Lt. Barkley Makes Acting Chief, Salisbury Police

Lt. Barkley has been named as acting Chief of Police of the Salisbury City Police Department and has been serving as the Chief for several weeks now.

WicBury Crapper Board Members at SPD report that he is doing an excellent job thus far. There is a question in people's minds that even though is the the acting Chief will the Mayor leave Barkey in the spot to stabilize and re energize the department or will the city seek out another possible Chief from outside of the area. Chief Barkley surpassed the Asst. Chief, and Two Captains for the spot.

The last time this occurred, Chief Webster was installed approximately ten years ago. During Chief Webster's administration crime substantially worsened and the turn over rate at SPD increased by several times over. Currently, SPD has a staff of younger officers, some just have graduated the police academy. So this begs the question is Chief Barkley a good match for the department as Chief and can he fix ten years of past problems?

We wish him luck and good fortune. We feel Chief Barkley is a very smart and capable person that can, if taking the right course of action, get the job done right.

What do you think?

Should Chief Webster Resign?

By WicBury Crapper Board Member "HarleyCop2009"....

We've been pondering the question of if the Chief of the Salisbury City Police Department, Webster, should resign or not... Of course Joe Albero would like the Chief to resign and apparently so would the city's mayor. In an interview with the Chief and WBOC correspondent Elizabeth Harrington the Chief basically stated that he would resign only when he felt that it was appropriate and not before. The Chief is drawing more heat from the three armed robberies last night at the hotels across the Salisbury area.

The Holiday Inn, the Best Western and the Hampton Inn were hit just hours apart from each other. Apparently the same black male entered each of the hotels and presented a note demanding money.

So, this begs the question wouldn't something proactive been implemented prior to the third hotel being hit?

But, wouldn't the new chief, whomever that could be, inherit a sea of problems from budget issues, to personnel shortages, to an ever expanding wide crime problem? So we are left with questions, should the current Chief of Police Allan Webster resign and if so who should replace him? And what could a new chief do differently to combat the growing crime problem? What would you do differently?

To talk smack or not to talk smack, that is the question...

From WicBury Crapper Board Member "ThinBlueLog"...

Well when we started the WicBury Crapper we figured that it's a blog so people should be allowed to say whatever they felt like, mainly because we believe in straightforward comment. But, shortly people started making negative comments about other people to include peons and administrators. So much so that it really bothered some people that other people were talking smack about them. Therefore, we started to filter some of the comments, or at least try to filter, that were plainly negative, demeaning, insulting, or just plain crazy. This resulted in a substantially loss to comments because a lot of people only want to talk smack about people from behind a computer instead of to their faces which is unfortunate.

Then we got comments and e-mails that people were disappointed that we were attempting to filter comments that were negative about people, so we decided to allow posts that didn't include names of personnel, figuring hey at least people can share their opinions without publicly insulting others.

This hasn't worked either because people really do want to talk smack about each other for some crazy reason.

So, we are left with a question for our readership... what type of comments do you think we should allow and why? Negative comments about anything? Negative comments not stating peoples names, just opinion? Or no negative comments at all? Of course, the knee jerk reaction is no negative comments but, really people want to talk smack..? Let us know what you think...

"Tom" Anonymous Visitor to Pingbox's Question....

The PingBox is a yahoo utility that shows on the right hand side of the blog where you can ask questions live to WicBury Crapper Board Members.... Our response in RED.

Tom is an anonymous visitor to Pingbox.

I had a thought concerning crime in Wicomico. Would it be possible to deputize 1000 volunteer citizens to carry concealed weapons. These would be persons who would pay for and pass a background check, people who would pay for their own training in firearms and who would buy their own approved weapon. Imagine if the thugs knew that there were 1000 armed plainclothes deputies on the streets?

An interesting suggestion but, we don't think this would ever happen for several reasons. A deputy also has arrest powers and all the powers of a police officer so for those reasons we doubt the Sheriff would deputize 1000 people to have arrest powers and carry weapons in plaincloths. Although a deterrent, we shutter to think what 1000 people with no police training, carrying firearms and authorized to use them during enforcement of the law, would result in. You're resulting situation would probably be shootouts in the streets between armed "deputies" with little training and suspected thugs. Lastly a deputy's "power" is derived from the Sheriff so in essence the deputy is an extension of the Sheriff's power. The Sheriff, being the most powerful law enforcement body in the county, puts full faith in his deputies to carry out enforcement of the law in his stead. In order for law enforcement officers to maintain their powers in Maryland they must pass a course of credit hours (6 months) at an accredited police academy, must attend in service training every year, and must be field trained, among other stringent background qualifications. This is why a lot of people don't every become police officers... Although some "slip through the cracks" it's not many. Less than 1/2 of 1% of 500,000 police officers in the United States is ever charged with a crime while sworn. Although the Sheriff can deputize citizens in cases of emergency, again due to liability reasons we feel this situation would probably never happen as the "Reserve Deputy" program is no longer taking place either, to our knowledge anyway.

Reader E-Mail to the Crapper....

"Hey Crapper,

What is going on with the legaleze on the top of the website and the comment section? I'm kinda worried about posting a comment on here..."

Crapper responses in blue

By WicBury Crapper Board Member "SilentButDeadly"...

To answer your question reader, there are several questions that we will try to answer. We do not track IP addresses. IP addresses are numbers that your server assigns to your computer when you log on to a network. These numbers are reassignable through your server and are automatically assigned to your computer. In order for someone to identify who you are through your IP address several things have to happen first.

IP addresses can be resolved by running the IP address through internet trace however, this only give a very, very rough estimate of where the computer is located (within a 60 square mile area or to the closest hub) so, this tool is totally inaccurate for providing information.

In order to identify someone through their IP address in a criminal process the States Attorney of the jurisdiction where the offense occurred or a federal judge would have to issue a warrant for the information from the internet provider company OR in a civil case the court could issue a subpoena for the records. It's not as easy as tracking a cell phone call. Most of the time civil suits occur because someone KNOWS who posted the information because that person LET IT BE KNOWN that it was them.

Our legalize is just to let you know that if someone was very, very, very bent on suing someone else for comments, it could theoretically happen but it would take a lot of money and time. It has happened several times recently in some other states, cases are pending.

Having said this, first and foremost, don't break the law by posting comments that break the law. Comments such as threatening the president of the United States of America or taking a criminal action against a public official ARE ACTIONABLE and you may be charged criminally.

Comments that are opinion, for instance "Stacy is a whore" is not a crime, it's freedom of speech. However, if those comments create a serious financial loss or an attack on a persons character people can sue you for libel is these statements ARE NOT TRUE but the burden of proof would be on the defending party to prove that Stacy is in fact a whore. Typically public officials are exempt from suing for opinion comments, which is why the Chief of Police and the Former Mayor lost their suits against Joe Albero.

So here's our advice on commenting...

1. Feel comfortable commenting on blogs. Normally, it's very, very rare that anyone sues anyone civilly for their comments if they have no idea who those people writing the comments are. Don't take credit for your comments publicly. Having said this some people could consider this being a "pussy" but hey that's their opinion and you as the writer have to weigh the option for yourself if you are in fact a pussy.
2. If you feel uncomfortable commenting, use an IP jamming program such as "Hide My Ass!". You can even use this online free at www.hidemyass.com. These programs randomly reassign your IP address all over the world. If you pay for the program you can even set it to randomly reassign your IP address every 5 min.
3. Don't make violent threats against public officials. This is a crime and can be investigated by the police. You may be subject to arrest.
4. Be careful about what you publish or post from work or about work to the Internet. Normally this is not an issue if you do it from your personal computer as an anonymous poster.... where people get into problems is when they either post negative comments on facebook about their work (stupid) OR write negative comments from their work about their work.

Bottom line is, don't be stupid. The internet does provide a degree of anonymity but, bear in mind that information is discoverable IF you provide people with information to discover you. An IP address along is little more than just a bunch of numbers. You can, very easily, resolve it to an internet provider but thats where it stops. For instance we can see that people post comments using comcast or verizon but that's about it. To match the numbers to someone civilly a long process has to occur in order to obtain the resolving address to someone's residence and even then the burden of proof is on the plaintiff of who in that residence made those comments on that system.

In a criminal matter it is easier. We are not going to discuss what process needs to occur or how to circumvent the process in order to protect the integrity of CAC investigations. But, in order for a criminal investigation to occur a judge must sign a warrant which would not occur for posting comments that are opinion, that falls under freedom of speech.

We hope that we answered your questions. We put those warnings on our site just for your FYI and to cover our own asses that rest upon our personal crappers. However, if we are not worried then you really shouldn't be worried.

Joe is not correct...

By WicBury Crapper Board Member "CornLogsRule"...

Joe Albero published the following article on his blog about the Sheriff's Office response within the city limits which can be viewed here: http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2009/11/wcso-calls-for-service.html. The real truth is that WCSO does not respond for calls for service within the city limits and it is rare, very rare that the city police call WCSO for assistance.

The city police handle ALL CALLS within the city limits with the exception of some traffic stops that the county sheriff's preform. Most of the statistics that Joe quoted for the county "responding" within the city are calls for service at the schools, courts, traffic stops or officer (deputy) initiated actions. However, for the most part deputies are typically discouraged from initiating criminal investigations or responding for calls within the city limits.

Even though county sheriff's deputies have full authority to provide law enforcement services within the city of Salisbury it is contingent to both the city and county police administration to allow this to happen. Currently, this practice is not in place probably due to both administrations and/or unwritten SOPs.

Here is what Joe stated:

"Former City Councilwoman Lynn Cathcart has stood in front of the Council numerous times complaining the Sheriff's Department needs to come into the City of Salisbury more often and protect the City.

Lynn has attempted to make it sound as if the Sheriff's Department isn't offering their services enough and states that Salisbury is within the County, so why not help out.

The above is just one example of how the Sheriff's Department does in fact service the City of Salisbury. In numerous conversations I have had with representatives from the Sheriff's Department, they proudly serve the City and would gladly help out in any way, shape or form and once again documents like this prove this to be a fact.

Be sure to click on the image above to enlarge it and see what your Wicomico County Sheriff's Department is doing to help curb crime in the City of Salisbury. I think all of you will be surprised. The next time you see Lynn, tell her to try shutting her trap, after you take her foot out of her mouth."

To Spew Crap or Not To Spew Crap, that is the question...

By WicBury Crapper Board Member "ThinBlueLog"...

In our striving to be number one (literally) we have made several decisions in regards to posting screwed up postings. While we find it amusing that people whom themselves are probably posting screwed up crap about others get offended easily when screwed up crap is posted about them... we decided to limit and then totally cease the posting of screwed up crap about police officers on here.

But, people read stuff to laugh at other people's misfortunes and talk crap about each other. This is why sbynews.com and salisburygrinch.blogspot.com are so "popular" is because they talk crap about not only one another but everyone else who vexes them.

So, yes, although we took a pause to reflect on stuff.. we are back. We are back just to piss off the people who would rather us not be back.

Here's the thing, we initially made this blog in order to address some concerns of people and initially it was well received by people. Then people started, like always, talking shit about each other, including line cops. For some reason, there is almost an anti-thin blue line on the eastern shore, especially with some departments. Some people love, love to talk shit about each other because it makes them feel better about themselves. In fact, lots of times hey talk shit and some people in leadership positions listen to the shit talk and act on totally irrelevant information, false information, or information that is just stupid and has nothing to do with anything.

Take a look at your department's personnel. Although they may be competent in their jobs, their support for one another may be seriously lacking. People wonder why some departments still don't have collective bargaining but take a look at the attendance at the FOP meetings. If you want to change something for the better, you are going to have to get involved, quit talking crap, and quit stabbing each other in the back. The only way to further your own cause is to further everyone else along with you because a united front is much more powerful than a lone soldier.

Did we do right? Now we are hearing complaining that people can't talk crap about each other because we attempt to screen out most of the crap that is insulting or demeaning to cops. Sorry we wont publish that crap. We won't publish crap about anyone Sgt. or below OR publish personal attacks (as long as we can figure out who someone is talking about) directed at administrators.

So, we are here for you. We spend our personal funds to provide a "Officer of the Month" program and we still have other programs in the works. Again, if you don't like us, that is fine, don't read us and kiss our collective WicBury Crapper Asses. We are back.

What can be improved?

Lets talk constructively. Many police officers and community members complain about issues both inside and outside of the departments and the community as a whole. So, voice your issue! Tell us what you would like to see change within your agency or if you are a citizen, what you would like to see change in your community? We want to know and we want your opinions!

Questions for a Cop?

Dear Crapper,

Does anyone have questions for "Le Crapper"? If you have a question for a cop, no matter how stupid, please feel free to ask. Or, if you would like the "Crapper's" opinion on a situation or personal problem, we are here to help with our brand of a load of crap! Fire away!

How is the economy affecting you?

Over the next several months the county executive for Wicomico, Rick Pilott has announced that paycuts and furloughs will be placed into effect for all Wicomico County government employees, including "24/7" employees such as jail staff and the Sheriff's office. How is this effecting you? Have you had to make any changes to your daily life?

Strides being made?

Are improvements and/or strides being made at your local department? We have been receiving word through the proverbial grapevine that improvements in treatment of officers and personnel have been occurring at several departments. Some patrol personnel are getting some new toys at various agencies and some departments have cut back on messing with personnel and have increased opportunities. Are more shotguns, tasers, and/or rifles being issued? Is your department's administration paying better attention to concerns by peons? Do you feel better about how you are being treated? Are there any steps being made in your department for peon success?

What do you think?

Question from a reader...

Anonymous said...
I understand that this blog is mainly for law enforcement personnel, but you do have non-LEOs who read it. Would it be possible for you to publish a guide for the general public, on how we can help the police to do their jobs?Cooperation between residents and police officers seems to be missing around here, especially in the city. Part of it is that people are scared of their neighbors, another part is that dispatch is sometimes insensitive to callers. And some of the officers come off as arrogant, while the public comes off as angry and un-cooperative.What can we, as citizens, do to ease the tension and form a working relationship with our officers? What can the police do to regain the citizens' trust and cooperation?
August 28, 2009 9:55 AM

Absolutely. We will produce and publish a guide for the public in dealing with the police and post it to our online library that will be online shortly. Give us a few days to get this taken care of. Thank you for your interest in assisting the police.

Question from a reader...

To answer some of your questions, and bear in mind this is not legal council or should it be taken as such, please contact your attorney. The following is for informational purposes only. We will attempt to address each question individually. Crapper answers in red.

Anonymous said... To the Crapper we go. I am asking the crapper to research cases that officers have acually won a case of violation of LEOBR. I ask this because one hears continually that there is no "Tort" to support this type of infraction.What are the potential penalities to an agency that violate LEOBR ?Is there civil remedy ?Can the timing and circumstance be considered in the venue. As a case of a 15 year Sgt. being moved from a specialized unit.

The timing in itself, may or may not be an issue for a tort, probably not. However, an "on going course of conduct" may lend itself for a tort under the "hostile work environment" if there is emotional distress that occurs under this issue. Unfortunately, departments can require personnel to work odd hours, midnights, and generally anything else the department deems appropriate. However, a transfer without cause or due process as a retaliatory measure is illegal under LEOBOR (see below). Proving that the transfer was punitive, without due process, lands on the plaintiff, in this instance, the police officer. There are transfers that can occur to "benefit the agency" that do not fall under disciplinary action. For instance, if an employee has an issue with another employee to where it begins to effect the work of either or both employees or there is another such conflict, the employee(s) can be transferred, without disciplinary action, in order to elevate the problem.

The notice is given at 1600 to report at 2400 to a Patrol group the same day and this would occurr on a friday causing the said officer to work 10days in a row. Going from day work to midnights. This giving the Sgt. eight hours to prepare for duty in unform, pick up equp., get uniforms ready, and sleep.

Where a department could get into trouble is if they require personnel to work over 44 hours in a work week without paying overtime or transfer personnel from a midnight shift to a day shift, followed by an evening shift (with no break, essentially requiring personnel to work 24 hours). In this aspect, there is the concern that the officer might act in a manner unfit for duty (i.e. crashing his police vehicle) due to lack of sleep, which the department would probably be liable for civilly.

I see this happening once as a possible oversight, but to happen twice well lets just say this Sgt. better have thick skin. If this Sgt. is the only Sgt. in a two year period to receive written counseling from his immediate supervisor. The immediate supervisor admits that this Sgt. is the only Sgt. written up in that period. This I/S has at least five other Sgt.s that have faced an array of situations that could have reulted in one form or another of discp. action yet there was none taken ?? Would this be considered an hostile possibly retalitory enviroment. Yet no sustained I.A.D. cases, letters from the public or complaints by personell on this same Sgt.. Subordinates that continually strive for what is best for the agency. No known or documented tranfer request from this said Sgt.s Patrol groups.

Again, the course of conduct comes into issue, on the departments end. First, was there really a violation of policy requiring a reprimand. If not, this is an issue. Can the officer prove that other violations occurred, by other officers, without them receiving reprimands? If this is correct, would those officers be willing to come to court and testify that they indeed violated the same policy however never received any disciplinary action? These are questions that would have to be answered by the court and proven by the plaintiff. There is no doubt that departments routinely target specific personnel that they just don't like or whatever their reasoning is. This can, inevitabley, land a department in hot water, especially if a class action lawsuit is filed on behalf of all personnel that have been "wronged" by the department. But, it is dependant upon the officers to prove that either violations of the department's own policies by the department occurred or it really was a "hostile work environment" and it is incumbent upon the department to prove that the transfers or other actions were consistent with the policies of the agencies, there was a reason for doing so other then punitive in nature, that the department was indeed not target specific individuals, and that there was not a hostile work environment. The term "hostile work environment" is wide ranging. Officers can also raise questions or file complaints to their human resources departments.

I dont know just food for thought. I was wondering if this site has access to this type of legal advise.If anyone may quess who I am reffering to please do not post the person name. This situation mimics mine and I dont want agency or personnel be wrongfully targeted by the question. I ask because i am very close to the person that this happend to.Is there a state or federal agency that would be able to assist here ??Well no big deal. If anyone has a simular case to add please do. I would love to read it. Please dont add name or agencies lets keep this real. No BS please

There have been cases where officers have sued departments for transfers, etc. Some of these cases are posted below and are great reading. In short, the possibility to sue an employer always exists if there is a "hostile work environment". However, it is incumbent on the employee to prove that this type of environment actually exists and to produce witnesses that can factually testify to this effect and/or produce records.

http://www.startribune.com/local/13823686.html

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_138555.html

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20081230/NEWS/81230019/1001/rss

http://www.policeone.com/legal/articles/1189584-2-LAPD-officers-sue-city-over-transfer-out-of-gang-unit/

August 27, 2009 11:47 PM

Transfers from one division or department to another for disciplinary reasons, although departments can claim it's for other reasons, are plainly unlawful. The problem is proving that the transfer was made "with malice". However, Maryland LEOBOR plainly states:

3-103. RIGHTS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS GENERALLY.
(D) RETALIATION.
A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER MAY NOT BE DISCHARGED, DISCIPLINED, DEMOTED, OR DENIED PROMOTION, TRANSFER, OR REASSIGNMENT, OR OTHERWISE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST IN REGARD TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER’S EMPLOYMENT OR BE THREATENED WITH THAT TREATMENT BECAUSE THE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER:
(1) HAS EXERCISED OR DEMANDED THE RIGHTS GRANTED BY THISSUBTITLE; OR(2) HAS LAWFULLY EXERCISED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

Why didn't OCPD take or rehire personnel?

Several years ago multiple certified police officers were laid off. OCPD, despite a much better than current economy, refused to re-hire personnel. After months of waiting some were hired by other agencies or hired back from their own agencies. However, this begs the question of why didn't they rehire the people that had experience or had been seasonals or worked at OCPD prior to that and had a good employment record with that agency??

Ask The Crapper a Question...

Well, it's that time again to ask the crapper a question! So, if you have a law enforcement related question we will answer it, as long as it does not jeopardize the safety of police officers or discuss agency policies and procedures specifically to a particular agency. If you are a law enforcement officer, you may also ask us a question on whatever topic, as long as it isn't who we are! HA! 'Cause we ain't gonna tell ya!

So ask away.... !

Ask the Crapper!

Again we pose the question that you can ask the crapper anything you wish, within reason. No, we won't tell you who we are. But, we will answer almost any other law enforcement question or give you our opinion on any topic, if we can formulate a response whist performing our other crap doodys. Let us know what your questions are! Even if you are a citizen and were always afraid to ask a cop a question, we will entertain the question!

Answer to Hypothetical Question...

The key to this situation is understanding that the test generally used in determining police conduct absent warrant is whether "a reasonable police officer in such a situation with the facts known to him at the time" would have acted in the same or similar manner.

Upon receiving the initial call, the responding officer saw the same activity as originally reported, a suspicious person outside of a residence. The suspicion is heightened when the officer observes the person throw "what appears to be a firearm down, and then runs inside an open door, slamming it closed and locking it behind him."

These are the only facts known to the officers before making the decision as to further action. It's obvious that the conduct of the person gives rise to the apprehension of potential danger to any occupants of the house and perhaps to the officers themselves. The officers have no way of knowing whether the person might have more firearms in his possession or for that matter his state of mind. Flight from the police upon approach is an indicator of consciousness of guilt as well, and in addition to the possession of a firearm, is the key to this entire answer.

Had the initial suspect stayed outside of the residence and cooperated fully with the police, obviously any further action to gain entry to the house absent consent or warrant would have been unlawful. "Exigency" is an exception to the warrant requirement. The officer's conduct in breaking through the door falls within the exigency exception in order to ensure the safety of the occupants of the residence. Once legitimately within the residence, the "Plain View" exception to the warrant requirement comes into play. If the officer(s) plainly saw and plainly knew that they were viewing was a meth lab and since their sight of the meth lab was purely inadvertant, then it becomes fair game for a legal seizure.

When the original suspect is taken into custody, there were multiple reasons to conduct a search incident to lawful arrest. If the arrest was made for a handgun violation, the search and seizure of the small abount of meth would have been unlawful as the arrest for the firearms violation was unlawful. However, given the discovery of the meth lab and the arrest of the persons within the residence, including the original suspect, the search would have been legal search incident to the arrest for meth manufacturing and felonious possession. Therefore even if the original search incident was for a firearms violation, the doctrine of "Inevitable Discovery" would come into play and the small amount of meth seized from the person's pocket would be admissible.

The discovery of the fact afterwards that the firearm was not stolen and comes back registered to the initial suspect may well relieve that person from being charged with any firearms violations, particularly since it's not clear from the facts whether the firearm is a long gun or a handgun (including a short barralled shotgun). However, applying the "reasonable police officer" test to this case would not lead to the suppression of either the evidence of manufacturing meth or to the suppression of the small amount of meth in the initial suspect's pocket.

Given the volatility of the chemicals used in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, the preferable course of action would be to seal the house and call out additional back-up in addition to the Hazardous Materials Team. One gunshot and the resulting explosion would make most July 4th fireworks celebrations look like Sparklers. During the time required to assemble the necessary resources, the officers could have applied for a Search and Seizure Warrant based upon the facts assembled so far. Once signed by the judge, any conceivable taint would have been removed by presenting the facts to a judicial official and having the warrant signed. In addition, even if there was a error in the initial handling of the entry, the warrant would uphold the seizures and charging based upon the good faith of the officers.

However, even without the extra step of the warrant, the entry into the house as well as the subsequent charging for the meth manufacturing and meth possession would still be legal. In giving this opinion, I consider only the legal issues. I also make no judgments about the safety to the officers of the type of entry gained into the house under these circumstances. Generally, this one is a win for Officers, subject to the peculiarities of the trial judge sitting on the suppression hearing.

Signed, General Counsel To the Crapper

Ask The Crapper a Question...

We thought that it would be a good idea to open up a forum once a week to ask the Crapper a question. So if you have any pressing issues, questions, or concerns on your mind ask the Crapper a question. The question can be almost anything political, social, legal, or whatever. Citizens, even afraid to ask a law enforcement officer a question? This is your chance and we'll do the best we can to answer your questions without risking the safety or security of law enforcement officers.

Standing up for your rights to be an ass and giving admin crap. The WicBury Crapper.