They had their say ... now we have ours: "Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others"

If a “politically connected” person commits a wrongdoing, is that person any less guilty than any other person who commits a wrongdoing?

To a group of citizens who describe themselves as having “various connections to (suspended Police Chief John) Crone via Rotary, church, Chamber, etc.” – and who signed a letter of support for Crone – the answer to that question is apparently “yes.” The letter, dated July 12 – only four days after Crone was suspended – was written to members of Mooresville’s town board by a group that coins itself “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others.” The group claims to “share Crone’s passion for Mooresville and express it via civic involvement and many by investing in the establishment of local businesses.” To view the letter, click on the documents below:






Ironically, the letter acknowledges Crone’s “lack of attention to recordkeeping,” calling it “unfortunate.” However, Crone’s friends apparently do not view the police chief’s “lack of attention to recordkeeping” as sufficient grounds for discipline or dismissal. Instead, they blame the Town of Mooresville, saying that since the town board never oversaw Cops for Kids, “by default” that made the fund “a discretionary account." And they have unilaterally decided to give Crone “enormous latitude in the use of all funds.”

Not only did the group attempt to deflect blame on the Town of Mooresville, however. It also went on to blame the media for exposing the facts surrounding Crone’s mishandling of the Cops for Kids funds. In fact, the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” characterized the media coverage as a “personal attack on (Crone’s) character.” The group also deflected blame on the Gatton Report and its readers, calling them “anonymous bloggers too cowardice to relinquish their names.”

But the group didn’t stop there. Clearly without reviewing a single financial record for Cops for Kids, the “Citizens for the Ethical Treatment of Others” still felt comfortable stating: “We’re confident Crone will be absolved of all allegations of impropriety” and that “many will owe him a sincere heartfelt apology.”

Several questions come to mind:

• What exactly leads the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” to believe that just because the town gave Crone minimal guidance, Crone could do whatever he wanted with the Cops for Kids money?


• In regard to the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” calling this blog and its readers “cowardice”: What is more cowardly – exposing a police chief for misappropriation of funds ... or signing a letter of support for him?


• And exactly what do the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” propose we will owe Crone an apology for? For exposing his poor record keeping? For showing how he withdrew thousands of dollars in cash out of his “charity fund” but provided little or no documentation for how it was spent? For alerting him that his own website stated that Cops for Kids is a charity for needy children and families when in fact it was being used as his personal “discretionary account”? For showing how the chief law enforcement officer of our town deposited cash from the police department’s evidence room into his “discretionary account”?

Perhaps most striking is the letter’s categorical declaration that “Nothing short of personal use of Cops for Kids proceeds will warrant reprimand or dismissal of Chief Crone.” Is it not “personal use” when Crone takes himself, his wife, and his daughter on expensive trips, including transportation, hotels, meals, and sightseeing fees?

The writer of the letter, and those who signed it, set a very low threshold for dismissal; yet even by their own standards, they should agree that Crone is already guilty. Why? Because of cash withdrawals. Either Crone produces proof that none of that cash was used for his “personal use,” or it must be presumed that it was. Why? Because he is the one who withdrew the cash. And to this date, we have yet to see exactly how Crone spent the thousands and thousands of dollars in cash that he withdrew from a charity fund.

Would the businessmen who signed this letter tolerate such behavior from an employee? Would Crone, a chief of police, buy his own explanations if he were interrogating a potential charity scam artist? Perhaps what this letter reveals is that maybe he would … if the suspect went to his church, or attended his Rotary Club, or was a member of the Chamber of Commerce.

But obviously, to these particular 21 people, there’s no interest in, or room for, the evidence. Since they are businessmen and members of various civic organizations, they seem to believe that their opinion is somehow more worthy of the town’s attention than that of “regular” citizens … that somehow their opinion “trumps,” or is superior to, any of the evidence. They also seem to suggest that because they know Crone – because he attends their Rotary meetings and their church – that somehow he is less likely to be guilty.

That is the kind of “good ol’ boy” network that will no longer be tolerated here. Highly qualified and top-notch town employees have been fired for much less. But apparently those employees weren’t in Rotary or didn’t go to the “right” churches and therefore weren’t deserving of “ethical treatment.”

Perhaps the “Citizens for Ethical Treatment of Others” should consider changing its name to “Citizens for Preferential Treatment of Some.”

(While I welcome and encourage open dialogue about the issues brought to light in this letter, I urge anyone who plans to post a comment to be civil and not make unsubstantiated allegations against the people who signed the letter of support for Crone or against those who are able to civilly criticize the letter and its endorsers. If any unsubstantiated allegations are made, I will promptly remove them.)

The Report Spanks Frank Rader, At-Large Commissioner

Commissioner Frank Rader claims he’s the “numbers man.”

Wonder what he’d say the odds are that an elected official could effectively undermine the acting chief of police, interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation and violate the town charter and state law … all at the same time?

Perhaps Commissioner Rader can help us with this equation:

The Town of Mooresville has placed its police chief, John Crone, on paid suspension, pending the results of a criminal investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation into Crone’s handling of his Cops for Kids organization. The town has also launched an internal personnel investigation of Crone as well as external audits of the Cops for Kids fund. Separately, the N.C. Secretary of State is investigating Cops for Kids’ charitable solicitation license, and the jury’s still out on whether the Internal Revenue Service will be looking into why Crone apparently never paid taxes on Cops for Kids income.

Yet beginning the middle of last week, Rader took it upon himself – apparently without the knowledge or consent of fellow commissioners – to make presentations to police officers during staff meetings at the police department.

Despite the fact that the investigations – presumably aimed at explaining irregularities in Crone’s Cops for Kids records and determining whether any criminal activity has occurred – are ongoing, Rader told police personnel that he is inclined to believe Crone’s version of the story (which, as evidenced by Crone’s own interviews with television news stations, has changed as quickly as the wind). Rader also alluded to the officers that they could write letters of support for Crone, as long as the letters are written on personal time, using personal resources. (See “Free Speech or Speech Under Duress?”) He also read excerpts from an anonymous letter that was sent to Crone before the Cops for Kids story broke. Rader also saw fit to distribute a scanned copy of that anonymous letter to members of the media last week. He calls it outrageous. Here it is:


But while Rader felt compelled to distribute the “outrageous” letter to officers and the media, he apparently did not feel compelled to circulate this:


This is a deposit slip showing a $361 deposit made two months ago from the police department evidence room into Crone’s Cops for Kids bank account – a violation of state law and police procedures.

Nor did Rader circulate this:



The first document is Crone’s personal accounting of Cops for Kids finances. It shows that at the end of May, Crone had recorded a balance of $2,830 in a single bank account. The second document is the May 2008 Cops for Kids bank statement. It shows that as of May 22, 2008, while Crone had recorded a balance of $2,830 in the Cops for Kids’ single account, the bank showed that the organization had $20,151 combined in two separate accounts.

Nor is Rader circulating this:


These invoices show that in 2006 and 2007, approximately $1,900 in Cops for Kids money was spent to pay for the police department’s employee Christmas banquet, which is beyond the scope of the narrow Cops for Kids mission that Crone and Erskine Smith are now saying governed the organization.

Is the anonymous letter that was sent to Crone angry? Yes. Does it accuse Crone of illegal and unethical behavior? Absolutely. But you decide which is more outrageous: The letter itself, or the fact that Rader is circulating it while ignoring the evidence that is the basis of the ongoing investigations into Crone and Cops for Kids.

Does the “numbers man” approve of financial records that show different balances? Does the “numbers man” approve of transferring money from the evidence room into a personal slush fund? Does the “numbers man” approve of using many hundreds of dollars earmarked for children to pay for the police department's holiday banquets? Does the “numbers man” approve of cash withdrawals for thousands and thousands of dollars for no documented reason, as regularly occurred from the Cops for Kids accounts? Does the “numbers man” approve of keeping hundreds of dollars in cash in a plastic baggie in a public folder, as was discovered while members of the public reviewed the Cops for Kids records?

Where was the “numbers man” – the commissioner who claims to go through the town budget with a "fine-tooth comb" – when Crone and Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith slipped in a $20,000 transfer of taxpayer dollars to Cops for Kids for the current fiscal year? Even after it was discovered that Cops for Kids was an incorporated entity, Rader continued to champion behind the scenes for the “absorption” of Cops for Kids into the town’s general fund. The problem with that: Incorporated entities cannot be “absorbed” by the government.

Commissioner Chris Carney, responding to Report questions on Monday, said while the investigation is ongoing, the police department “is a place where an elected official does not belong.”

“I would not be doing that,” Carney said, referring to Rader’s presentations to police officers. “That’s why we encouraged investigators to come in. We are not serving as jury in this process. We shouldn’t be even rendering an opinion. We should be encouraging the facts to come out and let them prove guilt or innocence. We should only be making sure our town manager is doing everything to protect the integrity of the process and the confidence of our citizens.”

Carney and Commissioner Miles Atkins agreed that Rader was not acting on behalf of the town board. Atkins said Rader’s presentations at the police department “is all news to me.”

Commissioners Thurman Houston, Mac Herring and Mitch Abraham did not respond.

Mayor Bill Thunberg also did not respond to Report questions. However, he said in a television news broadcast that aired on News 14 Carolina on July 8: “We’ll go where the facts take us.” On behalf of the town board, he said, “In the final analysis, it’s the town manager’s responsibility with regards to personnel and handling those personnel kinds of decisions. It’s our responsibility to be sure the public trust is maintained.”

Rader responded to the Report’s questions on Tuesday morning, stating in an e-mail: “Not available. Response will be delayed until July 28. Vacation. This is form reply. Due to service area send/receive uncertain.”

Town Attorney Steve Gambill said the town charter and state statutes “explain why the Town Board does not get involved with personnel decisions” other than those that affect the town attorney and town manager.

Gambill said Section 5.5 of the town charter and N.C. General Statute 160A-148 define the powers and duties of the town manager and state that the town manager is responsible for the administration of all the town’s affairs.

Rader’s presentations to police officers last week were inappropriate not only because he acted outside of the town charter and state statutes, but because his actions could lead directly to destabilizing the police department by outright undermining what the acting chief of police had specifically instructed his officers to do – and not to do – while the investigations into the suspended police chief are ongoing.

In an e-mail to town administration on July 11, Interim Police Chief Carl Robbins said he had instructed all police personnel “not to comment on Crone’s disciplinary status or the investigations.”

Robbins told the officers “it was their choice if they wanted to contact (Crone).”

During the weekend that followed Robbins’ e-mail to town administration, six officers, all under the same captain, and a civilian staff member wrote letters of support for Crone to the town board. The very day after Robbins acknowledged that the letters were written in violation of the town’s personnel policy since they were written while on duty and using town resources, a defiant Rader – in his “Rader-At-Large” e-mail – reproduced all the letters of support. Yet he failed to acknowledge that they violated policy and the direct orders of the acting police chief.

Robbins had told officers “not to speculate or engage in discussions with the public about the allegations since we need the facts” and added: “We need to give the investigators time to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.”

Thorough and impartial? Rader didn’t get the memo.

One is left wondering whether Rader would have reproduced letters that are critical of Crone. One must wonder if he suggested to the officers during his “presentations” that they could also write letters in support of the investigations launched by the town that Rader ostensibly represents ... or if the officers would even feel comfortable writing such letters. One must also wonder whose interest Rader is trying to protect: the town’s or the suspended police chief’s?

Perhaps those officers who didn’t write letters in support of Crone or the investigations are the ones who follow the orders of their chief. Perhaps they’re the ones who believe in the integrity of an impartial investigation, untainted by town personnel and officials.

It appears that impartiality and the integrity of the investigations may not be interests shared by Rader, who’s already on the record, casting his lot with a suspended town employee who appears to be guilty of at least poor record-keeping, violating town financial policies, and misleading the public and, at worst, criminal behavior.

Rader calls himself the “numbers man,” but something isn’t adding up.

Cops for Kids: two organizations, two different messages

As we continue to scrutinize Mooresville’s Cops for Kids, we can better understand just how improperly our organization was run by Police Chief John Crone by looking at how a similar organization operates. The comparison speaks volumes.

To disadvantaged children living in and around California’s Lake Elsinore Valley, Santa Claus wears a badge and carries a gun.

About 1,000 children who may have otherwise woken up to no presents under a Christmas tree last year stormed the Diamond minor-league baseball stadium in Lake Elsinore, California, where “the entire third base concourse was full of toys,” said Jason Brown, a member of the Cops for Kids board of directors.

He said that each child was able to choose two new toys that were either donated or purchased from Cops for Kids funds, which are raised by annual fundraisers and contributions from corporate sponsors, businesses and individuals. Santa Claus visited the children at the Stadium, and a local photographer was on hand, snapping complimentary photos of nearly 300 families with the jolly old elf. The sheriff’s department Explorers volunteered at the event, which Brown said ran plentiful of Santa’s favorite snack: cookies.

California’s Cops for Kids Christmas event hasn’t always been held at the Diamond, Brown said. Instead, in past years, Santa’s “sleigh and reindeer” was a caravan of patrol cars from the Lake Elsinore Police Department and Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, delivering Christmas gifts to the area’s disadvantaged children and elderly shut-ins.

But last Christmas, when requests for assistance doubled that of previous years, Cops for Kids had to find a more efficient way to serve the children, Brown said. “It’s a great program we have here,” he added.

The Cops for Kids program in California was created in 1995 by two sheriff’s deputies “who saw a need to help children at Christmas time,” states the Cops for Kids, Inc. website. The officers, while on routine patrol during the holiday season, would hand out gifts to disadvantaged children. (It was this story from the California organization’s website that Mooresville’s Cops for Kids copied, almost verbatim, the alleged story of its founding.)

Thirteen years later, Cops for Kids has grown into a year-round program that assists children, families and senior citizens in need of emergency funding for transportation to school or work, temporary shelters, clothing, and education expenses.

Cops for Kids “works directly with the school districts” for referrals of children to the program, Brown said. The Cops for Kids website includes a referral form, and people “can come in anytime” to the police station to refer someone to the program or request assistance themselves, Brown said.

He said that Cops for Kids – which is a 501(c)(3) – reviews each and every referral, conducts interviews and checks income “to make sure it’s not a bogus request.” The program has one paid employee – its executive director. All other helpers, including the involved officers, volunteer their time.

In addition to helping out with emergency funding and spreading holiday cheer to area children in need, Cops for Kids hosts Bingo games with seniors and holds a Christmas luncheon with those who are living out their days in retirement communities.

This past Christmas, Cops for Kids volunteers, along with sheriff’s deputies, sheriff’s department Explorers and members of a nearby high school choir ,“visited many of the valley’s senior homes,” reads the Cops for Kids website. “We went inside each home, as many as 20 of us brought Christmas gifts and cheer and sang Christmas carols.

“Thanks to the choir members and their awesome teacher … we actually sounded pretty good,” the website quips. “Cops for Kids volunteers and Sheriff's deputies are not necessarily known for their singing voices!”

California’s Cops for Kids has a simple mission: “to ensure all children, regardless of circumstances, are provided the basic necessities that all children should enjoy” and “to provide senior citizen outreach and assistance based on the individual needs of life.” It is a mission the California organization lives up to.

Compare that to the Mooresville Police Department’s Cops for Kids mission. Until a few weeks ago, the overall mission of our Cops for Kids program – as presented on the police department’s website – was verbatim (minus one sentence) that of the California Cops for Kids program. (See http://thegattonreport.blogspot.com/2008/06/cops-for-kids-still-more-questions-than.html). Under the standard used by the California Cops for Kids, the Mooresville version of the organization did virtually nothing in furtherance of the mission that was publicly presented via the Internet as its mission.

When confronted about that, Chief Crone removed the Cops for Kids page from the website and stated that neither he nor his two majors “have knowledge of approving this web page.”

“We are not incorporated, nor have we ever been, nor have we advertised that we are a 501C(3) charity,” Crone stated. “The Mooresville Police did not start their Cops for Kids until 1997 and no one is paid a salary. At one time we looked into applying for a 501C3 designation but we changed our mind and just left it under the police department.”

But if Cops for Kids was never intended to be a charity, what exactly was it supposed to be? What was its mission?

Since 2001, Cops for Kids has spent a majority of its “outreach” funds – raised through individual and business contributions, as well as an annual golf tournament – not to benefit underprivileged children in Mooresville, but to send the Mayor’s Youth Council and the Police Explorers on all-expenses paid trips to New York City; Washington D.C.; Pennsylvania; Pigeon Forge, Tenn. and Atlanta.

Mooresville’s Cops for Kids was supposed to be treating the Police Explorers to a 9-day trip to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon this month, but according to Interim Police Chief Carl Robbins, that trip has been cancelled.

Crone has called the Cops for Kids trips “educational” and “learning experiences.”

Interim Town Manager Erskine Smith, answering questions on Crone’s behalf recently, said the purpose of Cops for Kids is not to assist underprivileged or disadvantaged children, as presented to the public on the police department’s website, but to “benefit the youth of the community and build relationships between the youth and police department.”

If that’s true, then the message that Cops for Kids is sending to the youth of our community is a troubling one at best: that to be worthy of building a relationship with our police – to be worthy of “benefiting” in our community – one must either be interested in politics (Mayor’s Youth Council) or in law enforcement (Police Explorers).

Such a message contradicts the original stated purpose of Cops for Kids and what our community has been led to believe the program stood for. Of a sampling of contributors contacted recently by the Report, most said that when they donated to this year’s Cops for Kids golf tournament, they thought their money would go to assist underprivileged children in the Mooresville community. And almost every contributor said they planned to write off their donation as a tax deduction because they thought Cops for Kids was a registered charity.

But they can’t write it off, and it isn’t a charity. Instead, Cops for Kids is a fund to send the Mayor’s Youth Council and Police Explorers on trips.

How are those children selected? “There is an application process handled through the high schools” for the Mayor’s Youth Council, said Mayor Bill Thunberg. When asked who makes the final decision of members, he said: “I think the council votes and elects officers too.”

Robbins said the Police Explorers program “is open to both males and females between the ages of 14 and 21” and uses an application process. “Their school work and any disciplinary issues are taken into consideration,” Robbins said, adding that the Explorers group “is limited to 25 active members.”

In California, the Explorers volunteer at Cops for Kids events. In Mooresville, the Explorers – along with the Mayor’s Youth Council – are the beneficiaries of Cops for Kids.

In California, needy children are given brighter Christmases. In Mooresville, politically connected children are given all-expenses-paid, out-of-state vacations with their friends.

In California, police officers volunteer their time to help with Cops for Kids … driving their patrol cars around the community one evening out of the year, for instance, to take gifts to disadvantaged children. In Mooresville, officers and their wives “chaperone” the all-expenses-paid vacations for the Mayor’s Youth Council and the Police Explorers.

The trips aren’t cheap. Cops for Kids spent $3,250 just to charter a bus to take the two groups – consisting of 22 students, including the police chief’s daughter and the former mayor’s granddaughter, along with a whopping 14 chaperones (seven officers and their spouses, including Crone and his wife) – to Washington D.C. for two days last year.

It’s troubling to many people who donated to Cops for Kids that their contributions were used so carelessly. What’s heartbreaking is to consider the number of children in our community who could have and should have benefited from those dollars but weren’t able to because influential families wanted to go on vacation, eat at seafood buffets and attend music concerts, baseball games and amusement parks.

In California, a photographer provides cost-free pictures with Santa to disadvantaged children. In Mooresville, a digital camera captures a group of girls around the “Hershey’s chocolate” characters at the Hershey, PA amusement park.

In California, police officers intervene early with at-risk children who may eventually develop disdain for law enforcement. In Mooresville, our police chief and interim town manager send the message to our youth that the only children worth reaching out to are the very ones whose parents are already connected … the kids who aren’t likely to cause too much “trouble” … and even if they do, the cozy relationships created with the police chief may mean that their misdeeds will go “overlooked.”

That is the message we’re sending to the youth of our community. And as long as that’s the case, we’ll continue to get what we’re asking for.

Cary's town manager no longer a candidate in Mooresville

Click here for the Mooresville Tribune's updated story:

http://mooresvilletribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MOT/MGArticle/MOT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355906416

Town Manager Search: Is Cary's town manager in? Was he ever?

The Mooresville Tribune says: http://mooresvilletribune.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=MOT/MGArticle/MOT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173355906416

However, the Cary News says: http://www.carynews.com/front/story/9625.html

Hmmm.

Free Speech or Speech Under Duress?

Free speech is completely different than speech under duress.

Unfortunately, we’re left wondering which was exercised when six officers and one dispatcher wrote letters to elected officials on Saturday and Sunday in support of Chief John Crone, who is suspended with pay pending the results of investigations into the way he handled the police department’s Cops for Kids program.

Mooresville Police Capt. Frank Falzone, along with five of his squad members and one dispatcher on his same shift, wrote the letters to commissioners over the weekend. It appears the officers, on town time and using town resources, quite possibly wrote the letters at the suggestion of their immediate supervisor, Falzone.

“We are concerned that our lack of or inability to publicly voice our opinions, for fear that we may cause additional controversy and complicate your efforts, may be misconstrued as a lack of support for Chief Crone,” Falzone wrote in his e-mail on Saturday. “We have concluded that notifying you by email is the best alternative in accomplishing our goal, without further obscuring the issue at hand.”

Continued Falzone: “I would like to reaffirm and emphasize my support for Chief Crone, and unless proven otherwise, firmly believe in his leadership, skills, and abilities.”

Falzone’s letter was the first of seven – out of 59 total police personnel – to be sent to town commissioners. By the next evening, five of Falzone’s squad members and the dispatcher had also submitted letters to town board members.

“Chief Crone has tried to show his love of children by his work with the children/teenagers in the community,” said the dispatcher. “I feel that he is unfairly being accused of things that people do not have the whole picture or information about.”

The dispatcher is the only police department employee who mentioned the facts surrounding Crone’s suspension. “As for the money situation,” the dispatcher said, “I am sure that even if receipts are not located for each and every dime, that he spent the money for something to do with the children he was working with.”

A police officer who said he has worked with Crone since Crone was hired as chief in December 1998 urged commissioners to “support Chief Crone during these trying times for our department and our town.” He said that Crone “has always treated me with respect and dignity” and that “I have always tried to give him that same courtesy.”

Another officer who said he has worked with Crone for more than seven years told elected officials: “I’ve never known (Crone) to be dishonest about anything going on at the department. I’ve always been treated with fairness, respect and honesty … all traits he demands from his officers.

“In summary,” the e-mail read, “I support Chief Crone as he goes through this difficult time.”

Another officer stated that he was also writing to express support for Crone. “Unless shown otherwise,” he stated in his e-mail to commissioners, “I will continue to support Chief Crone during this difficult time, and only hope that this matter will be resolved as soon as possible.”

In a memo-style letter with the subject titled “Letter of Support,” one officer stated that “Chief Crone is an extraordinarily hard worker, a responsible person, and he is an asset to the Police Department, Community and the Town of Mooresville as well.”

The final officer to write commissioners on Sunday said that he has worked with Crone “for many years.”

“This e-mail is not to say that I think the Chief is perfect,” he stated, “but I can honestly say that I am a better officer because of the years I have worked under Chief Crone's command.”

“I hope that you haven't misunderstood the silence from officers to mean that we do not support the chief,” stated the officer. “The vast majority of officers do support him. The turn over rate of officers at the police department is more that just numbers and with each officer leaving, there is a reason.

“Again, I fully support the Chief and hope that this will soon be over and we can get Chief Crone back to work where he should be.”

He ended his letter by thanking the commissioners for their time and “for allowing me to work for the Town of Mooresville Police Department, which I thoroughly enjoy, and for your support for the police department.”

Since each of the officers – with the exception of the dispatcher – work under Falzone, it is impossible to know which ones voluntarily wrote letters in support of Crone and which ones did so because they felt their boss had suggested that they do it.

What is clear is that at least one member of that squad who was on duty this past weekend did not write a letter to commissioners – along with more than 50 other people employed by the police department.

Did Falzone order his squad members to write the letters in support of Crone? Did he suggest it? Did he consider, when making such a suggestion, that his squad members may take his suggestion to be, in fact, an order? Did he consider that some officers might not want to write such letters and by not participating could therefore eventually become targeted for ill treatment by other officers, higher ranking officials or Crone himself should he return? Did Falzone write his letter with intentions of swaying the opinions of elected officials, who must wait until the investigations’ results before casting judgment?

Unfortunately, we don’t have answers to those questions. Falzone couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

What we do know is that the officers violated town policy by writing the letters because they wrote them using town resources and while on duty. All the letters were sent from the employees’ town e-mail accounts. The police department’s personnel policy states that “members shall not engage in political activity on duty, or when acting in an official capacity, or when in uniform, except to vote.”

The policy also states: “Members shall not interfere with cases being handled by … other government agencies unless: A.) Ordered to intervene by a supervisor; or B.) The intervening member believes, beyond a reasonable doubt, that injustice would result from failure to take action; or C.) Such intervention is required as a result of supervisory or command responsibilities.”

Maj. Carl Robbins, who is serving as interim chief of police in Crone’s absence, said today that the police department’s personnel policy “does address these type activities. I will gather the facts and then handle it as a personnel matter,” he said.

But really, a violation of the personnel policy should be the least of our worries. I am a staunch supporter of every person’s right to free speech, and I am elated when I see people embrace and exercise that Constitutional right, even if I disagree with what they say. Am I disappointed that the police department employees violated the personnel policy? Absolutely. But there’s a mitigating factor here: Their boss introduced to them the idea of writing the letters. What effect did that have on the officers? How voluntary were the letters really? Was it proper for a commanding officer to put his subordinates in a position where they might have felt uncomfortable not participating?

The fundamental issue here lies within the question of whether those particular officers practiced free speech … or if their speech was less free than some officers hoped it would appear to be.

And how about the officers who couldn’t in clear conscience write a letter of support, whether they don’t support Crone or they simply didn’t want to violate the personnel policy? What will this mean for them? Will they be punished for not participating?

The mere presence of these questions is reason enough why no one in the police department should have suggested officers write letters in support of the suspended chief.

UPDATE: Cops for Kids investigations

The Town of Mooresville has asked Kenneth J. Andrews, a retired polygraph specialist with the FBI, to conduct the internal investigation into Police Chief John Crone’s handling of the police department’s Cops for Kids program.

Andrews, who over a 22-year career with the FBI worked in the bureau’s Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Charlotte field offices, has lived in Denver, N.C. since 2002.

For background information on Ken Andrews, click here: http://marketcenter.findlaw.com/scripts/display_profile.pl?id=117465

Meanwhile, 22nd Prosecutorial District Attorney Garry Frank was expected to contact the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) last Wednesday to launch the external investigation into Cops for Kids, and the SBI has apparently since been in contact with Maj. Carl Robbins, who is serving as interim police chief while Crone is suspended with pay pending the investigations’ results.

At the same time, the town’s finance department, as of Friday, is looking for two different forensic accounting specialists to conduct the audit of Cops for Kids. The town as of Friday was still awaiting information from Cops for Kids’ bank accounts to submit to those accounting firms once they’ve been selected.

It is unclear when any of the investigations will officially begin, but the town maintains they should begin soon.

The town is also expected to delay an evidence-room inventory until after the SBI has been in contact about “proper procedure.”

At the Police Department, Robbins told town staffers in an e-mail on Friday that he has personally spoken with every police department employee except those who were on vacation or in school. Everyone was told that Crone has been placed on paid administrative leave and that Robbins was appointed acting chief. “I told them I had no idea if or when (Crone) would be able to return,” Robbins wrote in the e-mail.

He said that he instructed all police personnel to direct any media questions to Town Attorney Steve Gambill and not to comment on Crone’s disciplinary status or the investigations.

Robbins briefly explained the scope of the dual investigations: “One will probe into the administrative side and will be conducted by an independent investigator and the other by the (SBI) into any possible criminal wrongdoing,” Robbins stated in the e-mail. “The Cops for Kids financial records and the evidence room are focal points of the investigation.”

He told police staff that “there is no firm timetable for either (investigation)” but that they should “be prepared for weeks or months.”

Robbins stated that “everyone should be cooperative, honest and open,” and he “reminded everyone to accommodate the investigators and staff from the Town to make their efforts as efficient as possible.

“I told everyone to stay focused on our mission because that is a constant during uncertain times,” Robbins continued in the e-mail. “Through it all, we must remember to provide a safe community for citizens and visitors alike.

“Each employee was reminded not to speculate or engage in discussions with the public about the allegations since we need the facts,” Robbins stated. “We also need to give the investigators time to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation.”

Robbins said that he also told the officers and civilian staff that “it was their choice if they wanted to contact the Chief. I also reminded them that the Chief had been responsible for many improvements in our Department including our building and we should keep him and his family in our thoughts and prayers no matter what one’s opinion may be.

“Since we are under increased scrutiny,” Robbins continued, “everyone was asked to go the extra mile in dealing with anyone they had contact with during their shifts (treat them like you want your mother treated under similar circumstances).

“In closing,” Robbins said, “I took time to tell them how proud I was of them and that I would be depending on them and I valued their opinions and input.”