffic Ops or Fleet Management or…) and 40 corporals trying to become a sergeant. Plus, those 100 officers trying to become a corporal are also looking ahead to that sergeant job. That’s a LOT of competition. And when you’re competing against people, even if you’re friends, there’s a recipe for distrust. So, when someone gets promoted to sergeant and they seem to have been “groomed” for the position, you can’t help but be a little skeptical. Skepticism is a small step to distrust.
Are officers exploring their options elsewhere? Yes, I can count into double figures of officers who are looking to go to other agencies. Is that a reflection on Rex? Well, I would guess that some would say that it has to be. But, when you can drive across an imaginary line into another county and immediately start making 15% more a year and get retirement in 20% less time, it’s hard to fault them. And that’s staying in police work at the county level. Then realize that within 25 miles you have umpteen federal agencies as well, that start at equal or higher pay and offer a much safer and less demanding work environment and it becomes even harder to fault these officers. And don’t forget the Northern Virginia agencies that offer pay that starts about 20% higher than Chuck County. That’s not Rex’s fault and I find it hard to believe that any of the other candidates will be able to do anything to change that. Change commissioners, not the Sheriff, if you want to see that change.
You won’t hear me saying anything bad about the other candidates, because I don’t have the basis for it. What I do have is a basis for talking about Rex. I’ve always said that the devil that you know is better than the devil that you don’t know. In this case, the Sheriff that has supported me and done a solid job is better than the Sheriff that may be able to do as good a job and might possibly also support me but I just don’t know.
So, flame on if you must, but as I said, just my opinion.
Rook
